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Indian
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RNI No: APENG/2010/35309
www.indianhorizon.org
Volume
Issue No: 180
No: 6
Horizon
English Daily
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In memory of Dr Asima Kemal and Prof. Dr. Salim W Kemal
Published from Hyderabad & New Delhi
Hyderabad, Friday, July 3, 2015
Postal Registration Order No HD/1188/2014-16
Pages 12 + 4 pull out (P16)
AFPSA to be revoked
in J&K when situation
is conducive, says
Rajnath Singh
TS Govt to spend
Rs. 26 Crore on Iftar,
Dinners
P-2
Price: 3.00
Ferry with 173 on
board overturns
in Philippines, 36
dead, 19 missing
P-8
P-5
Flight delay controversy:
Briefs
Civil Aviation
Minister says sorry
for ‘inconvenience’
Civil Aviation minister
Ashok Gajapathi Raju
Ramdan Timings
Sahar - 4:14
Iftar - 7:00
Threats to stall parliament
session ‘anti-growth’:
Arun Jaitley
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley on Thursday brushed aside Congress’s threats to stall the monsoon session of
parliament over the Lalit Modi controversy,
saying it would project the opposition as “anti-growth”.
The Congress was quick to react, saying his
comments showed the BJP-led government’s
“zero tolerance for probity and accountability”.
The Congress has been demanding the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from their posts for helping “fugitive” Lalit Modi, a former chief of the Indian
Premier League. Jaitley told the media after
a cabinet meeting that “the bills (to amend
the Land Acquisition Act, and introduce the
Goods and Services Tax) were very crucial
for (the country’s) development and I hope
no political party takes anti-growth and antidevelopment position”.
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New Delhi, July 2 (PTI) Under
attack over two ministers causing inconvenience to Air India
passengers, Civil Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today
tendered an apology while saying that such “indefensible” incidents should never have happened. However, Raju also said
that the incident is “too small”
for the Prime Minister’s Office to
step-in. “Whatever has happened
should not have happened... I
need to get to the truth... as Civil
Aviation minister I apologise (for
the inconvenience caused to the
passengers),” Raju told reporters.
He was responding to a volley
of questions on the twin inci-
dents involving Minister of State
for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Raju said his
Ministry was getting all the facts
about the two incidents. “I need
to get to the truth, and I will do
my duty,” he added. The Minister
said that the Ministry would submit a report to the PMO, which
has sought details on “delay in
Air India flights on account of
VIP travels in the recent past”.
According to Raju, the incident is “too small” for the
PMO to take note of. The development came after reports
surfaced about inconvenience
caused to passengers of two
flights of Air India since June 24
because of Rijiju and Fadnavis.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis
stuck to his stand that he did not
delay the Air India flight he took
to the US, dubbing the reports in
this regard as “misleading” and
said that on returning home he
will initiate “criminal defamation” proceedings in the matter.
“Enough is enough. Once I m
back to India I will initiate proceedings of criminal defamation,” Fadnavis, on a week-long
trip to America to woo investment to the state, tweeted.
A media report surfaced yesterday that on June 24, three members of a family, including a child,
were offloaded from Leh-Delhi Air
India flight at Leh to accommodate Rijiju along with Jammu and
Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister
Nirmal Singh and an aide.
AAP MLA slams Arvind Kejriwal for
publicity fund
New Delhi: AAP MLA
Pankaj Pushkar, who has
openly criticised the party
leadership on several issues, today trained his
guns on chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal over allocation of Rs 526 crores for
publicity and termed it as
an exercise of “self propogation”.
Terming the employment of AAP workers in
the Delhi government
at “hefty” salaries as an
“abuse of public money”,
the Timarpur MLA also
questioned the appointment of 21 party legislators
as parliamentary secretaries. He said the AAP was in
serious danger of losing its
way and was on a “slippery
mode”.
Speaking about the recent adverstisment by the
Delhi government, Pushkar said, through this the
Delhi government not only
defied the Supreme Court,
which clearly ruled that no
government advertisments
should try to glorify a politician, but also portrayed
women in a regressive way.
Pushkar said he has written to Kejriwal over these
issues, but there has been
“no response from him for
the past one month.”
“Under a false technical garb that Kejriwal’s
pictures were not used,
the Aam Aadmi Party tried
to defend the obnoxious
TV commercial where the
name of Delhi CM was
mentioned 11 times in just
2 minutes,” Pushkar told a
news conference. Incidentally, there was no electricity in the room of the
Vidhan Sabha where the
conference was held. This
led to confusion and delayed the event. The conference continued for a few
minutes, but the electricity
went off later, again to be
resumed in few minutes.
IPL money-laundering case:
ED records statement of
Srinivasan against Lalit Modi
Mumbai, July 2 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate
here on Thursday recorded the statement of former
BCCI president N Shrinivasan in connection with the
money laundering case registered against ex-IPL boss
Lalit Modi. “Srinivasan appeared before us today and
we recorded his statement for close to three hours,”
said an ED official.
The case relates to a 2008 deal between World Sports
Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) for television rights of IPL worth Rs 425 crore.
BCCI filed an FIR in Chennai in 2010 under various provisions of the IPC while two years later the ED registered
a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the
matter. “We have recorded Srinivasan’s statement as he
had filed the police complaint on behalf of BCCI,” the official said. In 2008, the BCCI awarded 10-year media rights
to WSG for USD 918 million. In the same year, WSG entered
into a deal with MSM to make Sony the official broadcaster.
Arvind Kejriwal
Telangana CM KCR presents a memento to Vice Chairman of NITI
Aayog Arvind Panagariya at a meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday. PTI
Debt assigned to YIL
to revive National
Herald: Sonia
New Delhi, July 2 (PTI) Sibal
clarified that the exercise was carried
out to revive AJL, and neither YIL nor
its shareholders have derived any
income or profit out of it. Congress
president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday
told Delhi High Court that the party’s
Rs. 90 crore loan to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publisher of National Herald, was assigned to Young
Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL) for Rs. 50 lakh to
revive the publication.
The submission was made before Justice Sunil Gaur by senior
advocate Kapil Sibal, representing
the Congress chief, who said AJL
will start running the newspaper
as soon it pays off its debt to the
Congress party. Mr. Sibal made the
argument while refuting the allegation of BJP leader Subramanian
Swamy that AJL’s properties would
only be used for deriving rent.
argument was made during
hearing of a bunch of pleas, filed by
the Congress chief, her son Rahul
Gandhi and five others, challenging
the summons issued against them
on a complaint by Dr. Swamy alleging cheating and breach of trust
in the acquisition of AJL by YIL, in
DS resigns from
Congress, to join TRS
Senior Congress leader D
Srinivas quit the party and
declared to join the ruling TRS
in Hyderabad on Thursday. PTI
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN)
Former PCC President Dharmpuri Srinivas on Thursday announced his resignation from
the Congress party. He also
announced that he would join
the ruling Telangana Rashtra
Samithi soon.
Addressing a press conference here, Srinivas said that the
decision to leave the Congress
party was highly painful. “I was
associated with Gandhi Bhavan
since 1969 and worked under
the leadership of Indira Gan-
dhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia
Gandhi. I will remain indebted
to them throughout my life for
the support that they extended
to me,” he said.
Srinivas claimed that two
factors, ‘humiliation in Congress’ and ‘development of
Telangana’, have forced him to
quit Congress and join TRS. He
said it was his inner conscience
which led him to take this decision. Refusing to elaborate
on how he was humiliated in
the Congress party, he said he
has shared those details only
with Sonia Gandhi and no
one else. He called AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh
a “bluffer” for describing his
decision to join TRS as opportunistic politics. “I had a great
opinion about him. He is a
bluffer. I’m not joining the TRS
for any posts,” he said adding
that denial of MLC post by the
Congress party did not trigger
his exit. “I have distributed Bforms to 294 candidates in two
General elections.
Sonia Gandhi
which the accused party leaders are
shareholders.
During the heari`ng, Mr. Sibal
asked where the element of cheating or misappropriation or breach
of trust was, as the acquisition process was carried out with the unanimous support of AJL’s shareholders. The acquisition was carried out
by assigning to YIL for Rs. 50 lakh
a debt of Rs. 90 crore that AJL had
to pay to the Congress party, Mr.
Sibal told the court and added that
instead of paying YIL, shares in the
publication were given to YIL.
He clarified that the exercise
was carried out to revive AJL, and
neither YIL nor its shareholders
have derived any income or profit out of it.
Subsidised LPG sales
under DBT down by
25%: Subramanian
New Delhi, July 2 (PTI)
Arvind Subramanian cautioned that the government
should make sure genuine
beneficiaries are not excluded. Sales of subsidised
LPG cylinders under the
Direct Benefit Transfer
scheme (DBT) have come
down by about 25 per cent
as most “ghost beneficiaries” have been eliminated,
CEA Arvind Subramanian
on Thursday said. “... essentially, what we find is
that on an average, the DBT
scheme has reduced subsidised domestic LPG sales
by about 25 per cent,” Mr.
Subramanian said while
speaking at the UNDP conference call in New Delhi.
On the fiscal impact of
DBT, the Chief Economic
Advisor said, “We estimate that in 2014-15, savings could be as much Rs.
12,700 crore, which is a
lot of money. But savings
will be lower this year at
around Rs. 6,500 crore.”
Mr. Subramanian, however, cautioned that the
government should make
sure genuine beneficiaries
are not excluded.
“It’s necessary that we
don’t overestimate the
gain and under-recognise
possible cost of doing this
and in the case of DBT
and Pahal, we have some
preliminary evidence to
suggest that a lot of it is
elimination of ghost beneficiaries, but we can’t
rule out that there could
be exclusion of genuine
beneficiaries,” he said. Mr.
Subramanian, formerly a
senior Fellow at Peterson
Institute for International
Economics, admitted: “We
were expecting commercial sales to go up by a huge
number, but actually, this
did not happen... there was
only 6 per cent increase.”
2
Indian Horizon, Hyderabad
City
Short Takes
ACB approaches SC to
quash Revanth’s bail
TRS to raise HC bifurcation
issue in Parl session
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): The
Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau
has filed a petition in the Supreme
Court seeking quashing of bail orders
granted by the Hyderabad High Court
to TPD MLA A Revanth Reddy and
two others in Cash for Vote case.
The ACB Counsel contended that
being a senior politician, Revanth
Reddy might use his influence to
tamper with the evidence or threaten
the witnesses. He pointed out that,
immediately after coming out of bail
from Cherlapally Central Prison on
Wednesday, Revanth Reddy, in his
speech has used intimidating and
harsh words against Chief Minister K
Chandrashekar Rao.
The ACB also appealed the Supreme
Court to quash the bail granted to other
accused Sebastian and Udaya Simha.
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): Accusing
the Central Government of doing injustice to Telangana on the issue of
bifurcation of High Court, TRS MP G
Vinod Kumar announced that the TRS
would raise the issue in forthcoming
monsoon session of Parliament if it
remains unresolved till July 21.
Speaking to media persons in
Karimnagar on Thursday, Vinod Kumar threatened that the TRS MPs
would stall the proceedings of Parliament if the Centre fails to a decision
on High Court bifurcation. He said it
was highly regrettable that the division of High Court was not completed
despite bifurcation of the State one
year ago.
ACB chief meets KCR
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): AntiCorruption Bureau Director General
AK Khan called on Chief Minister K
Chandrashekar Rao at latter’s camp
office on Thursday.
Khan has reportedly briefed the
Chief Minister about the latest developments in ‘Cash for Vote’ case, especially in view of grant of bail to TDP
MLA A Revanth Reddy by the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday. He
informed him that the ACB was approaching the Supreme Court to get
the bail quashed.
DS could not live without
post for 35 days: Uttam
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee
president N Uttam Kumar Reddy has
strongly criticised former PCC chief
Dharampuri Srinivas for deciding to
quit Congress to join the TRS party.
Addressing a press conference at
Gandhi Bhavan here, Uttam Kumar
Reddy said that the Congress would
not lose anything if leaders like Srinivas leave the party. He said that the
Congress party had the potential to
groom and nurture new leadership.
He ridiculed the claims of Srinivas
that he was joining the TRS for the
weaker sections. He said DS could
not survive for even 35 days without
a post and started hunting for posts in
TRS after losing the post of Leader of
Opposition in Council.
President to visit
Yadagirigutta on July 5
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): President
of India Pranab Mukherjee, who is
staying in Rashtrapati Nilayam in
Secunderabad as part of his 10-day
Southern Sojourn, will visit the Yadagirigutta of Nalgonda district on July
5. According to officials, the President
will visit Yadagirigutta at 11 AM. In
view of President’s visit, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made
changes in his tour for Haritha Haram
programme. KCR was scheduled to
visit Peddapally of Karimnagar district on July 5. However, he will return
to Yadagirigutta in a helicopter after
attending the Peddapally meeting to
join the President.
MBT to meet President
over Alair encounter
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): The Majlis
Bachau Tahreek on Thursday sought
appointment from President of India
Pranab Mukherjee to make representation on the issue of Alair encounter
in which five under-trials were killed
in police firing.
“The MBT delegation will comprise
of families of five Muslim under trials
- Viquar Ahmed, Syed Amjed, Mohd.
Zakir, Mohd. Haneef and Izhar Khan
who were killed near Alair of Nalgonda district on April 7, 2015, in a fake
encounter by the Telangana Police.
We will apprise the Hon’ble President
on how the police and Telangana
Government tried to show this mass
murder into a ‘genuine encounter’,”
MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan said in
a press release on Wednesday.
I’m not leaving
Congress party: Jana
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): Leader of
Opposition K Jana Reddy on Thursday dismissed media reports that he
was likely to quit the Congress party
and might join the TRS.
Speaking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan here, Jana Reddy asked
media houses to cross-check the reports before taking them on air. He
said TRS MP Vinod had called on him
to handover an invitation for the book
launch of Maharashtra Governor Ch
Vidyasagar Rao. He said the media
should not misinterpret the personal
and professional relationship among
the politicians.
Commenting on the decision of exPCC chief D Srinivas to quit Congress
to join TRS, Jana Reddy said it was opportunistic politics. He said that the
Congress have been witnessing such
people since 1977 when many leaders
joined the Janata Party.
Revanth threatening
witnesses by body
language: Vinod
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): TRS MP
Vinod Kumar here on Thursday took
a serious exception to the atrocious
behavior of Telangana TDP leader A
Revanth Reddy after his release from
Charlapally central jail on a temporary
bail.
Speaking to mediapersons here,
Vinod Kumar felt that the principal
accused in cash-for-vote scam by
slapping his thigh and twirling moustache was giving a clear warning to
the witnesses in the case. His body
language showed that he would see
the end of his opponents.
The MP also observed that the
TDP supremo and AP Chief Minister
N Chandrababu Naidu has scant respect for democratic values.
A-1 Revanth behaving
like a hero: Tammineni
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): CPM
Telangana State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram has alleged
that ‘corruption’ reached to its peak
in political system. Speaking to the
media here on Thursday, Tammineni
said TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy was
caught by ACB sleuths red handedly
while he was offering bribe of Rs 50
lakh advance and exhibiting heroism
instead of tendering apologies. “One
should ponder where politics was going on in the democracy”, he asked.
DS’ follower too to
join TRS
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): TPCC
secretary and official spokesperson B
Krishna Murthy has tendered his resignation to the primary membership
of Congress party and announced
he would join the TRS along with his
mentor former APCC chief D Srinivas,
who also announced his decision to
join TRS on July 6. In a pressnote here
on Thursday, Krishna Murthy said he
had accompanied D Srinivas when
the latter called on Chief Minister K
Chandrasekhar Rao at the Camp Office. B Krishna Murthy is a staunch
follower of D. Srinivas, since he took
charge as APCC president.
Friday, July 3, 2015
KCR announces Rs 26 cr
Ramzan bonanza; Dawat-e-Ifthar
at Nizam College on July 8
Hyderabad,
July
2
(NSS): Chief Minister K
Chandrasekhar Rao today
announced Rs 26 crore bonanza for Muslims brethren for the pious Ramzan
festival to be conducted
officially by Telangana
Government.
Speaking to mediapersons at the Camp Office here on Thursday,
the Chief Minister said
he would offer through
Wakf Board Rs 1,000
monthly salary to all
Imams and Mouzans in
5,000 mosques across the
State. KCR said to honour the Muslim brethren,
Dawat-e-Ifthar will be organized in a grand manner. The Chief Secretary
will monitor the arrangements for the festivities
for communal amity and
brotherhood like “Ganga-Jamuna
Tehzeeb”,
Chief Minister asserted.
The Chief Minister said
arrangements will be
made to offer Dawat-eIfthar party for over 4,000
people at the Nizam College grounds on July 8.
KCR stated that he will
participate in the festivities and invite all the leaders of all political parties,
ministers, MPs, MLAs, district Collectors and scribes
to attend the same. The
district Collectors should
conduct the Ramzan festival officially to ensure
that the Muslim brethren
participate in a peaceful and grand manner, he
directed. Dawat-e-Ifthar
will be conducted at 100
mosques in Hyderabad
and one in every Assembly
segment. “I have directed
the Collectors during a
video conference to conduct Ramzan festival”, he
said, adding that Imams
of the mosques should
distribute clothes worth Rs
500 to every poor Muslim
and mass feeding at all orphanages by spending Rs
25 lakh. Senior IPS officer
ACB Chief A K Khan will
head a committee for the
arrangements and Deputy
Chief Minister Mahamood
Ali will monitor the festivities along with MLC Salim,
KCR said, adding that a GO
will be issued soon.
While
some
3,000
mosques
were
registered with Wakf Board,
some 1,500 unregistered
mosques will get the benefit of free clothes worth Rs
9.75 crore and Rs 4 crore
for food and Rs 3 crore towards other expenses. It
is a beginning to provide
succor to the poor Muslims and will extend more
help in future, he said.
Arrangements are being made to provide food
for over 1,000 persons at
these mosques after completing Roza and Namaz
ritual, he said.
Minorities’ panel recommends
regularization of Urdu Academy staff
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): The State Minorities Commission has issued recommendations to the Government of Telangana to regularize the services of 186
employees working in Telangana State
Urdu Academy (Computer cum Libraries
Employees Welfare Association) who had
filed a petition before the Commission
complaining that though they have completed 5 years of continuous service and
some of them have put in 12 to 18 years in
different categories and all of them have
requisite qualification to be appointed in
the specified posts.
The Commission had conducted a detailed hearing in the matter and obtained
reports from the Urdu Academy as well as
Japanese
delegation
meets TS
Industries
Minister
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN):
A Japanese delegation, led
by Yasuo Takamatsu from
Takuma CO., LTD, an
energy and environment
company along with Masaya Kawamoto of Takuma and Yasuo Kano of
CBM CO., Ltd. Japan and
Venkat Gandhi director of
Synoverge, Japan., called
on Telangana Industries
Minister Jupally Krishna
Rao at the State Secretariat
on Thursday.
They explained that Takuma is one of the oldest
established Broiler company with expertise in end
to end solid waste. They
are specialist in converting waste from industries,
municipal etc to energy
Minority Welfare Department and after
examining the report and after hearing
the petitioners, the Commission has recommended to the Government of Telangana to regularize the services of 186 employees by providing a budget provision
under Plan Scheme for an amount of Rs.8
crores to the Urdu Academy so as to make
provision for the salaries of the staff.
The Commission observed that the
services of the employees is very much
required for proper and smooth running
of the programmes initiated by the Urdu
Academy so also for the proper functioning of Urdu Academy Training Centers
and Libraries in different Districts and
Mandals of Telangana.
and disposal converted to
fly ash which is only 5%
of the total waste. Which
can be used in construction and road laying. It
is the No. One company
in incineration and has
presence in Europe and
Asia. It need not have a
place for dumping and
can be constructed in the
middle of the city and has
almost zero percentage of
pollution emission, they
have developed means
to reduce the release of
dioxins and helped a viable technology which is
applied to waste incineration throughout Japan to
this day. They have 353
MSW incineration plants
throughout Japan. They
work on Takuma’s original grate technology. A
plant of 1000 tonnes waste
management costs around
150-200 million dollars.
They have requested the
government to help to set
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up the plant by the government or as a joint venture
and informed that it would
take around 2-2 1/2 years
to construct the plant and
get it operational. The
Minister was impressed
and felt that it would be of
great help given the present scenario of garbage
disposal and felt that this
would help in Swachh
Telangana and would
bring down the pollution
levels and also the stink
that emanates from it as
this Japanese model does
not emanate smell.
He spoke to TS Genco
officials and Municipal
Administration authorities and put them on to
the concerned officials
for further action and
felt that this partnership
would help in enhancing
Brand Telangana and also
achieve lower pollution
levels both in Municipalities and Industries.
Three more cases
booked against
Revanth in Cyberabad
TDP legislator A. Revanth Reddy being wecomed
by party supporters after he was granted
conditional bail on a personal bond of Rs.5 lakh
and two sureties by Hyderabad High Court in
Hyderabad on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): The Cyberabad police have
registered three criminal cases against principal accused
in cash-for-vote case Revanth Reddy for taking out a
rally without police permission and making threats while
swinging lethal weapons. Two cases were registered in
Kushaiguda police station and one in the Malkajgiri police station under penal sections 341, 188, 506, 509.
Police said after his release from Charlapalli central
jail on temporary bail on Wednesday, Revanth Reddy,
the principal accused in Note-for-Vote scam, took out a
rally without police permission and made provocative
speech threatening to dislodge TRS government from
power and also threatened people concerned while
swinging lethal weapons.
It may be mentioned here that Revanth Reddy, after
his release from jail on bail, went in a procession and
made speeches attacking the Chief Minister and his
cabinet colleagues.
Dy CM inaugurates Marriage
Counselling Centre at Haj House
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): The Telangana Government has constituted an exclusive Marriage Counselling Centre to settle the cases of marital discords and
other problems in the light of legal provisions and respective personal law.
Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali inaugurated the Centre at the Haj House at Nampally
and promised to give it more powers so that it should
be able to solve the marital disputes in the families in
an amicable manner and give counseling to both the
parties on the rights and responsibilities. He said that
such centres would be set up in all the districts of the
State. He said that Wakf Office Buildings would be
constructed in all the districts of the state from where
all the minority offices would function. He said that
many women were lingering in the litigation for years
together. ‘This centre is set up to help such couples’
he said and added that experts have been included in
the panel headed by Mr. E. Ismail, a retired judge. He
thanked the Chief Minister for taking revolutionary
steps in the field of education and welfare of the minority communities.
Nampally MLA Jaffer Hussain Meraj expressed happiness over setting up the centre and hoped that the
minority couples would not get involved in litigations
and approach the centre for settlement of their disputes. Minorities Welfare Department Secretary Syed
Omer Jaleel highlighted the aims and objectives and
said that the Counselling Centre would sit once in a
fortnight or as often as necessary and take up the cases,
referred to it by any party.
MWD Director Mohammed Jalaluddin Akber welcomed the gathering and Prof. S. A. Shukoor, Special
Officer Telangana State Haj Committee proposed a
vote of thanks. Syed Vilayat Hussain GM Minorities
Finance Corporation, Asadullah CEO Wakf Board
and Members of the Counselling Centre were present on this occasion.
BBPPL to vaccinate and sterilize
4,000 stray dogs in city
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): Brilliant Bio Pharma Private Limited (BBPPL),a member company of TGV conglomerate which
is into the manufacturing of
Veterinary Biological and Medicines to observe Zoonoses Day
on July 6. To commemorate
this event, the World Health Organisation has recommended
celebrating this day as World
Zoonoses Day, where the focus
is more on vaccination.
‘Zoonoses’ is a term given to
any infectious disease that can
be transmitted from animals to
humans and vice versa. To commemorate the occasion, BBPPL
plans to vaccinate around 4000
stray dogs free of cost. This it will
do in coordination with GHMC
and along with volunteers. Vaccination will also be taken up
in association with NGO-Blue
Cross in Jubilee Hills. Further
free vaccination will also taken
up in Government Hospitals in
Seetharambagh, Bhoiguda, Kukatpally, Patancheru, Sangareddy and Sangareddy disclosed
Mourya Boda, Chairman and
Managing Director of BBPPL.
Mourya Boda expressed that
even in these days, many casualties occur due to dog bites
and this needs to be eradicated
at least in cities like Hyderabad.
At the same she emphasized
the need for sterilization for
stray dogs. Giving more details, Mourya Boda added that
the company will also create
awareness in selected schools
by organising essay writing and
painting competitions as she
feels that the awareness program should start from grass
root level. With our efforts
and cooperation from Medical fraternity, she is hopeful of
Hyderabad becoming a Rabies
Free City.
Indian Horizon, Hyderabad
Short Takes
AP seeks info of
staff sacked by
Telangana Govt
Hyderabad, July 2 (INN): The
Andhra Pradesh Government
said that it has been brought
to its notice that certain employees working in Schedule-X
institutions are being relieved
/ terminated by Govt. of Telangana/management of Schedule-X institutions located in
Telangana State on the ground
that they belong to the State of
Andhra Pradesh.
“Such employees are requested to furnish the following information to the email
id given below or post to the
below mentioned address.
Name of the Schedule-X institution, name of the employee,
designation, whether regular /
contract/outsourced employee, mobile number, email-id,
scanned copy of appointment
order and termination order,
district to which the employee
belongs to the mail id: secretarysrap@gmail.conk,” according to a press release.
Not a single
rupee paid to
Dowleswaram
victims: Jagan
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS):
In a blistering attack on A P
government, YSR Congress
Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today alleged that
not a single rupee was paid to
victims’ families of Dowleshwaram tragedy in which 22
persons drowned recently.
Jagan, who was on a tour of
East and West Godavari districts, today visited Achyutapuram in Visakhapatnam. The
tragedy had occurred when a
vehicle in which the victims
were traveling, dived into the
river Godavari from Dowleshwaram bridge killing 22 members, who were returning from
a pilgrimage recently. He also
criticized Chief Minister N
Chandrababu Naidu for not
visiting families of the victims.
But, he said, a minister after
visiting, had announced Rs
two lakh ex-gratia to each family of the deceased. However,
not a single rupee was paid till
now, Jagan wondered.
by a flight from Dubai in the
early hours at the airport, had
concealed the gold biscuits in a
table fan, a senior Customs official said.
The passenger, whose name
was not revealed, has been arrested, he said. A probe is on
into the matter.
Forum hails DS
for taking a right
decision
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS):
The Forum to Support KCR on
Thursday welcomed the decision of senior Congress leader
D. Srinivas to quit the party
and join TRS for making Bangaru Telangana a reality.
Chairman of the Forum
Konda Lakshma Reddy in a
statement said that decision
of DS has come at the right
time when Chief Minister
Chandrasekhar Rao was striving to make a golden state by
initiating numerous welfare
and developmental activities.
While KCR is working hard
and committed to transform
the new born state into prosperous and developed welfare
state, certain forces including
his political adversaries were
hell bent in creating hurdles,
he pointed out and added that
it was the right time for all true
Telanganites to come together
and extend an helping hand to
the Chief Minister in his onerous task.
Revanth’s rally
a mockery of
democracy: TRS
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): In
an apparent move to scuttle
the efforts of Telugu Desam
for coming in the way of Telangana development in one way
or other, the TRS leadership
is upping the ante against the
former for its rhetoric against
the Telangana Government.
TRS legislator Jeevan Reddy
today dubbed Telugu Desam
legislator Revanth Reddy as
a liar, cheat and blackmailer.
The TD leader will sure get
back to jail sooner or later in
the-cash-for-vote scam on
which he got only a temporary
bail, he alleged.
Addressing a press conference at TRS party headquarters
Preparations
here, the TRS leader alleged
that Revanth made a mockery
for Godavari
of democracy and its values. Is
Pushkaralu not
the TD leader, who came out
satisfactory: BJP of jail on cash-for-vote scam a
Hyderabad, Jul 2 (PTI): ‘freedom fighter’ to conduct a
Telangana BJP unit today said rally?.
the arrangements and works
undertaken for the upcoming Tummala slams
festival ‘Godavari Pushkaralu’ Naidu on
have been far from satisfacRevanth’s rally
tory.
The ‘Pushkaralu’ (ritual of
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS):
sacred bath in river) is sched- Telangana Roads & Buildings
uled to begin on July 14, but Minister Tummala Nagaeshthe works and arrangements war Rao here on Thursday said
for the people to take holy dip AP Chief Minister N Chandrabin Godavari are of poor qual- abu Naidu was digging his own
ity, Telangana BJP president ‘political grave’ by encouragand MLA G Kishan Reddy told ing leaders to loot and indulge
a press conference.
in corruption.
The administration need to
Addressing the media here,
expedite the works and make Tummala charged the Teluproper arrangements soon, he gu Desam leadership with
said.
dumping the ideals of its party
A team of BJP workers visited founder and former Chief Minthe places where the pilgrims ister NT Rama Rao, who strugwill visit the ghats for the sa- gled for the cause of Telugu
cred bath and took stock of the pride and welfare. He termed
arrangements, he added.
Revanth Reddy’s rally from
Cherlapally Jail as an affront to
3 kg gold seized democracy. “Naidu is putting
to shame the Telugu pride and
at airport
the people are despising ReHyderabad, Jul 2 (PTI): Cus- vanth Reddy”, he noted.
The minister slammed Retoms officials today seized 3
kgs gold from a passenger who vanth Reddy for behaving like
allegedly tried to smuggle it at a street rowdy and his outthe Rajiv Gandhi International bursts against Chief Minister
K Chandrasekhar Rao and the
Airport.
The passenger, who arrived TRS Government.
3
State
Friday, July 3, 2015
Srinivas calls Digvijay
singh ‘a bluffer’
Hyderabad,
July
2
(NSS): Senior Congress
leader D.Srinivas, who had
resigned from Congress
party to join the ruling TRS
party in the Telangana
State on Thursday lambasted AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh as a
“bluffer” for accusing him
of political opportunism.
During the media conference organized to explain the circumstances
that made him to quit
Congress and join the
pink party, DS was asked
to respond to the charge
of the AICC leader that it
was “political opportunism” the main reason for
jumping the ship. It was
also pointed out him that
he was annoyed with the
Congress leadership at the
Centre for denying him
MLC re-nomination and
instead a much junior was
selected as him himself
has recommended the
woman leader’s name to
Digvijay Singh.
Senior Congress leader D Srinivas showing the
resignation letter to media in Hyderabad on Thursday.
He quit Congress to join TRS party. (PTI Photo)
Losing his cool to the utter surprise of the media,
DS shot back by stating
that “ He ( Digvijay Singh)
is a bluffer “ and went on
to explain that he never
had any discussions with
the Central party leaders
or was he consulted in the
matter. “ Till now I had regard for Digvijay Singh”,
he quipped “ but after his
blatant lies I changed my
mind”. He is a bluffer and
does not what he is taking,
DS fumed.
Getting calm after his
sudden outburst DS explained that he was not
angry or unhappy with
anyone for giving the MLC
ticket to Lalitha ( the one
selected by the High Command instead of DS). I am
happy about her getting
the ticket and my blessing would with her all the
time, he added.
Orientation programme for
fresh MBA batch begins at HBS
Orientation programme for
fresh MBA batch begins at HBS
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): “Aim
high. It is our limited thought
that limits our career. With
the power of thought one can
achieve whatever one aspires to”,
said Dr. Vivekananda Suri, Director, Strategy and Operations, Oracle Software India Ltd. He participated in the inauguration of
the MBA Programme 2015-2017
at Hyderabad Business School
(HBS), GITAM University, as the
Chief Guest, and formally began the Orientation Programme
which will be held from 2nd to
4th of July 2015 for the freshly
recruited batch of MBA students.
Advising the newly admitted
students on career planning,
he said, “Career is a set of goals
achieved against a timeframe.
To have a top career, one needs
to plan it. Strong commitment
to the goal is needed to achieve
it. When it comes to one’s goals,
one needs to be selfish so as to
avoid distractions. Only the one
who commits to himself will be
successful.” By citing inspiring
examples of achievement like
Arunima Sinha who is the first
amputee to scale Mt. Everest,
Dr Suri exhorted the students
to realize the power of thought
and the commitment to a goal.
He advised them to break a goal
into manageable chunks, and
never to leave in the middle what
one starts. Dr Vivekananda Suri
debunked the myth that there is
shortage of jobs.
On the other hand, the corporate world is always looking
for good, skilled, committed
workers. On skill development,
he suggested the technique of
‘inch wide and mile deep”, that
is to say, to specialize thoroughly
even in a small area of knowledge. He congratulated the students for their choice of the field
as well as the institution.
Speaking on this occasion,
Dr. N. Siva Prasad, Director,
School of Technology, GITAM
Hyderabad Campus, urged the
students to take advantage of
the intellectual and infrastructural resources of the university
and develop confidence while
on the campus so as to shine in
their careers. As would be managers, they need to cultivate the
attitude of being responsible for
creating wealth by managing human and financial resources.
CCL’s Gopal Singh
recommended for
CMD post in NMDC
Hyderabad, Jul 2 (PTI): Public Enterprises Selection Board
(PSEB) has recommended name
of Central Coalfields (CCL) Chairman-cum-Managing
Director
Gopal Singh for the post of CMD
of NMDC Ltd.
The present CMD of the country’s largest iron ore miner Narendra Kothari will attain superannuation in December.
The recommendation was
made after it had interviewed 13
persons, PSEB said in a statement.
A graduate from Indian School
of Mine, Dhanbad in 1981, Singh
has been working as CCL CMD
since March 2012 and has over 30
years of experience in the industry, according to CCL website.
Those interviewed for the
post includes, four directors of
NMDC (National Mineral Development Corporation), two
directors of SAIL and one director each from RINL, CIL, HCL
apart from the CMD of HSCL
Kishan brings Inter
Students issue to
Smriti Irani
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS):
Telangana State BJP president G Kishan Reddy has
said he brought the injustice meted out to Telangana Intermediate students in JEE ranks to the
notice of Union Human
Resources Development
Minister Smrithi Irani and
urged her to take a deci-
Moyukh Bhaduri, CCL CMD
Gopal Singh, PGCIL executive
director V Sekar and KIOCL
CMD Malay Chatterjee, it said.
PSEB is responsible for selection and placement of candidates
for board level positions in central
public sector undertakings.
A senior central government official said the recommendations
will be sent to Central Vigilance
Commission, Department of Personal and Training (DoPT).
“Once the name is cleared by
DoPT, the appointment committee of the cabinet will take a final
decision on the appointment,”
the official told PTI.
Two senior officials from two
different PSUs who were in the
race for the post during initial
stages withdrew their candidatures for “unexplained reasons”.
The official on condition of
anonymity said three names were
included in the original list of candidates at a later stage.
sion keeping the future of
the students by consulting
CBSE officials. He said the
Minister assured that she
would resolve the problem
by keeping legal and technical issues in mind. Kishan Reddy said the Centre
responded immediately
on the issue.
In a pressnote, Kishan
Reddy alleged that the
future of 1,188 students
will be in dark due to the
Telangana Intermediate
Police arrest All India Youth Federation (AIYF) activists holding a
demonstration demanding the ban of KFC which they claim are serving
poisonous food in Hyderabad on Thursday. (PTI Photo)
TTD EO reviews
on Maha
Pushkaram 2015
Tirupati, July 2 (NSS):
TTD Executive Officer
Dr D Sambasiva Rao on
Thursday reviewed on the
ongoing arrangements for
Maha Pushkaram 2015 in
Rajamundry.
Board’s inefficiency. He
said the Board has failed to
send marks list of students,
who applied for revaluation, subsequently they
lost ranks in JEE Mains.
In general, the JEE decides the ranks based on
the marks of Intermediate and JEE Mains examination (40:60 percent).
Due to the Intermediate
Board’s inefficiency, the
students lost their entry
into IIT and NIT.
ADVERTISEMENTS INVITED Revanth will
end up in jail,
To Advertise in
says Jupally
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at concessional rates.
Pleasing display,
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Please contact:
040-66616611, 66839818,
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Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS):
Ministers Jupally Krishna Rao
and Dr C Lakshma Reddy today lashed out at Telugu Desam
legislator Revanth Reddy for his
remarks against Chief Minister
K Chandrasekhar Rao and his
government. The ministers took
serious exception to Revanth for
his alleged remarks that he will
strive to topple the KCR Government in the days to come.
Addressing a press conference
at Telangana Bhavan here on
Thursday, the ministers said Re-
The review meeting was
held in his chambers’ in
TTD Administrative Building in Tirupati. The EO
called upon the officers
to make the TTD activity
a special attraction during the mega religious
event. “This is going to
be a prestigious event. So
there should not be not
‘Thief’ Revanth
shouldn’t spit on
sky: Pocharam
any compromise in the
arrangements on our behalf”, he maintained.
The EO also said that
there is need to give extensive publicity for the TTD
publications by setting
up book stall as majority
of pilgrim devotees visit
the replica temple during
Maha Pushkaram.
Hyderabad, July 2 (NSS): Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has alleged that Telangana TDP MLA A. Revanth Reddy
is a “thief” who was caught by the
ACB in cash-for-vote scam case.
Speaking to the media at TRSLP
office here on Thursday, Pocharam
asked Revanth Reddy not to lose
his tongue and behave like a street
rowdy. He said politicians should
behave in a polite manner. He also
said all sections of the people under TRS rule are happy and it was
shame on the part of Revanth Reddy to criticize the TRS government.
Finding fault with the rally taken
by Revanth Reddy on Wednesday
evening, the minister said Revanth
was not a leader, who sacrificed for
the sake of people, to organize such
a huge rally spending Rs 2 crores.
The rally was against rules. The
court gave him conditional bail and
it is better to Revanth Reddy to stay
at Kodangal only, he said.
vanth is not eligible to make such
harsh comments against the chief
minister. They fumed at the TD
leader for swirling moustaches
and throwing a challenge by hitting on his thigh saying that he
has no eligibility to comment on
the Chief Minister.
It is shame on the part of the
TD leadership for celebrating
Revanth’s release by conducting a rally, distributing sweets
and firing crackers, they said.
He sought to know whether Revanth done some rare feat or
achieved something that is impossible to conduct a rally from
the jail to NTR Trust Bhavan.
Though he came out of jail on
bail for time-being, Revanth will
finally end up behind bars, they
stated. There is no comparison
between KCR and Naidu as the
former has championed the
cause of new State and the latter
is indulging corrupt practices,
they said.
They warned the TD leader of
dire consequences if failed to
mend his ways of coming in the
way of Telangana at the behest
of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Playing down the remarks that
KCR got fever as he came out of
jail, the ministers said the people
in his native Kodangal Assembly
segment and elsewhere will remove the flag-posts and banish
Andhra parties from Telangana.
4
Short Takes
2 kgs gold seized
from air passenger
Chennai, Jul 2 (PTI): Two kilos of gold allegedly smuggled
here from Singapore was seized
today and the accused has been
detained, Airport officials said.
Acting on a tip off, Air Intelligence Unit officials detained
Ikander Hayathullah as soon as
he arrived here from Singapore.
During questioning he told
them that he had hidden the
gold behind his seat in the aircraft and it was recovered and
seized. Further inquiries are on,
they said.
64 Star tortoises
seized, man
detained at airport
Chennai, July 2 (PTI): As
many as 64 star tortoises, a
protected wildlife species, was
seized from a man at the airport
here today just before he was to
board a flight to Malaysia, airport officials said.
Naina Mohammed Yasin
was detained by Customs authorities before his departure to
Kuala Lumpur by a Malaysian
Airlines flight after it was found
that he had 64 star tortoises hidden in his baggage.
He would be handed over to
Forest Department officials for
further enquiry and appropriate action, they said.
Duo wearing helments
snatch chain from
old woman
Coimbatore, Jul 2 (PTI): Two
helmet wearing men on a bike
snatched a four and half sovereign gold chain from a septugenerain woman at Peelamedu
today, police said.
The 75-year-old woman was
going to dispose night waste in
a dustbin near her house when
they accosted her, snatched the
chain and fled.
Before she could raise an
alarm and alert neighbours, the
duo managed to escape, they
said. A hunt is on to nab them,
police said.
‘Rope in banks,
industrial houses to
maintain schools’
Puducherry, July 2 (PTI):
Lt Governor of Puducherry Lt
General (retired) A K Singh has
urged education department
officials to associate industrial
houses and banks to strengthen
infrastructure in government
schools by using funds under
`Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme.
Speaking after meeting the
officials at Raj Nivas yesterday to identify needs of the
schools and to evolve plans to
tone teachers’ skills, he said
infrastructure was essential for
schools. He stressed the need to
make available toilets and safe
drinking water. posts of teachers remaining vacant should be
filled at the earliest, he said
A meeting at the level of Chief
Secretary to government should
be held with officials of industrial houses and banks to ensure that they use funds under
CSR to tone up basic infrastructure in schools, he said.
FICCI Workshop on
ZED model on July 8
Kozhikode, Jul 2 (PTI): With
a focus on making the MSME
in Kozhikode and Malabar in
particular aware about the
ZED model, a workshop on
“ZED Model - Zero Defect
Zero Effect” will be here on
July 8 by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI).
Indian Horizon, Hyderabad
South
The programme, organised in
association with Quality Council of India (QCI) and Malabar
Chamber of Commerce and
Calicut Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, will be inaugurated by K Sudhir, Additional
Director, Department of Industries and Commerce of the state
government, a press release
from the FICCI state council
said today.
It is intended to give a major
fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to manufacture products with “zero defect”
in terms of quality and with
“zero effect” in terms of environmental impact under “Make
in India” umbrella, it said.
Stalin accused of
slapping metro
passenger incident
Chennai, Jul 2 (PTI): DMK
leader M K Stalin was in the
midst of a controversy today
after a video showed him allegedly slapping a fellow passenger
on board a metro train here.
“I did not slap him, I only gestured him to move away from
a woman whose feet was being
trampled by the passenger.
My hand (inadvertently)
touched his face while gesturing,” Stalin told PTI when asked
on the issue.
Video footages of Stalin allegedly slapping a passenger in a
metro train yesterday went viral
today with Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister Jayalalithaa condemning the incident.
“This is strongly condemnable, such an uncivilised behaviour is unbecoming of an
MLA,” the AIADMK supremo
said in a statement.
DMK leader Stalin
accuses TN Chief
Electoral Officer
of bias
Chennai, Jul 2 (PTI): DMK
treasurer M K Stalin today accused Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer of being biased in
favour of ruling AIADMK in the
June 27 bypoll in R K Nagar,
from where Chief Minister Jayalalithaa won by a huge margin.
“He is a government official, an IAS officer and was
vested with the responsibility
of working without any party
bias,” he said.
“Sandeep Saxena (Chief
Electoral Officer) however
worked more than AIADMK
ministers and MLAs for the
victory of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (in RK Nagar constituency),” he alleged.
“He has to soon answer for all
these and that time will come
soon,” he told reporters here.
Six arrested for
murder of Dalit
engineer; hunt on
for 3 more
Namakkal (TN) July 2 (PTI):
Six persons were arrested here
today in connection with the
death of a Dalit engineer, whose
body was found on the railway
track near Pallipallayam in the
district on June 27, police said.
One among the arrested was
a college student, they said,
adding a hunt was on for three
others.
The death of Gokulraj (26)
had triggered protests by his
family here who had gone on an
indefinite fast on June 29, along
with some Dalit outfits, demanding a CBI probe and that
a case of murder be registered,
instead of suspicious death as
initally done by Railway police.
They had alleged that it was
an honour killing as the youth
was in love with a girl of another caste.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Lokayukta corruption Jaya dismisses DMK’s
claims of initiating
row: Oppn mounts
pressure for CBI probe Chennai metro rail
Belagavi, Jul 2 (PTI):
Keeping up pressure for removal of Lokaykuta Bhaskar
Rao and a CBI probe into alleged bribery scandal in the
anti-graft body, Opposition
BJP and JDS members today staged a walkout from
the Legislative Council, accusing the government of
shielding the corrupt.
As the House proceedings began, BJP and JDS
sought to move an adjournment motion on the
scandal that has rocked the
Lokayukta office and demanded removal of Rao, alleging his son was involved
in corruption amounting
to crores of rupees.
In their joint notice for
adjournment motion, both
parties said several social
organisations, legal fraternity and its associations
had expressed their dismay
against the “corrupt” Lokayukta which was weakening
the very institution and he
should be removed.
As BJP leader K S Eshwarappa began speaking, he
was interrupted frequently
by the ruling Congress
members which enraged his
party members who staged
a walkout, followed by their
counterparts in JDS also.
Minister and Leader of
the House S R Patil told reporters it is very unfortunate
that BJP and JD(S) members
walked out only because
some from the ruling bench
interrupted them.
“The government has no
intention of protecting anyone. But government has no
power for removal of Lokayukta as per the Lokayukta
Act 1984,” he said.
Later, Eshwarappa told reporters that the government
should seek opinion from
legal experts on the charges
levelled against Lokayukta.
A situation had arisen
Youth fighting corruption
murdered;BJP demands
debate in Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka), July 2
(PTI): Opposition BJP today demanded discussion in the assembly on alleged murder of a youth
in Koppal district who spoke
against corruption, charging that
the district in charge Minister was
“shielding those involved.”
Leader of Opposition Jagadish
Shettar raised the issue and requested the chair to allow discussion on it. “Goondagiri is on the
rise in Koppal district, where a
youth named Yellalinga was killed
for speaking against corruption.
We had heard of such killings in
where all officers are
scared of Lokayukta due
to threat from his son, Eshwarappa said. The was
protecting a corrupt Lokayukta, he alleged.
JDS senior member Basavarj Horatti wanted to know
as to why government is
protecting the Lokayukta.
An FIR was filed yesterday against the Lokayukta’s son in connection
with the alleged scandal
on the basis of a complaint
that an executive engineer
was asked to pay Rs 1 crore
bribe to avoid a raid.
Rao, a former High Court
Chief Justice, has rejected
allegations that his son was
involved in the scandal and
said he would resign if the
charge was proved correct.
The case has been handed over to a Special Investigation team by the government on the request by
the Lokayukta.
Bihar earlier, now Koppal is turning into a mini Bihar,” Shettar said.
Alleging a political conspiracy
behind Yellalinga?s killing, Shettar
said “people who are suspected to
be behind his killing are still roaming free. Killers are being shielded by
District in charge Minister (Shivaraj
Tangadagi).” He said police had
earlier declared his death as a case
of suicide, and an FIR was lodged
only after his mother’s demand.
Not agreeing to the opposition?s
demand for immediately taking up
the issue for discussion, Speaker
Kagodu Thimmappa said the debate on demands pertaining to various departments should be taken
up first and the murder issue could
be discussed later.
Chennai, Jul 2 (PTI): Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today
said it was her government which
sowed the seeds for the Chennai
Metro Rail and dismissed claims of
arch rival DMK that it had initiated
the project.
Referring to DMK’s allegations
of delay in execution of the Metro
Project, Jayalalithaa said only three
per cent of the work was completed during 2007-11 by the DMK
regime. “Between 2007 and 2011,
during the DMK regime, only three
per cent of work was done. In the
past four years, 73 per cent of the
work was completed in my government and service between Alandur
and Koyambedu is launched,” she
said in a statement here today.
The feasibility study for the Metro Project was done only in 2003 in
the AIADMK regime, she said.
“It is a pure lie to say that the
plan was devised and executed
expeditiously during the DMK
regime,” she said.
Though DMK was an ally of
the Congress, it could get the
Centre’s nod for the project only
in 2009, she added.
Also, it was only on February
15, 2011 during the fag end of the
DMK tenure that an MoU was
inked among the Centre, State and
Chennai Metro Rail, she said.
While DMK spent only Rs
1,143 crore for the project during its regime, Rs 9,229 had been
spent till date by the AIADMK
government since it assumed
power in 2011, the CM said.
“People will easily understand
that it is the AIADMK regime
which sowed the seeds for Metro Rail Project,” she said adding, DMK leaders M Karunanidhi and Stalin were “confusing”
people to gain political mileage.
She also said that all corridors of
the Metro network would be operational by the end of 2016.
Services between Airport and
Little Mount and from Alandur to
St Thomas Mount will be inaugurated by March next year, she said.
Similarly, services from Koyambedu to Nehru Park would be
operational by June next year,
she added.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan addressing a press conference in Chennai on
Thursday. (PTI Photo)
CPI(M) disrupts proceedings of Kerala Assembly once again
Thiruvananthapuram,Jul 2
(PTI): CPI(M) led LDF opposition disrupted proceedings
in the Kerala Assembly today
in protest against alleged delay in distributing textbooks
in
government
schools,
prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day
ahead of the schedule.
The trouble began during
zero hour when the Opposition sought to move an adjournment motion over the
education department’s ‘inefficiency’ in not supplying
the textbooks even a month
after the schools reopened.
LDF also cornered the government over alleged differences between Education
Minister Abdu Rabb and minister in charge of printing K
P Mohanan in finalising the
order of printing of textbooks
to state-run Kerala Books and
Publishing Society.
Replying to the notice,
Rabb assured the House that
the textbooks would be distributed to students by July
20. He also explained the circumstances that led to delay
in completing the printing of
books before June 1, when
schools reopened.
“We tried to use quality papers for printing this year to
make them more attractive.
But scarcity of quality papers
delayed the printing. Besides,
syllabus revision of certain
standards this academic year
also caused the delay,” he said.
He also denied the charge
that printing was purposefully delayed to hand over the
contract to the private sector.
LDF slammed the government, saying it has put the
future of 50 lakh students in
jeopardy by not distributing
textbooks on time.
JD(S) leader Mathew T
Thomas, who moved the notice, said government had
tried to award the printing
contract to a private press
overlooking KBPS.
“It is a clear case of deriliction
of duty on the part of education
and printing departments as
everbody knows that schools
Scorching of plants in coastal
areas due to salt spray: report
Kochi, Jul 2 (PTI): The
scorching of plants reported during this monsoon season from various
parts of Kerala coast is
caused by salt spray, according to a study.
In an interim report,
scientists of Kerala University of Fisheries and
Ocean Studies (KUFOS)
who tested the sea water, soil and plants collected from the affected
areas have ruled out any
chances of heat burst in
Kerala’s coastal belt.
“Environment has low
temperature during the
monsoon season. Heat
bursts are local with a
maximum of three km
stretch and is very rare.
Since this phenomenon
happened all along the
coast of the state, we rule
out the possibilities of heat
burst,” Prof S Suresh Kumar said who is the head
of the committee comprising oceanographers,
geologists, meteorologists,
biologists and chemists.
The report pointed out
that salt nucleus formed
from the salt spray due to
strong wind caused wilting
of plants.
“There is high chance of
salt spray. Aerosols with
high salt content will be
formed by the action of
wind on wave surfing. Intermittent rain and sun
during this monsoon may
have aggravated the situa-
tion,” the report said.
Scientists also observed
that the phenomenon was
a gradual process and people came to know about
this only at a later stage.
Local enquiry confirmed the occurrence of
similar phenomena for
the last several years during
August?September
period, but this year it
happened earlier in June,
claimed the scientists.
“This is more likely to
be an oceanic process
and it should be studied
in detail with reference
to atmospheric, oceanographic and chemical
aspects,” said Dr B Madhusoodana Kurup, Vice
Chancellor of KUFOS.
in Kerala reopen on June 1 after summer vacation and textbooks have to be distributed by
that time,” he said.
He also alleged that the education department had failed
to improve infrastructure of
schools and distribute free uniforms. The minister, however,
maintained that there was no
serious situation in the department that warranted a debate.
Unsatisfied, the opposition
members trooped to the well of
the House and raised slogans.
They continued to protest
sitting on the well, though
Speaker N Sakthan asked
them to return to their seats.
When the protest continued, the Speaker suspended
the proceedings for around
half and hour.
Though he called a meeting of party leaders to end the
stalemate, they failed to arrive at a consensus.
Before announcing the
LDF sit-in protest, Opposition leader V S Achutanandan
said the government had so
far distributed only around
one crore textbooks in place
of five crore.
The Speaker rushed through
other business in the agenda,
including voting on demands
for grants in the budget for the
year 2015-16 for exercise, fisheries, ports, food and stamps
and registration and adjourned
the House.
Burial of dead of Pentecost
Christians: HC disposes petition
Madurai, July 2 (PTI): The Madras High Court today disposed
a petition seeking a direction to
prevent Pentecost faction Christians from ‘burying’ their dead at
the corner of a tank in a village on
the ground that groundwater will
be contaminated.
The bench came down on the
attitude of public in fighting over
even a burial place and said it
could not interfere with the arrangements made by the Dindigul Revenue Divisional officer
to bury Pentecost Christians on
land alloted near a water body at
A.Vellodu village in the district.
“Christianity has no caste system. What is prevalent in Hinduism appears to have percolated
into the Christian religion. Does
the Holy Bible allows this practise? It is left to the conscience of
the practitioners of the religion.”
“Religious belief and customs
may vary in the matter of disposal
of dead bodies. The place of burial
is visited by family members and
friends as a mark of respect and to
pay homage and there should be
no fight there,” the bench, comprising Justices S Manikumar and
G Chockalingam said.
It said considering the ground
reality, the Pentecost faction
could be allowed to bury bodies of their loved ones on a site
allotted above the water tank.
Till a permanent solution was
found, none should raise objections, they said.
Petitioner P.Joseph Raj sought
a direction to restrain officials
from burying the bodies at a corner of the tank as it was the only
water source for the village.
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
5
Nation
Friday July 3, 2015
Maharashtra move on madrassas
contradicts PM’s vision: Congress
Women click pictures with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar “Har
Ghar Dastak”, his door to door campaign for the state elections, in
Patna on Thursday. PTI
from Mokama to custody till
July 15 in the case relating to the
murder of one Sanjay Singh in
2008.The JD(U) MLA from Mokama was brought to the CJM
Patna, Jul 2 (PTI) Janata court for production from Beur
Dal(U) MLA Anant Singh was jail in the case which had been
today remanded to judicial cus- lodged with Kotwali police statody by a district court in a sev- tion in 2008.Singh is in jail in a
en-year-old murder case.
case of kidnapping of a builder
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Raju Singh under Bihta police
Patna, Bharat Singh, sent the station of rural Patna district in
‘bahubali’ (muscleman) MLA November last year.
Another case
against Anant
Singh
Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) The Maharashtra government’s alleged move not
to treat madrassas as schools in case
they failed to teach primary subjects
came in for criticism on Thursday from
state party leaders of both the Congress
and the Samajwadi Party.
The move was “diametrically contradictory” to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s declared vision to bring Muslim
youths into the national mainstream,
said M. Naseem Khan, a Congress leader and a former minister for minority
affairs.
“In the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, modernisation of madrassas was
included in the BJP’s election manifesto. Modi spoke about this in parliament.
In the union budget for 2015-2016, the
Centre allocated Rs.100 crore for this
noble cause. Now, the Maharashtra
government is talking like this,” he
said.“The government has not accorded them recognition; so where’s the
question of derecognising them? Such
statements will have no impact and the
good education imparted in madrassas
will continue unhindered,” said Khan
while referring to the alleged move to
“derecognise” approximate 1,900 madrassas across the western Indian state.
The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government has decided to “derecognise” the
madrassas in the state as formal schools
since they only impart religious education.
Defending the move, state Education
Minister Vinod Tawde said the government wants to bring in modern subjects
in madrassas without interfering with
the religious education.“How is that
anti-Muslim? We want to do this for
AFSPA to be revoked in J&K when
situation is conducive, says Rajnath Singh
Srinagar July 2 (PTI): The controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act
(AFSPA) will be revoked in Jammu and
Kashmir when the situation is conducive, Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh said on Thursday.
“I want to say that the situation
should be such, and I pray to Almighty,
that AFSPA should not be needed anywhere in the country. We will need cooperation of one and all to achieve this
goal,” Singh told reporters.
The Home Minister, who was
speaking after paying obeisance at the
Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, also ruled out talks
with separatists.
Singh’s remarks on AFSPA came a
day after BJP’s alliance partner PDP hit
out at Union Minister Jitendra Singh
for disfavouring withdrawal of the
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh paying obeisance at the Hazratbal
shrine in Srinagar on Thursday. PTI
Act in Jammu and Kashmir, terming
his statement “obnoxious and having
unacceptable and unpardonable undertones”.Jitendra Singh, who is a BJP
Lok Sabha member from Jammu and
Kashmir’s Udhampur constituency,
Nepali man held for raping,
sodomising daughters, son
Panaji, July 2 (IANS) In a shocking incident, A Nepali national was arrested on Thursday by Goa Police
for raping and sodomising his biological daughter, a
stepdaughter and sodomising his stepson, all of them
minors.
Police said the accused 39-year-old casual labourer was arrested after the school in which the three
children were admitted to in South Goa’s Vasco subdistrict, noticed something amiss in their body language whenever they were in the proximity of male
teachers.“We have arrested the accused.
Formal statements of the victims are currently being recorded,” South Goa Superintendent of Police
Shekhar Prabhudesai told IANS.
The Nepali man has been booked for rape, sodomy
and assault under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Goa Children’s Act.The accused’s
daughter is seven years old, stepdaughter is 11, and
stepson is 13 years old, police said.
Police said the Nepali man had travelled to Goa
from Chandigarh, where he was living with his previous wife, with who he had a daughter, the eldest of
the three who have been sexually assaulted.
“He came from Chandigarh to Goa a couple of
years back with his daughter and married another
woman, who already had two children,” a police official said.
“When the school authorities noticed the unusual
body language, they called a counsellor who managed to convince the children to share the story, following which the first information report was filed,”
the official said.
Kashmir, today said the stakeholders
will have to cooperate in order to ensure that the act is revoked.
Revocation of the AFSPA is part of
the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ -- the common minimum programme on which
the PDP formed government with the
BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.“While
both parties have historically held a
different view on the AFSPA and the
need for it in the State at present, as
part of the agenda for governance of
this alliance, the coalition government
will examine the need for de-notifying
‘disturbed areas’.
“This, as a consequence, would enable the Union Government to take a
final view on the continuation of AFSPA in these areas,” the agenda reads.
Asked if the Centre had any plans to
hold talks with separatist groups in
Jammu and Kashmir, Rajnath Singh
said, “We have no proposal to hold
talks with the separatists in Jammu
and Kashmir.
KOLKATA July 2 (PTI): West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee today visited landslidehit areas in Darjeeling district of
West Bengal, where 38 people
were killed.
“Visited the spot where landslide was worst. Met families
of victims and those affected
in the area. Handed over more
cheques to families. Distributed
relief and visited community
centres where affected families
are,” Ms Banerjee said in a statement. ”The 3 community kitchens are open. Met more people
affected there. The Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DG Police also visited,” she said.Since
Tuesday night, heavy rain triggered a string of landslides in the
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Prime
Minister Narendra Modi “will have to
pay a heavy price in the coming days”
for ignoring rising cases of corruption involving BJP leaders, the CPI-M
warned on Thursday.
“There should be no surprise at
the corruption and the rapidity with
which it has surfaced in BJP-led governments, both at the centre and in
the states,” said an editorial in CPI-M
journal “People’s Democracy”.
“Corruption is inbuilt in the neoliberal regime which has spawned a
big business-politician-bureaucrat
nexus. Crony capitalism is inherent
in such a set-up,” it said. “In fact,
with the more aggressive push for
neo-liberal policies and privatisation
the scope for corruption and loot has
increased manifold,” added the Com-
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks to landslide victims at a relief camp in Mirik in Darjeeling on Thrusday.
PTI
mountainous Darjeeling district
of West Bengal, killing at least
38 people, swamping homes,
washing away highways and
throwing normal life out of gear
in the region famed for aromatic
Punjab adopts Meghalya
model to curb child labour
Chandigarh, Jul 2 (PTI) Punjab government
today adopted the Meghalya model to curb
child labour under which provisions will be of Rs
20,000 as fine and three months imprisonment
to offenders.A meeting under the chairmanship
of Sukesh Kalia, Chairman, Punjab State Com-
Mumbai-Newark service on
Monday.The flight delay took
place when Pravin Pardeshi,
principal secretary in the Chief
Minister’s Office, who was also
travelling in the entourage,
was stopped from boarding as
he was not carrying his passport with a valid US visa.
“If at all any report that has
been submitted states that I
refused to travel without my
delegation, then it is a blatant
lie because passengers sitting
besides and behind me are
witness that I was sitting quietly waiting for departure. Not
even once I asked to offload
me,” Fadnavis tweeted.
Members of SFI and other Left students unions block the
road in front of Calcutta University to protest against the
State Government for allegedly heckling professor and non
teaching staff of the university, in Kolkata on Thursday. PTI
Kolkata, Jul 2 (PTI) A day
after Calcutta University (CU)
professors were heckled by
alleged Trinamool Congress
tea.Ms Banerjee had rushed to
Siliguri from Murshidabad yesterday also and announced a
compensation of Rs. 4 lakh each
to the families of the deceased in
landslides in Darjeeling Hills.
mission for the Protection of Child Rights was
held.It was recommended that a notice containing the provision of Child Labour (Prohibition
and Regulation) Act 1986 that a child below the
age of 14 years indulged in arduous and hazardous jobs or labour is considered a crime, an official said.
“The offenders are liable to a fine of Rs 20,000
and three months imprisonment”, he said.
Professors, teaching staff
take out rally in Kolkata
Chhatra Parishad activists,
the teaching fraternity took to
the streets here today in protest against it.The protesters
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Devyani Khobragade, the 1999-batch IFS officer whose
arrest and handcuffing in New York in 2013
over alleged visa fraud led to souring in IndiaUS ties, has been reinstated as director in the
ministry of external affairs, a few months after she was stripped of her duties and placed
on “compulsory wait”.
Khobragade has been made director in
the ministry’s States division since February, said sources.Khobragade was stripped
of her responsibilities with the ministry in
December last year after she gave interviews
to the media in which she termed a vigilance
inquiry against her as unfair.
The vigilance case against Khobragade was
on charges that she failed to disclose that her
husband was a US citizen and that she has
got US passports for her two children.The
then Indian consul general was arrested in
New York in 2013 on charges of ill-treating
her domestic help Sangeeta Richards and
visa fraud.
Modi will suffer for ignoring
corruption: CPI-M
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee Visits Landslide-Affected Areas
Flight delay row: Fadnavis
threatens defamation cases
Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) Irked
by reports that he was allegedly
responsible for delaying an Air
India flight to the US, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday hit
back with threats to file criminal defamation cases.“Enough
is enough. Once I am back to
India I will initiate proceedings
of criminal defamation,” Fadnavis warned in a tweet during his ongoing business tour
of the US.“The allegation that
I forced to delay the flight to
New York is false & misleading.
I totally deny it,” a tweet said
after the controversy erupted
on the 57-minute delay to the
had disfavoured partial withdrawal of
AFSPA in the state and underlined that
the last word on this would come only
from the security agencies and not
from political functionaries.Rajnath
Singh, who was on a two-day visit to
their betterment... Under the Right to
Education, children who aren’t taught
under National School Curriculum are
considered out of school,” Tawde said.
The move -- on which Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis has not commented so far -- evoked a sarcastic response
from Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil: “Is it a decision taken
in haste, or a well thought about decision?”
The move could deprive madrassas of funds for improvisation, unless
they get affiliated to a formal board
like the Maharashtra education board,
Indian Certificate of Secondary Education or Central Board of Secondary
Education and include subjects like science, maths and social studies in their
curriculum.“We have never asked for
funds from them (government).
Khobragade reinstated
as director in MEA
also questioned the alleged
silence of Vice-chancellor
Suranjan Das over the assault
on professors in front of him
yesterday.
The professors, who were
joined by the non teaching
staff, took out a rally from
Rajabazar Science College, a
premier institute in the city,
to the famed College Square
about 2 km away, wearing
black masks and carrying
placards denouncing the alleged assault.“We are out on
the streets to protest against
yesterday’s barbaric assault
on teachers by TMCP goons
inside the campus of Calcutta university,” said Shyamal
Chakraborty, a member of
‘Save University - Save Democracy’.
munist Party of India-Marxist. “Modi
has been wilfully blind to this phenomenon. He will have to pay a heavy
price for this in the coming days.”
The editorial, titled ‘Spreading
Stain of Corruption’, referring to the
allegations of corruption and impropriety hurled against Rajasthan Chief
Minister Vasundhara Raje, External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as
well as Maharashta BJP ministers
Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawde.
The journal said the “stain of corruption, nepotism and crony capitalism is enveloping the Modi government and the BJP state governments”.
It pointed out how Modi and the BJP
had made the massive corruption under the UPA government their main
plank in the Lok Sabha election campaign.
ED attaches land
worth Rs 1,000
crore in US in loan
fraud case
Ahmedabad July 2 (PTI): The
Ahmedabad zonal unit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached
1,280 acres of land, worth Rs 1,000
crore, in California, USA, in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud.
For the first time ED had taken such
an action in USA, an official said.
“ED Indore attaches under PMLA
(Prevention of Money Laundering
Act) 1280 acres of land in California,
USA, of Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd
and Vijay Chaudhary in bank fraud
case,” the central agency tweeted
today.Indore falls under the juris-
diction of ED, Ahmedabad, official
said. ED officials said this was one of
the biggest bank loan frauds in the
country.
After suspecting the role played by
some of the banks in granting loans,
the CBI had also initiated a separate
probe, officials said.Zoom Developers, promoted by Vijay Chaudhary,
operates from Indore and Mumbai.
Chaudhary, who is absconding, had
taken loans of Rs 2,200 crore from
various banks for realty projects in
Europe.
However, no project was ever
undertaken and the money was allegedly siphoned off by Chaudhary.
Last month, one of the directors of
the company, Sharad Kabra, was
arrested by the Indore ED. An arrest warrant has been issued against
Chaudhary.
JD(U) launches campaign song
for upcoming Bihar elections
Patna, Jul 2 (PTI) Banking on
catchy tunes and exuberant lyrics,
JD(U) today released its campaign
song ‘Bihar mein bahaar ho, Nitishe Kumar ho’ (Let there be prosperity in Bihar, let there be only
Nitish Kumar) for the forthcoming
Assembly elections in the state.
The song was made public by
state JD(U) president Vashistha
Narayan Singh amid much fanfare
simultaneously with the launch of
‘Har ghar dastak’ campaign of the
party.
Music for the song has been
composed by Sneha Khanwalkar
of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and ‘Oye
Lucky Oye’ fame, besides the songwriter Raj Shekhar, known for his
lyrics in Tanu Weds Manu. Neeti
Mohan and Ghunghroo are the vocalists.
JD(U) insiders said the song was
prepared after a research of twoand-a-half months under guidance
of Prashant Kishore, who was formerly associated with innovative
social outreach strategies during
Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial
campaign and now hired by Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to
spearhead JD(U)’s poll campaign
in the state.The 4.21 minute-long
song has been tailor made to showcase developments made in Bihar
over the last 10 years during which
Kumar was at the helm of affairs.
It uses the word ‘Nitishe’ which in
colloquial language means ‘only
Nitish’.
“The song showcases the developmental efforts by the government, hints at how the downslide
of the state stopped and an upward
movement started. It points at the
way pride has been brought to Bihar and how there is nobody else
like Nitish Kumar,” a leader associated with JD(U) poll campaign said.
By straightaway connecting ‘bahaar’ (prosperity) and development
with Nitish Kumar in the state, the
song tries to stymie the BJP, which
will definitely bank on its slogan for
a change in governance in the coming elections.
As poll campaign songs cannot
leave politics untouched, this one
too goes on to talk about ‘Bhoomi
ka sapoot, bhoomi bachayega’ (the
son of the soil will save land) pointing to the land acquisition bill being
pushed by the BJP-led government
at the Centre.
6
BY SUJIT CHAKRABORTY
A
Friday July 3, 2015
Federal constitution with secular
characteristic will provide an ideal
solution to all problems
After long last, there appears to be some light around the proposal in Syria with two fundamental ideas. First idea is to have
a share for each members participating in Syria with a federal
structure building but, Bashar-Al-Assad will have to retire compulsorily and find an exclusive safe refuge for himself. This
is an excellent solution with one difficulty. This will leave untouched the element of promoting sectarianism and there will
be no way to abandon and eradicate the sectarian conflicting
elements in Syrian confederation. Therefore, there must be a
rider to the federal structure that no issue or sectarian element
must be given scope for causing trouble. The sectarian faith
and ideas must be a private convenient provision for individual
happiness, but in the public life of Syria, no issue of any sectarian nature will find expressive importance given to it. In other
fter creating a significant electoral
footprint in Congress-ruled Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur
and Meghalaya, the BJP is inching ahead
in Tripura, the lone Left-ruled state in
the country. The Congress, on the other
hand, is losing its political space in the
northeastern states, once a party stronghold. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
got 7.87 percent of the votes in the May
3 elections to the 30-seat Tripura Tribal
Areas Autonomous District Council.
It secured 23.33 percent votes in bypolls to two Tripura assembly seats, the
highest for the BJP in any election so far
in the state ruled by Communist Party
of India-Marxist-led Left Front. The BJP
bagged 5.7 percent votes in the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections and only 1.54 percent
votes in the 2013 assembly elections in
Tripura. The party managed 115,319
votes in last year’s parliamentary polls
compared with 59,457 votes in the 2009
Lok Sabha elections.
The by-elections to Pratapgarh
and Surma assembly constituencies,
both reserved for candidates from the
scheduled castes, were held on June 27
and results declared on Tuesday. The
by-polls were necessitated by the death
of CPI-M stalwart and former minister
Anil Sarkar (Pratapgarh) and former
minister Sudhir Das (Surma). The CPIM won Pratapgarh for the ninth consecutive time and succeeded in Surma
for the eighth time in a row.
The Left party blamed the Congress,
Trinamool Congress and other non-BJP
parties for BJP’s rise in Tripura. “Congress’ misrule, hypocrisy in fighting
against communal happenings and its
weak political campaign to uphold secu-
words, sectarian part of the confederation or federation will be
positive on the subject of Islamic solidarity with the provision
that any non-Muslim will have their international rights on the
conditions, if they agree to participate in the military service
along with other citizens and then there may be no imposition of Jazia (tax) or any such constitution made compulsory.
Though the idea of Islamic law yet will have no legal sanctity
to make any differences for military services for Muslims and
non-Muslims. In other words, the solution would be based on
Islamic law will be made a part of secular constitution to give
equal rights to all. We will have to again reexamine that no
part of the federation, inspite of being in larger majority will
not prevail on others rights. This will give a new impetus to
take a religious idea to secularize solution in the constitution.
Yet, there may be some other minor elements which can be
overlooked for the moment and the people should be allowed
to frame their own constitution on the principle stated above.
Kashmir enjoys nightlife this Ramzan
BY RUWA SHAH
have started this festival at other places
like Hazratbal and the old city," Akeel told
IANS. The brainchild of the Jammu and
Kashmir ministry of tourism and culture,
the main aim of the food carnival is to celebrate the night culture.
"This festival is a celebration with religious sanctity. Throughout the globe, Ramzan is celebrated with such festivals. So we
decided to bring in the charm to the state,"
Zameer Qadri, a consultant with the ministry, told IANS. "People come in during late
evenings and offer prayers in gatherings.
This way, we are celebrating Ramzan," he
added. As for the citizens, they are thoroughly enjoying the hustle and bustle of the
post-sunset event.
"We have never seen such crowds out during the night. This is amazing," Javid Parsa,
the owner of a local food outlet, told IANS.
Local food outlets also joined the carnival
after witnessing the positive response. Thus,
Parsa also put the stall of his Kathi Junction
outlet in the carnival and said there's a lot
more that can be done. "This is just the beginning. We need to rejoice and celebrate.
Such events and festivals must be organised
in future as well," Parsa said. Apart from
the food, the lights, reverberating religious
songs and mehendi artists for women are
the other attractions. Truly, there is peace
on earth - at least in this little enclave.
IANS
larism in the entire country helped the
BJP to grow,” CPI-M Tripura state committee secretary and party’s central committee member Bijan Dhar told IANS.
Jubilant BJP leaders in Tripura claimed
that they would achieve their goal of electoral victory in the next assembly elections in 2018. “The BJP will be the main
opposition in Tripura now. The party’s
pro-people campaign and struggle, besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led
government’s good governance, facilitated the party to steadily go forward in the
northeastern states,” BJP’s national executive member and Tripura unit president
Sudhindra Dasgupta told IANS.
“Since August last, over 15,000 workers
and leaders from different parties, specially the Congress, joined the BJP and
more would join the party soon,” he said.
The Congress, which last ruled Tripura in 1988-1993, admitted the results
were a matter of concern for the party.
“Percentage of votes secured by our
candidates in the by-polls in the two
assembly segments is shocking. We will
introspect our political actions,” Tripura Congress working president Ashis
Kumar Saha said.
The BJP - for the first time - secured
a majority in five gram panchayats and
won 142 seats in several other gram panchayats and panchayat samitis in gram
panchayat elections in July 2014.
Northeast India, considered a stronghold of the Congress as five of the eight
states are currently ruled by the party, is
about to fall into the lap of the BJP and
its allies following the unprecedented
Lok Sabha results in 2014. In the 2014
Lok Sabha polls, of the 25 parliamentary seats in eight northeastern states,
the BJP and its allies got 10 seats and
the Congress eight. In the 2009 polls, the
Congress and its allies secured 14 seats
across the region while the BJP and its
allies managed to win six seats. The BJP
on its own bagged seven seats in Assam,
one seat in Arunachal Pradesh while its
allies -- Naga People’s Front (NPF) in
Nagaland and National People’s Party
(NPP) in Meghalaya got one seat each in
the two northeastern states.
Though the BJP could not win Lok Sabha seats, the party secured record number of votes in Left-ruled Tripura and the
Congress-ruled Manipur and Meghalaya
in the 16th Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP has also won 11 seats in the
60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly, for which elections were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
“Lack of trustworthy leadership, propeople movement and weak organisational structure is making the Congress irrelevant in northeast India. Central leadership
of the Congress must analyse the party’s
actual base in rural, semi-urban and urban
areas,” political analyst Tapas Dey said.
“The Tripura by-election results appeared
to show a major dent in Congress support
base, with its traditional votes getting divided between the Left Front and a resurgent BJP,” Dey told IANS.
“The writing on the wall had always
been clear because fighting elections
against an organised ruling party like the
CPI-M is always difficult. But Congress
leaders went to Delhi to agitate on flimsy
and backdated issues, leaving the party
candidates in the by-polls in the lurch.
So this was expected,” Dey added. The
Congress faced the ignominy of losing
security deposits in both Tripura assembly seats of Pratapgarh and Surma.
IANS
Europe’s crisis will linger till Euro exists
BY VATSAL SRIVASTAVA
or years, they've tickled the tastebuds
of the national capital's denizens.
Now, for the first time, some of New
Delhi's well-known food outlets have come
together to cheer the people of Kashmir
by serving their delicacies during the holy
month of Ramzan - and that too late into
the night. It's one more sign of peace returning to this troubled land.
From iftaar to sehri - the time during which
Muslims are allowed to eat during Ramzan
- there is much festivity in Kashmir Haat at
Srinagar's Lal Chowk city centre, where food
outlets like Karim's, Khan Chacha, Tunday
Kebab and Hyderabad Sultan Biryani have
put up stalls serving their authentic dishes
to the people of Kashmir.
Surprisingly, the event attracts many patrons even after the sun sets. This is something unusual for the Kashmir Valley as earlier all business outlets were shut down 30
minutes before iftaar.
"We are receiving a huge response. People are coming here even late at night and
that is surprising," Sheikh Samiullah, head
of Loudbeetle - an event management company that has organised the event in collaboration with another company, The Wings,
told IANS. Akeel Hassan, executive director
of The Wings, said the festival has also been
started at other places in Srinagar. "Since
we are receiving very good response, we
Friday July 3, 2015
BJP INCHING AHEAD IN INDIA’S LONE
LEFT BASTION OF TRIPURA
Indian Horizon
F
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
EDIT
A
great economic experiment began
in 1951 with the formation of the
European Coal and Steel Community. It was an attempt to make war within Europe impossible by establishing
free trade in coal and steel, eliminating
all tariffs and restrictions on cross border
economic shipments.
Ideally, it would ensure that French
steel mills relied on German coal and
vice versa so that any future differences
between the two nations would be extremely destructive economically thereby reducing the possibility of war.
In 1957, the European Economic Community was formed as a customs union
with free trade among its six founding
members -- Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg and West Germany. By the mid 1980s, Britain, Ireland,
Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Greece
had joined this group. Free trade from
closer integration undoubtedly led to
economic gains not witnessed for many
decades. But this was more about political integration and European unity.
The idea that a previously war torn
continent can be economically integrated and be a beacon of democracy was
impossible to ignore. European political
leaders were so enthralled by the idea
of a “strong and united Europe” that all
warnings of future asymmetric shocks
and the problems addressing them within a single currency union were ignored.
When the idea of a common currency
was floated, it was politically impossible
to reject. Principles of Economics 101
were abandoned and the Euro was in-
troduced in 1999. This was of course an
economic policy blunder. Consider what
happened after the global housing bubble collapsed starting with the US and
eventually led to housing busts in southern Europe. The housing boom in Spain
was financed by huge inflows of capital from “core Europe” -- most notably
Germany. This boom which eventually
turned out to be a great bubble led to inflation and thus wage increases in Spain.
Wages rose about 30 percent in Spain
compared to only 9 percent in Germany. After the bubble collapsed, Spain
needed to turn its economy away from
construction towards services and manufacturing. But at this point, Spain had
lost its competitive advantage due to the
wide wage differential with Germany
and other neighbours.
Enter the problem of a common currency! With the Euro the only way Spain
could restore competitive advantage was
by cutting wages. But it is almost always
impossible to negotiate lower wages and
workers will always refuse wage cuts and
a lower standard of living. But if Spain
had its own currency, this problem
would have been solved overnight.
The Spanish central bank could have
simply intervened in the foreign exchange markets and devalued its currency versus its competitors in order to
regain competitiveness. The same logic
can be extended to explain the problems
faced by Portugal, Italy, Greece and the
other “non-core” European nations. The
Euro also fails to meet one of the key requisites of an “optimum currency area” -that of labour mobility. Labour does not
move freely within the Eurozone. Even
though Europeans can legally take up
work anywhere in the European Union,
linguistic and cultural divides are are
large enough to put a cap on migration.
How else would one explain 50 percent
youth unemployment in Greece, mass unemployment in Spain and Portugal and
historically low levels of unemployment in
Germany? Such stark contrasts are proof
that the disadvantages of a common currency far outweigh the benefits that have
come Europe’s way by adopting the Euro.
Right now it’s Greece’s problem. But
as we saw at the peak of the debt crisis
(2010-11), it doesn’t take time for much
larger economies such as Spain, Portugal and Italy to be considered close to
junk status. The markets have remained
calm during this “crisis” as they believe
the ECB can limit the contagion from
spreading to other peripheral nations.
But in the long run, the debate won’t be
about the prowess (or the lack) of the IMF’s
economic forecasting models, or the austerity versus fiscal stimulus, of for that matter the ability of the ECB to do “whatever it
takes” or whether the bigger threat to the
Eurozone is inflation or deflation.
European policymakers will soon need
to answer the more fundamental question which is at the heart of Europe’s
problems: How long can the Euro survive? “If the Euro fails, Europe will fail”,
said Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday.
A Grexit, or a Greek withdrawal, can be
easily absorbed by the financial system.
The great crisis we should prepare for is
the likelihood of a “Euroexit”.
IANS
Facts belie minister's immunisation prediction
BY CHAITANYA MALLAPUR
H
ealth Minister J.P. Nadda sparked
scepticism when he declared on
June 30 that India would reach
the universal immunisation target, or
95 percent of all children, by the end of
2016. The disbelief gets credence because less than four months ago Nadda
told parliament it would take five years to
immunise 90 percent of India’s children.
Only 65 percent of children are now
immunised, the best rate achieved in 38
years since the Universal Immunisation
Programme (UIP), as it is officially called,
was started. It targets 27 million newborn children and 30 million pregnant
women every year.
In India, 500,000 children die of vaccine-preventable diseases because one
in three misses the benefits of full immunisation, according to government
data. “The government has launched
Mission Indradhanush on December
25, 2014 with an aim to cover all those
children who are partially vaccinated or
unvaccinated. The mission focuses on
interventions to rapidly increase full immunisation coverage of children by approximately 5 percent annually, and to
expand full immunisation coverage to at
least 90 percent children in the next five
years,” Nadda said in reply to a question
in the Rajya Sabha on March 10, 2015.
The current rate of immunisation has
risen to 65.2 percent (2013-14) from 35.5
percent in 1992-93. The programme
started in 1978. In 1985, it got its present name and was taken to all districts
by 1989-90. Under UIP, the government
provides free vaccination against nine
preventable diseases: diphtheria, pertussis (whopping cough), tetanus, polio,
measles, a severe form of childhood tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis/pneumonia due to haemophilus influenza B
and Japanese Encephalitis.
Uttarakhand does well, UP lags
Uttarakhand with 79.6 percent coverage is the best-immunised state, according to the Annual Health Survey (AHS)
2012-13 while Uttar Pradesh with 52.7
percent is the worst. Uttarakhand, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh are high-focus states since
they constitute 50 percent of the country’s population, 60 percent births, 71
pecent infant deaths, 72 percent under-5
deaths and 62 percent maternal deaths.
Even states that do better, such as Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan,
fall short by 20-25 percentage points in
achieving universal immunisation.
Those like Goa (89.1 percent), Sikkim
(85.2 percent) and Kerala (82.5 percent),
which are not high-focus statesand
do better than others, also fall short of
universal coverage. Lack of awareness
among parents about vaccination benefits, fear of side-effects and a shortage
of vaccines or have been cited as reasons
for low immunisation. The government
programme centres on 201 high-focus
districts that account for nearly 50 percent of partially vaccinated or unvaccinated children in India.
The government allocated Rs. 599.87
crore over the last three years to promote
immunisation. Immunisation prevents
approximately 2-3 million deaths globally
every year from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles. In 2013, an estimated
21.8 million infants worldwide were not
reached by routine immunisation; nearly
half live in India, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to the World Health Organisation.
Readers Response and contribution Welcome
IANS
Friday July 3, 2015
DECONSTRUCTING
THE ARAB WORLD
Are we on the brink of a full-scale
project that will alter Middle Eastern
borders? Is the partition of several
countries now inevitable?
BY JOSEPH A. KECHICHIAN
A
few days ago, the columnist Michael Young asked in
the Daily Star whether Lebanon would break apart
if Syria succumbed to the proverbial political ax. Although he concluded that Beirut was likely to “weather the
partition of Syria”, Young concluded that “society has to
constantly reaffirm the principles of sectarian coexistence
and avoid using the political system as a means of fulfilling partisan agendas” if it is to survive. Lebanon was safe
for now, Young predicted, even if he added that events in
Damascus would batter Beirut for a while.
For his part, Michael E. O’Hanlon, the Co-Director of Centre for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at the Brookings Institution laid out a devastating proposal to deconstruct Syria into a confederal state, and while he concluded
that the “ascendance of the [self-proclaimed] Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) as the major element of opposition to the Bashar Al Assad regime may not amount
to an imminent threat to American security,” he stressed
that “[Daesh’s] ... rise does place at much greater risk the
security of Iraq, the future of Syria itself, and the stability of
Lebanon and Jordan”.
A more realistic option, the well-connected O’Hanlon
posited, was one that aimed to create safe zones, which will
lead into a future confederal arrangement.
Are we on the brink of a full-scale deconstruction project that will alter Middle Eastern borders? Is the partition of
several countries now inevitable?
Permanent fragmentations
Beyond the ongoing debate in the Obama administration to determine whether Iraq and Syria are indeed heading towards permanent fragmentations, several Arab commentators have joined the bandwagon that perceived the
rise of independent “statelets”, especially as Iraq and Syria
ran the risk of permanent implosions. Fayez Sarah recently
observed in the pan-Arab Asharq Al Awsat that “there is talk
in political and media circles about the division of Syria as
one of the ways to end the civil war”, an idea first developed
by O’Hanlon and others in Washington, although Sarah
did not rule out a putative role for the Al Assad regime to
achieve it. American versions of Arab deconstruction, at
least as far as it is publicly known, do not foresee any future duties for Al Assad, the Baath Party, or various extremist groups. To be sure, Sarah relied on the post-First World
War French mandate model that foresaw a united Syria but
with autonomous areas, though what was under discussion
in 2015 was something quite different.
Paris once contemplated a Alawite state (Dawlat Jabal Al
Alawiyyin or, as it labelled it, État des Alaouites) alongside
a Jabal Druze — thus creating two separate areas that enjoyed relative autonomy from 1920 to 1946 — that would
not be in a loose association with Damascus.
In 2015, and unlike O’Hanlon who envisaged confederation, Sarah advanced the idea of full secession that, were it
to materialise, would necessitate the formation of several
statelets, including one ruled by the Free Syrian Army in
the south, another controlled by the Al Assad regime either
extending from Damascus to the Latakia coast or just focused on a coastal strip without the capital, a third that encompassed Idlib and Aleppo under Islamist forces, a fourth
mini-state across the East around Raqqa and Hasakeh,
while a fifth entity would be controlled by the Kurds along
the Turkish border.
That was an ideal model for some even if Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was adamant that Ankara would not
allow the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in
northern Syria for fear of rekindling secessionism at home.
Still, the effective creation of a Kurdish Autonomous Region
in Iraq set a precedent, which was likely to be duplicated
elsewhere. The answer to these dilemmas came from the
erudite George Semaan of Al Hayat, who noted that recent
losses in Daraa province highlighted why the Syria regime
was in dire straits, which imposed inevitable political solutions on Damascus if the latter wished to save what was left
of its authority. Notwithstanding the most recent Russian
pledges made to Foreign Minister Walid Al Mua’llem, Moscow has toyed with the idea of abandoning Al Assad, which
would be an unprecedented development in its own right.
Be that as it may, the consequences of such events on several countries were all too real.
In his elaborate memoirs, Camille Chamoun, the former
Lebanese president, stated that he did not fear for his country to fracture along sectarian lines, until after Iraq fell apart.
Such a scenario, envisaged Chamoun, would doom Lebanese unity even if few contemplated the current Arab deconstruction that, for better or worse, weathered the winds
of change in the post-Second World War era. For no matter
how unpalatable the deeds of extremist groups might be,
the breakdown of Iraq and Syria — and, perhaps, Lebanon
and Jordan — were bound to be even more troubling. Those
who are in the deconstruction business may please one or
more local actors to foster sectarianism, though it is fair to
ask whether blowback is on anyone’s mind.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
7
OP-ED
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
IRAN DEAL ALREADY UNDER ATTACK FROM
DOMESTIC INTERESTS
BY FRANCIS MATTHEW
T
he negotiators on the Iran nuclear deal bust their own deadline
as they continue their talks with
both sides saying that they are close
to a deal. Despite politicians on both
sides making inflammatory speeches
for their domestic markets, it has been
remarkable how little has leaked on the
details of the talks.
Any deal as complicated as this must
involve a delicate structure of giveand-take over a large range of issues
including enrichment capacity, uranium stocks, access to technologies,
verification access, and the timing and
range of sanctions relief, and the snapback mechanisms in case it all goes
wrong in the future.
This means that any comment on
one aspect of the deal should recognise the entirety, but this subtlety may
not survive the imminent public and
parliamentary scrutiny in Iran and the
US as politicians anxious to make their
own arguments will pick on narrow issues. And this debate will continue for a
long time as any implementation of the
deal will not happen quickly. Even if US
Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif
announce an agreement soon, nothing
will happen the next day.
Sanctions relief
Iran will have to implement the actions it will have promised, they will
need to be verified, and only then will
the sanctions start to lift.
Any wide reaching sanctions relief
will take years for Iran’s actions to be
seen and verified and the legal processes to be implemented. All the while, the
Congress in Washington and politicians
in Tehran will continue to comment on
events and some of the arguments are
already becoming clear. In the US, the
Republicans are going to use this deal
as ideal material to hammer the Democrats in the presidential elections, ac-
cusing Obama of a sell-out. Republican
leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell,
wrote a ferocious piece in Politico this
week misrepresenting the talks as seeking “the best deal acceptable to Iran,
rather than actually furthering our goal
of ending Iran’s nuclear programme,”
although neither statement represents
the reality. He then added the jibe that
“establishing an internationally recognised Iranian nuclear programme is
not in the interest of the American people. But it now seems to be the premise
upon which the Obama administration
is approaching these talks”.
McConnell added that that the
Obama administration intends to
muddle into an unacceptable deal
with Iran and the current course would
“grant Iran additional legitimacy as it
seeks to blame the West for anything
short of instantaneous sanctions relief. It would also allow Iran to continue to press for additional concessions
on verification and disclosures on the
possible military dimensions of its
nuclear research. And that Iran would
use funding derived from any sanctions relief to support proxy forces and
advance its stockpile of missiles”.
Public support for deal in US
When Obama goes to Congress to argue against McConnell’s misrepresentation, he will be cheered by a by a 2-to1 margin in favour of a deal amongst
the American public, according to a
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll
that found that more Americans support the United States and other world
powers pursuing a nuclear deal with
Iran than oppose it. Thirty-six per cent
of respondents backed the deal and 17
per cent opposed it, but an alarming
46 per cent said that they did not know
enough to have an opinion, which may
also mean they do not care very much,
but certainly means that all the noise
and fury over the deal has passed them
by. The arguments in the US have been
Rouhani’s internationalists will need quick gains to
prove to the isolationists that the deal has a point
based solely on security issues and
have largely ignored any other effects.
But Iran sees the deal from a more
economic standpoint as President
Hassan Rouhani’s internationalists try
to overcome their isolationist opponents as they seek an economic revival.
Some of this hoped-for revival has been
looked at by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj
in lobelog.com in an analysis of postsanctions windfall in Iran being domestically driven by private domestic
investment from newly confident Iranian investors, who could transform
Iran’s political economy for the better.
Repairing broken relationship
“A nuclear deal will actually help repair the broken relationship between
consumption, savings, and private investment in Iran,” he said, noting the
2012 sanctions caused Iran’s gross national savings to fall from 45 per cent of
GDP in 2011 to just 33 per cent in 2015,
according to the International Monetary Fund, which has drastically limited
capital available for business to invest
for the future. But Batmanghelidj goes
beyond what Rouhani may be thinking
about when he sees profound social effects emerging from a strong economy.
“The greater the degree to which the
full range of Iranian citizens, who currently inhabit separate political and
economic classes, invest in a marketplace like the Tehran stock exchange,
the less reliant on patronage networks
they become. Instead, everyone from
schoolteachers to Revolutionary Guard
commanders will become shareholders of a more political neutral type of
capital. The segregation within Iran’s
political economy, determined by the
sources from which people earn their
livelihoods and derive their wealth,
will diminish as a prima facie structural reason for political antagonism
between citizens,” said Batmanghelidj.
This may be true, and it would be a
very hopeful development with profound implications for the Middle East,
but this argument will not be part of
Obama’s arguments with McConnell
as they stick to the security issues.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
Drones kill any chance of peace in Afghanistan
Use of unmanned US drones increases recruitment opportunities for the armed opposition in Afghanistan.
BY AIMAL FAIZI
T
he use of unmanned US drones in Afghanistan
has stepped up since January. With the launch
of the new US counterterrorism mission, Freedom Sentinel, the ongoing and intensifying drone
campaign has reportedly killed around 400 people in
Afghanistan over the last six months. But insurgents
are not the only ones being killed.
Targeted drone attacks kill scores of civilians and
armed opposition forces alike. These strikes violate
Afghan sovereignty and international law, and severely undermine human rights while underscoring
the ongoing threat to civilian lives in Afghanistan. Yet,
the Afghan national unity government remains silent
on the issue. Beyond the civilian casualties caused
by these strikes, drones also fuel terrorism, increase
anti-government sentiment and, as a result, increase
recruitment opportunities for the armed opposition
in Afghanistan.
Extrajudicial killings
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government must
take seriously the issue of civilian casualties from US
drone strikes and put an end to the extrajudicial killings of Afghans by the unmanned machines of our so
called "strategic partner". Over the past decade, US
drone missions in Afghanistan were unilateral. Unlike
Pakistan, the use of drones lacked the agreement of
the country's leadership. The large number of civilian
casualties in drone and air strikes caused increasing
tensions between Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan
president, and US officials.
So why has Afghanistan become the most heavily
drone-bombed country in the world? What is the legal
justification for the US' drone mission in Afghanistan
when there is no mention of drones in its Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US? Since the establishment of the Afghan national unity government in
Afghanistan, Ghani's government has given "Ameri-
can commanders a freer hand on night raids and air
strikes", according to a recent New York Times report.
Recent attacks show that drone operators are now
authorised by "eased" counterterrorism guidelines,
which permit them to hit a target even without having "the knowledge of the identities of the individuals
marked for death". Despite the US administration's
repeated announcements of the end of its combat
mission, US forces in Afghanistan now have "a more
aggressive range of military operations" - mostly
drone missions and special operations.
Several attacks a week
Focused in the south and east of the country, US
drones are hitting Afghanistan frequently, at a rate of
one to several attacks every week. Nangarhar, Paktia,
Paktika, Kunar, Nuristan, Khost, Farah, Helmand,
and Logar are all provinces that have been targeted
by US drone operations.
According to international and national media
reports and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
civilian casualties are involved in most of these incidents, but these go without any acknowledgement
from the current Afghan government.
Some Afghan TV channels report misleading and
misinforming stories on the "effectiveness" and the
"role" of drones in Afghanistan. Early this month, according to Afghan MPs and media reports, a US drone
strike in the Alisher district of Khost province southeast of Afghanistan, killed more than a dozen civilians, reportedly "members of two families".
On the condition of anonymity, a government official in Khost confirmed the killings to Pajhwok, an
Afghan news agency. The media office for foreign
troops in Kabul also confirmed the attack with a routine addition that "reports about civilian casualties
were being investigated". As the Afghan national unity government continues to keep silent and neglects
to send any delegation to investigate the incident,
Afghan MPs and the former Afghan president have
"strongly condemned" the strike in Khost.
Ending the secrecy
It is time to end the secrecy on the matter. The Afghan government should conduct its own investigation and assessment of each drone incident. Now, as
the US "war on terror" in Afghanistan increasingly
becomes an open-ended conflict, reports suggest that
the US will "maintain an aerial capacity beyond 2017
... to conduct air strikes".
More US drone strikes means more civilian deaths
for Afghanistan. These civilian casualties can severely
risk the Afghan national unity government's legitimacy and sustainability. It is imperative that Ghani's
government shows ownership and acts fully in accordance with the national interests of the country by
reconsidering its stance vis-a-vis the US drone war in
Afghanistan.
As soon as possible, the Afghan national security
council must examine all the drone incidents from
the past six months and make its investigation public. Afghans have the right to know how many of their
country's men, women, and children die in these
drone strikes. Their government should bring this
clarity to them. Additionally, the government should
reach out to the families of victims and provide them
with compensation.
As Ann Wright, the former American deputy ambassador in Afghanistan, put it, drone killings, "because
of the number of civilian casualties", are "jeopardising US national security and creating large numbers
of people who despise the United States".
The US administration and the Afghan government should take the advice of former US and NATO
forces commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley
McChrystal, who once rightly said: "For every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies."
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
Villages face hard times after de-allocation of mines
BY MOHD ASIM KHAN
F
or 34-year-old Sadhram Sidar, the
only solace now is the two-odd
acres of farming land he owns. That’s
the only possession he has he can fall
back on in tough times like these, when
he is out of work for months after the
de-allocation of mines on grounds of
irregularities. He is lucky to have that
piece of land, because many others in
his village – Raipara near Tamnar town
in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh,
300 miles from capital Raipur – don’t
even have that much. They only have
whatever little savings they could make
while working at the nearby GarePalma coal mines. But whether Sidar
would be able to sustain his family of
five by cultivating the land will depend
much on the rain god’s mercy. There
is no provision of irrigation and even
drinking water is scarce. These men
– thousands of them in total from all
the nearby villages – have been out of
work since March. How long can their
savings see them through is anybody’s
guess. Nobody has driven these men
out of the mines. They are out of work
because the two mines – earlier with
Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL)
– had been de-allocated, besides 200
other mines, by the Supreme Court last
September. The central government
held auctions for the de-allocated coal
mines in February and March. JSPL
won the bid at Rs.108/tonne but the
government cancelled this, saying the
price was too low and that it suspected
foul play. The matter is sub-judice and
the arguments from both the sides jus-
tifying their respective stands make
for a separate story. Meanwhile, the
mines have been handed over to Coal
India Limited (CIL). However, CIL has
not started the operations as yet in the
mines, with a combined capacity of
6.25 milllion tonnes per annum.
The only thing going on at the site is
fire-fighting - literally, because the fires
have been burning in the region for the
past few months. Coal worth millions
of rupees has turned into ashes in the
absence of proper fire-fighting equipment and lack of workforce. The fire is
more worrisome for the nearby villagers
than it would be for the environmentalists and authorities, because the former
earn their livelihood here. “My elder son
who is four now, goes to an English medium school in (nearby) Talaipara. The
monthly expenses are around Rs.500,”
Shankarlal Yadav told IANS. Yadav, 28,
from Raipara village, had been employed
at the mines as a blaster, earning somewhere around Rs.7,000 per month. That’s
the average monthly income for coal
mine worker here. That’s probably low
by the standards of a metro, but it has
brought unprecedented comfort in the
lives of these people, who otherwise have
very little to call their own. JSPL has also
set up a coal washery of 800 tonnes per
hour capacity beside the mines, which
feeds the 3400 MW Jindal power plant
through a 7-km-long pipe conveyer belt.
The plant is connected with the power
grid through a 258 km, 400 KV Double
Circuit transmission line from the plant
to the PGCIL sub-station at Raipur.
IANS
The views expressed in these columns are the writers’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Indian Horizon or its management.-Editor
8
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
International
Friday, July 3 , 2015
Ferry with 173 on board overturns in
Philippines, 36 dead, 19 missing
Britain identifies nationals
killed in Tunisia attack
People gather during a rescue operation, after a bridge
collapse led a train to fall into a canal in Wazirabad, near
Lahore, Pakistan Thursday, July 2, 2015. At least four cars of
a train being used to transport Pakistani soldiers fell into
a canal because of a bridge collapse in the eastern Punjab
province on Thursday, killing at least twelve soldiers,
officials said.AP/ PTI
London, July 2 (IANS) All
30 British nationals killed in
the Tunisian beach attack
have been identified, British
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday.
“By tonight, 17 bodies will
have been brought home to
their loved ones,” Hammond
announced on his Twitter account.
Hammond said he was confident the number was the final death toll.“Tomorrow we
will mark a week from the date
of the attack with a minute’s
remembrance at noon across
the UK and across British embassies and posts around the
world,” he said on national
TV.
A Royal Air Force (RAF)
flight brought back the bodies
of eight of the victims to their
loved ones on Wednesday,
with nine more due to arrive
in Britain on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Dozens of people, including
foreign tourists, were killed
when at least one gunman
opened fire on a Tunisian
beachside hotel in the popular
resort of Sousse last Friday.
MANILA July 2 (PTI):
A ferry with 173 people
on board overturned
in rough waters in the
central Philippines on
Thursday as rescuers
rushed to the scene, the
coast guard said.
The Kim Nirvana was
heading from the central city of Ormoc to the
island of Camotes when
it capsized, the coast
guard office in Manila
said.36 people have died
and 19 are missing while
118 people have been
Five killed, over 100 injured in In new strategy,
US to deepen
Pakistan train accident
Islamabad, July 2 (IANS) At least he has formed an inquiry comsecurity ties
five people were killed, over 100 mittee to probe the incident, and
others injured and scores went added he himself was on his way
with India
missing when four compartments to the accident site for monitoring
of a train fell into a canal while
crossing a bridge in Pakistan’s
eastern city of Gujranwala on
Thursday afternoon, media and
officials said.
Aaj TV said that the compartments were carrying over 200 passengers when these fell into the
stream.
Railway Minister Khwaja Saad
Rafique said the bridge collapsed
when the train was passing over it
in Janki Chatta area of Gujranwala, a district located in the country’s Punjab province, Xinhua
news agency reported.He said
that the possibility of terrorist attack behind the attack cannot be
ruled out as there was no apparent fault in the train or the bridge.
Rafique said another passenger
train crossed the bridge in the
morning and at that time it was
intact and fully functional.He said
the rescue work.
Railway sources said the train
had 21 cargo wagons and six passenger coaches, of which four fell
into the canal.
Dunya TV said the train was
shifting cargo of the Pakistan army
from Kharian cantonment city to
Pano Aqil city.The report also said
that about 20 to 30 people, including soldiers and their families,
were trapped in a compartment
which could not be opened yet.
Rescue teams from the army
were using cutters and other machines to gain access to the occupants in the compartment, said
the report.The injured passengers have been shifted to military
hospital of the city.The Pakistan
army, residents and government
rescue teams are taking part in the
operation to pull out the people
from the canal.
said chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Martin Dempsey while releasing the country’s National Military
Strategy for 2015.The strategy provides
the blueprint for how the military will
use its forces to protect and advance US
national and security interests.
The presence of US military forces
in key locations around the world unWashington, July 2 (IANS) The US will derpins the international order and
deepen its security relations with India, provides opportunities to engage with
Greece crisis: Eurozone chief
warns of consequence of ‘no’ vote
Taiwan pilot shut off engine
before air crash, report says
Taipei July 2 (PTI): The pilot of
a passenger plane that crashed in
Taiwan killing 43 people shut down
the aircraft`s only working engine,
exclaiming: “Wow, pulled back
wrong throttle,” seconds before the
disaster, investigators said Thursday. TransAsia Airways Flight GE235
clipped a bridge and plunged into
a river shortly after take-off from
Taipei`s Songshan airport in February with 53 passengers and five crew
on board. Only 15 people survived.
Disturbing cockpit transcripts released by Taiwan`s Aviation Safety
Council revealed the pilots trying
to deal with an engine that had lost
power, but then reducing the thrust
of the other, functioning engine.
Thursday`s report said the plane
climbed to 1,200 feet (365 metres)
before a warning alarm sounded,
which indicated that the plane`s
second engine had undergone
“flameout at take off”.
Despite the warning signal coming from Engine Two, the pilot at
the controls said: “I will pull back
Engine One throttle.”
Chaos then ensued with both
engines failing as the pilots tried to
restart them in the few seconds before the crash. The last words from
the black box recordings were the
monitoring pilot shouting: “Impact,
impact, brace for impact.”Dramatic
car dashcam images at the time
showed the plane hitting an elevated road as it banked steeply away
from buildings before crashing
into the Keelung River.“As the pilot
pulled back the wrong throttle, for
some time both engines were powerless,” said Thomas Wang, head
Court Overturns
Death Sentences
in Mob Killing of
Afghan Woman:
Judge
men for the lynching and murder
in March of a woman falsely accused of blasphemy in Kabul, a
judge said Thursday.
The woman, Farkhunda, 27,
was savagely beaten and her
body set ablaze in broad dayKABUL July 2 (PTI): An Afghan light, triggering protests around
appeal court has overturned the country and drawing global
death sentences given to four attention to the treatment of Af-
Wikileaks exposes US spying
of ECB, German ministries
Berlin, July 2 (IANS/EFE) The US
National Security Agency (NSA) has
been spying on the European Central Bank (ECB) and several German ministries, and also tapped
telephone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to
documents cited on Thursday by
several German media outlets.
The Wikileaks documents indicated that wiretapping on the German federal ministry for economic
affairs and energy and the German
federal ministry of food and agriculture had been going on since
the 1990s, Suddeutsche Zeitung
reported.
Similarly, one of the documents
unveiled wiretapping on Oskar Lafontaine’s telephone line during his
time as finance minister for a few
months between 1998 and 1999,
during the first government under
former chancellor Gerhard Schroder.The telephone line in question
is still in use, and currently belongs
to the German federal ministry of
finance.According to leaked information, the NSA did not only listen
in on the minister’s phone line, but
ment for promoting a ‘no’ vote
with unrealistic expectations.He
said, “The Greek government
is rejecting everything with the
suggestion that if you vote ‘no’
you will get a better or less tough,
or more friendly package. That
suggestion is simply wrong.”
He noted that Greece’s economic situation is only getting
worse in the meantime, making
a rescue program more difficult.
The German president’s office
says Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has canceled
a previously planned visit to
Germany that was set for next
Athens July 2 (PTI): The head of
the eurozone finance ministers’
group, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, says
it will be “incredibly difficult” to
build a new bailout package for
Greece if the country votes “no”
in Sunday’s referendum.
Speaking Thursday in a parliamentary committee, Dijsselbloem told lawmakers, “If the result is a ‘no,’ what foundation is
there of ownership? And how can
you then accept such a program
if the result is ‘no.’ So it will be
incredibly difficult.” The Dutch
finance minister put the blame
squarely on the Greek govern-
of the aviation council.Wang also
confirmed previous reports that the
pilot had failed a simulator test for
engine failure on take-off last year,
but passed a later retake.
Investigators refused to name the
pilot at the controls but reports at
the time of the crash identified him
as Liao Chien-tsung.Initially Liao
was hailed as a hero for steering the
plane away from houses and into
the river as it came hurtling down.
Liao`s distraught parents defended
their son following the release of the
report.
“At the end of the day, my son
is dead, either as a `hero` or being
blamed (for the incident) is meaningless to us now,” Liao`s father
Liao Hsien-ming, told the United
Evening News.He added that he
still felt proud of his son saying he
had tried to reduce casualties on
the ground in the final seconds before the crash, as the plane dodged
buildings to plunge into the river.
ghan women.Police arrested 49
people in connection with the
attack, including 19 police officers, some of whom were shown
standing by doing nothing to
stop the mob in cellphone videos recorded by bystanders.In
May a court sentenced four men
to death and eight others were
handed 16-year jail terms after a
other countries while positioning forces
to respond to crises, Dempsey said in a
Defense Department statement issued
on Wednesday.
“Therefore, we will press forward
with the rebalance to the Asia Pacific
region, placing our most advanced capabilities and greater capacity in that
vital theatre,” it noted.
For this, the US will strengthen its alliances with Australia, Japan, South Ko-
week.Pavlopoulos was to make
his first visit to Germany since
being elected president on Tuesday, meeting President Joachim
Gauck in Berlin.
Gauck’s office didn’t give a
reason for the cancelation, but
Greece is holding a referendum
on Sunday in which the country’s prime minister has urged
voters to denounce the last deal
offered by creditors for releasing
bailout funds.
Pavlopoulos, a conservative
law professor and veteran politician, was elected as head of state
in February. Spain’s economy
minister says the doors for negotiations will remain open for
Greece regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s referendum.
Egyptian army kills 23
militants in North Sinai
Cairo, July 2 (IANS) At least
23 suspected Islamic State
(IS) militants were killed on
Thursday in Egyptian army
airstrikes on North Sinai, security sources said.
The airstrikes were conducted in the early hours
of Thursday, one day after
clashes between the security forces and militants, the
sources told Xinhua news
agency on condition of anonymity.
According to the army,
17 soldiers and 100 militants were killed in fierce
fighting following a wave of
militant attacks on military
checkpoints on Wednesday.
The sources said Apache
helicopters on Thursday
three-day trial broadcast live on
national television.
“The appeal court decided
to reduce the sentence - three
of them got 20 years in prison
and one 10 years,” judge Nasir
Murid, the head of the Kabul
appeals court, told AFP without
giving any further details.The
appeal was heard behind closed
also other senior officials in the
ministries of finance, economy and
agriculture, which suggests that US
intelligence was interested above
all in Germany’s economic and
trade policies.
As for the ECB, illegal surveillance targeted one of the phone
lines of the bank’s economic development department.Suddeutsche
Zeitung also published an NSA report about a conversation between
Merkel and an unidentified assistant on October 9, 2011, in which
she spoke about the situation in
Greece and the various options
that were shuffling at the time,
while the chancellor showed concern regarding possible debt relief.
Rescuers help passengers from a capsized ferry
boat, right, in Ormoc city on Leyte Island, Philippines, Thursday, July 2, 2015. A ferry capsized
Thursday as it left a central Philippine port in
choppy waters, leaving dozens dead and many
others missing, coast guard officials said. AP/PTI
struck bases of militants
suspected of taking part in
Wednesday’s brazen attacks
on military checkpoints in
southern Shiekh Zuweid
city.Sinai-based Ansar Bayet
al-Maqdis, an IS affiliate in
the peninsula, has claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
The peninsula has been
plagued by a growing militant insurgency following
the ouster of Islamist leader
Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by
the army in response to mass
protests against his rule.
According to an Efe news
agency report earlier in the
day, Egyptian armed forces
on confirmed that the security situation in the area was
calm and under control.
doors and reportedly reached a
verdict on Wednesday, according to local media.Farkhuda’s
brother Mujibullah told AFP the
family had not been told of the
court’s decision or invited to the
session.“We just heard through
media that the appeal court in a
secret session has reversed the
decision. They didn’t inform us.
rescued in Ormoc city
on central Leyte island
after an inter-island ferry capsized there, says
coast guard spokesaman.
Search and rescue
operations were ongoing and it was unclear if
there were any fatalities
or anyone rescued so far,
the coast guard office
said.Poorly-maintained,
loosely-regulated ferries are the backbone of
maritime travel in the
sprawling archipelago.
rea, the Philippines, and Thailand.“We
also will deepen our security relationship with India and build upon our
partnerships with New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam,
and Bangladesh,” Dempsey added.
Such efforts are essential to maintaining regional peace and building capabilities to provide for missile defense,
cyber security, maritime security, and
disaster relief.
Short Takes
71 journalists killed in first
half of 2015: Report
Geneva, July 2 (IANS) A total of 71 journalists were killed
from January to June of 2015 in 24 countries, a 7 percent
increase over the same period last year, a Press Emblem
Campaign (PEC) report said.
At least 24 journalists were killed in targeted terrorist acts,
mostly in France, Libya and Iraq, and 17 journalists died
covering fighting in Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Syria, South Sudan
and Ukraine.
The other 30 journalists were murdered in criminal acts
outside war zones, especially in Latin America, the Philippines and India, the report said.According to the report, the
Middle East and North Africa are the deadliest regions for
media work with 23 journalists killed, Xinhua reported.“Four
countries in this region are the deadliest: Libya (eight), Yemen
(six), Iraq (six) and Syria (two) and Gaza (one),” the report
said.
Will confront political issues
in Iran n-talks: EU
Vienna, July 2 (IANS) Two days after the June 30 deadline,
top negotiators involved in Iran’s nuclear talks will attempt
to confront political issues holding them back from a deal,
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said
on Thursday.
“We’re moving forward, but we’re not there yet,” Mogherini told reporters here. “Today (Thursday) we will have the
chance of checking some political issues that are still open,”
she added.She noted the visit of Yukiya Amano, director
general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to
Teheran “is something very important”, Xinhua news agency
reportedUS State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie
Harf announced on Tuesday that fresh rounds of nuclear
talks would take place from June 30 to July 7.
Indian-American pleads guilty
in sex trafficking case
New York, July 2 (IANS) An Indian-American motel owner
has pleaded guilty to financially benefiting from a sex trafficking scheme in the US state of Lousiana.
Kanubhai Patel, 74, pleaded guilty for the network that operated out of Riviera Motel in New Orleans in which multiple
adult women were compelled to engage in prostitution.
This was announced by Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant aggorney general and head of the Civil Rights Division,
and Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. of the Eastern District of
Louisiana. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate those
who traffic in human beings or who benefit financially from
human trafficking,” Gupta said in a statement issued by the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We will continue in our
steadfast determination to bring to justice not only those who
use force and coercion to exploit other human beings but also
those who knowingly profit from these depraved acts.”
Only 49 African-Americans
in Twitter team
Troops move carrying guns walk at the Navy Yard in Washington, Thursday, July 2, 2015. A lockdown is underway on the entire
Washington Navy Yard campus after a report of shots fired. AP/
PTI
New York, July 2 (IANS) Despite its diversity pledges, Twitter employs just 49 black people out of its total US workforce
of 2,910.
The tiny number of African American staff - 35 men and
14 women - represents just 1.7 percent of Twitter’s US staff,
The Guardian reported.Twitter’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) report, a legally mandated filing with the US
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, showed that
93.8 percent of employees were white or Asian, with just 180
people out of a total workforce of 2,910 being drawn from
other minorities.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Economy picking up; need more
reforms for strong growth: Rajan
Chennai Jul 2 (PTI): Confident
of economic recovery, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday said capital investments are
picking up but a stronger growth
would require more reforms and
clearing bottlenecks for stalled
projects. Rajan, known for critical analysis of macroeconomic
trends, however said that subdued exports, primarily on account of global factors, remain an
area of concern.
Talking to reporters after a
meeting of RBI’s board, the central bank chief said, “I would say
(economy is) picking up. We see
some signs of capital investment
picking up. There is a continuing
need, which the government is trying to address, of putting some of
the stalled projects back on track.”
Stating that the Indian economy
is in the process of a steady recovery, Rajan said, “Would we want
to (grow) faster? Yes, obviously.
But we have to work in the areas
of bottlenecks and areas where
we need reforms to ensure that
growth is strong and sustainable.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had
said yesterday that India is not
satisfied with 6-8 percent growth
and “wants to transcend to another level and aim for 8-10 percent
growth”. Replying to questions on
inflation and its implications on
the policy stance of the RBI, Rajan
said: “Inflation is always a matter
of concern. The news on monsoon
front has been good so far. But it is
something that we are watching.
What we have said is policy stance
is contingent on the day, and we
are watching the data. We have to
watch for the progression of data
as we see it.
“...There are variety of projection about what could happen going forward. IMD thinks
things will weaken in next 2-3
months. There are private forecasters who thinks it won’t. Let
us see what happens. Forecasting is a difficult job and its a little
noisy at this point.” The rainfall
so far has been much better than
was originally projected by the
Indian Meteorological Department. It was 28 percent more
than normal in June. IMD had in
its forecast on June 2 predicted
12 percent deficit in rains during the current season. As far
as inflation is concerned, based
on the Consumer Price Index, it
was 5.01 percent in May, while
the Wholesale Price Index inflation was at (-)2.36 percent. On
exports, Rajan said they “are
an area of relative weakness.
But they have been weak across
the various Asian economies,
to the exception of perhaps of
China. The weak state of global
economy is a big factor there.
Confident of economic recovery, RBI Governor Raghuram
Rajan on Thursday said capital
investments are picking up but
a stronger growth would require
more reforms and clearing bottlenecks for stalled projects. Rajan, known for critical analysis of
macroeconomic trends, however
said that subdued exports, primarily on account of global factors, remain an area of concern.
“We need to continue to do the
spade work to create sustainable
growth and we discussed various
plans that the RBI has over the
coming years to do that.” As regards the stalled projects, the RBI
chief said, “economic growth will
help put projects back on track
that are on difficulty. We are doing
everything we can as we work with
banks to put it back on track.”
Will not allow prices of
food items to rise: Govt
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): The government
on Thursday said it will not allow prices
of essential food items to increase due to
the impact of possible deficient monsoon
this year. State governments have also
been asked to take measures to prevent
spike in prices of essential commodities,
it added. “We will not allow prices of milk
and for that matter any essential food
items to rise due to impact of below normal rains,” Agriculture Minister Radha
Mohan Singh told reporters.
The Met Department has projected 8
and 10 per cent deficient rains in July and
August respectively. In June, rains were
28 per cent above normal. Stating that
the government is keeping close watch
on food prices, Singh said that measures
are being taken to boost supply of pulses and other items, in which there have
been price increase recently.
“The state governments have also
been asked to take measures to check
prices of essential items,” he said, adding that more steps to check food inflation will be discussed in detail next week
in a meeting of state food ministers, to
be chaired by Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley. The Met Department has projected 8 and 10 per cent deficient rains
in July and August respectively. In June,
rains were 28 per cent above normal.
Stating that the government is keeping close watch on food prices, Singh
said that measures are being taken to
boost supply of pulses and other items,
in which there have been price increase
recently. The government on Thursday
said it will not allow prices of essential
food items to increase due to the impact
of possible deficient monsoon this year.
State governments have also been asked
to take measures to prevent spike in
prices of essential commodities, it added. “We will not allow prices of milk and
for that matter any essential food items
to rise due to impact of below normal
rains,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told reporters.
Singh said the government has a contingency plan for 600- odd districts to
tackle deficient rains in July and August.
There has been more than 60 per cent increase in retail prices of pulses in last one
year. Pulses prices have already breached
Rs 100 per kg market in most markets.
Similarly, onion prices are inching up
in the wake of short supply. At present,
farmers are undertaking sowing of kharif
(summer) crops. Monsoon rains are crucial as more than half of the cultivable
land in the country is rainfed.
Govt clears policy for skill
development, entrepreneurship
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): Government
on Thursday said it has approved the
first integrated national policy for developing skills and promoting entrepreneurship at a large scale with speed
and quality. “The policy aims to align
supply with demand, bridging existing
skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalise a quality assurance framework, leveraging technology
and promoting apprenticeship to tackle
the identified issues,” Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley told reporters here.
The government has also approved
common norms for Skill Development
Schemes being implemented by the
Centre as well as an institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission. The National Policy for
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 acknowledges the need for
an effective roadmap for promotion of
entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy. The vision of the
policy is to create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale
at speed with high standards and to
promote a culture of innovation-based
entrepreneurship which can generate
wealth and employment so as to ensure
sustainable livelihoods for all citizens.
The Policy has four thrust areas, an
tion while 5 lakh hectares will benefit from drip irrigation. That apart,
1,300 watershed projects have been
marked for completion. Currently,
142 million hectares are used for
cultivation, of which only 45 percent farm land is under irrigation.
“The major objective of the
PMKSY is to achieve convergence of
investments in irrigation at the field
level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation (har khet ko
pani), improve on-farm water use
efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance adoption of precisionirrigation and other water-saving
technologies (more crop per drop),”
he said. Besides, the FM said the
scheme is aimed at enhancing recharge of aquifers and introducing sustainable water conservation
practices by exploring feasibility of
re-using treated municipal water
for peri-urban agriculture and attracting greater private investment
in precision irrigation.
“The scheme also aims at bring-
official statement said, adding that it
addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack
of integration with formal education,
lack of focus on outcomes, low quality
of training infrastructure and trainers.
Further, it said the policy seeks to align
supply and demand for skills by bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a
quality assurance framework, leverage
technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship training.
“Equity is also a focus of the Policy,
which targets skilling opportunities
for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groups. “Skill
development and entrepreneurship
programmes for women are a specific
focus of the Policy,” it added. In the
entrepreneurship domain, the policy
seeks to educate and equip potential
entrepreneurs, both within and outside
the formal education system.
It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs
to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing
business and promote a focus on social
entrepreneurship. Jaitely said that last
week the Prime Minister launched programme on smart cities, yesterday on
Digital India and the government has
also similar plans for ‘Skilling India’.
The Union Cabinet approved the institutional framework for the National
Skill Development Mission in keeping with the commitment made in the
Budget 2015-16. The Mission will have
a three-tiered, high powered decision
making structure.
“At its apex, the Mission’s Governing Council, chaired by the Prime
Minister, will provide overall guidance and policy direction. The Steering Committee, chaired by Minister
in Charge of Skill Development, will
review the Mission’s activities in line
with the direction set by the Governing Council,” the official statement said. The Mission Directorate,
with Secretary, Skill Development
as Mission Director, will ensure
implementation, coordination and
convergence of skilling activities
across Central Ministries/Departments and state governments. It will
also run select sub-missions in high
priority areas. Further, the National
Skill Development Agency, the National Skill Development Corporation and the Directorate of Training
will function under the overall guidance of the Mission.
Fitch lowers India’s
Ratan Tata to join Jungle
FY`16 economic growth Ventures as Special Advisor
Mumbai Jul 2 (PTI): The Singa- of companies to help them build catprojections to 7.8%
pore-based Jungle Ventures has an- egory leadership while being ethically
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): Global rating agency Fitch has
lowered India’s economic growth projections to 7.8 percent for the current fiscal from 8 percent on pick up in
demand. Fitch, however, said it expects that India’s GDP
growth rate this year to surpass China’s for the first time
since 1999, forecasting an acceleration to 8.1 percent in
2016-17 before settling back to 8.0 percent in 2017-18.
“The implementation of structural reforms and resulting pick-up in investment remain key themes for India’s
growth outlook, and recent data confirm the strengthening demand,” Fitch said. Emerging Asia will continue to
experience relatively high rates of growth over the medium term as economic prospects remain starkly divergent
across emerging markets, according to Fitch Ratings’ latest Global Economic Outlook report. “Growth should improve steadily through to 2017 for emerging Asia excluding China on aggregate. This should occur even as China
continues to experience a gradual structural slowdown,”
it said. While maintaining the expectation for an increase
in growth, Fitch lowered its real GDP growth forecasts for
India to 7.8 percent and 8.1 percent from 8.0 percent and
8.3 percent for FY16 and FY17, respectively. “The extent
and pace at which reforms translate into higher rates of
growth continues to be dependent on implementation,
and there are signs that acceleration may be slower than
previously expected,” it said. Emerging Asia will continue to experience relatively high rates of growth over the
medium term as economic prospects remain starkly divergent across emerging markets, according to Fitch Ratings’ latest Global Economic Outlook report. “
Govt to spend Rs 50,000 crore
under new irrigation scheme
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): With an
eye on improving farm productivity, the government will spend
Rs 50,000 crore over the next five
years under the Pradhan Mantri
Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). “It
has been decided that in 5 years, Rs
50,000 crore from the central Budget would be utilised for the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.
States’ share will be over and above
this,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while communicating the
Cabinet decision.
He further said: “This can also be
utilised to help the material component in MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act).” The decision was
taken at the meeting of Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) headed by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi yesterday. For the
current fiscal, he said the allocation
is Rs 5,300 crore. The spending this
year is expected to bring an additional 6 lakh hectares under irriga-
9
Business
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
ing
ministries,
departments,
agencies, research and financial
institutions engaged in creation/recycling/potential recycling of water
under a common platform so that
a comprehensive and holistic view
of the entire “water cycle” is taken
into account and proper water
budgeting is done for all sectors,”
he said. With an eye on improving
farm productivity, the government
will spend Rs 50,000 crore over
the next five years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
(PMKSY). “It has been decided that
in 5 years, Rs 50,000 crore from the
central Budget would be utilised for
the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai
Yojana. States’ share will be over
and above this,” Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley said while communicating the Cabinet decision. The
programme architecture of PMKSY
looks at a ‘decentralised state-level
planning and execution’ structure
in order to allow states to draw up
a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and
a State Irrigation Plan (SIP), he said.
“DIP will have a holistic developmental perspective of the district
outlining medium- to long-term
developmental plans integrating
three components namely, water
sources, distribution network and
water use application of the district
to be prepared at two levels - the
block and the district,” he said.
All structures created under the
schemes will be geo-tagged, he added. The programme will be supervised and monitored at the national
level by an Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under
the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister with the Union Ministers concerned. A National Executive Committee (NEC) is to be constituted
under the Chairmanship of the ViceChairman, NITI Aayog, to oversee
programme implementation, allocation of resources, inter-ministerial
coordination, monitoring and performance assessment, addressing
administrative issues and the like.
nounced that Ratan Tata, Chairman
Emeritus of Tata Sons, will come on
board as a Special Advisor. Founded by Anurag Srivastava and Amit
Anand, Jungle Ventures is an early
stage venture capital fund focussed
on helping build innovative technology-led companies in Asia-Pacific.
The venture fund said it has already
made investments in 30 leading Asian
start-ups, including Zipdial (recently
acquired by Twitter), LiveSpace, Tradegecko, CrayonData, Fastacash and
travelmob (acquired by Nasdaq listed
HomeAway). In his role as Special Advisor, Tata has formally committed to
spending time with Jungle’s portfolio
impregnable and culturally strong in
Asian and global markets, the venture
fund said in a statement. Jungle Ventures, launched with a USD 10 million seed-to-early stage fund in 2012,
is currently raising a second fund with
a much bigger corpus, it said. “For
Jungle Ventures, Tata believing in our
vision also comes as a validation of
our purpose to spawn and nurture entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific
and help build tech category leaders,”
said Srivastava, founding and managing partner, Jungle Ventures. Some of
the other advisors who currently work
with Jungle and their start-ups include
Gokul Rajaram, Product Engineering.
Govt clears policy for
skill development,
entrepreneurship
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): Government on
Thursday said it has approved the first
integrated national policy for developing
skills and promoting entrepreneurship
at a large scale with speed and quality.
“The policy aims to align supply with
demand, bridging existing skill gaps,
promoting industry engagement, operationalise a quality assurance framework,
leveraging technology and promoting
apprenticeship to tackle the identified issues,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told
reporters here. The government has also
approved common norms for Skill Development Schemes being implemented
by the Centre as well as an institutional
framework for the National Skill Development Mission. The National Policy for
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 acknowledges the need for an
effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as the key to a successful
skills strategy.
The vision of the policy is to create
an ecosystem of empowerment by
skilling on a large scale at speed with
high standards and to promote a culture of innovation-based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth
and employment so as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens.
The Policy has four thrust areas, an
official statement said, adding that
it addresses key obstacles to skilling,
including low aspirational value, lack
of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low
quality of training infrastructure and
trainers. Further, it said the policy
seeks to align supply and demand for
skills by bridging existing skill gaps,
promoting industry engagement,
operationalising a quality assurance
framework, leverage technology and
promoting greater opportunities for
apprenticeship training. “Equity is
also a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and
disadvantaged groups.
“Skill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women are a
specific focus of the Policy,” it added.
In the entrepreneurship domain, the
policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and
outside the formal education system.
It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and
credit markets, foster innovation and
entrepreneurial culture, improve ease
of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship. Jaitely
said that last week the Prime Minister
launched programme on smart cities, yesterday on Digital India and the
government has also similar plans for
‘Skilling India’. The Union Cabinet approved the institutional framework for
the National Skill Development Mission in keeping with the commitment
made in the Budget 2015-16. The Mission will have a three-tiered, high powered decision making structure. “At its
apex, the Mission’s Governing Council,
chaired by the Prime Minister.
10
Business
Commodity takes
Oil prices recover
Select copra
as Iran talks, Greek
weakens on lower
crisis drag on
demand, ample supplies
Singapore, Jul 2 (AFP) Oil prices recovered today after the Iran nuclear
talks were extended until July 7, giving
oversupplied markets a breather despite uncertainty over the Greek financial crisis, analysts said. US benchmark
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery was up 10 cents at USD
57.06 in late morning Asian trade while
Brent was 23 cents higher at USD 62.24.
“With the deadline now extended into
next week on finding a comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s nuclear
programme, the markets will monitor
closely the outcome of the negotiations
as Iran sits on the fourth-largest oil reserves and second-largest gas reserves
in the world,” said Sanjeev Gupta, head
of the Asia-Pacific Oil and Gas practice
at Ernst and Young. Daniel Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Futures, said
“we continue to focus on the timing
that Iranian crude would flow into the
market for this situation”. Oil futures
prices fell yesterday after the Department of Energy reported an unexpected increase in US stockpiles last week,
further dampening sentiment.Oil prices recovered today after the Iran nuclear talks were extended until July 7,
giving oversupplied markets a breather
despite uncertainty over the Greek financial crisis, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
for August delivery was up 10 cents at
USD 57.06 in late morning Asian trade
while Brent was 23 cents higher at USD
62.24.“With prices falling yesterday, we
are seeing that the high volatilities that
we were aiming for could be over. We
suggest taking profit on this position,”
said analyst Ang. Talks between Iran
and major powers towards a nuclear
deal will intensify today with the head
of the UN atomic watchdog due in Tehran, seeking to resolve an impasse over
inspecting suspect military sites. Traders are closely tracking developments
in Europe ahead of Sunday’s crucial
referendum on Greece on whether to
accept creditors’ bailout reform proposals, with European leaders casting
it as a simple in/out vote on Athens’
eurozone future.
Gold at three-month
low, down Rs 210
on global cues
New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) Falling for the
third straight day, gold prices slumped
by Rs 210 to trade at over three-month
low of Rs 26,500 per ten grams at the
bullion market in the national capital
today. Further, slackened buying by
jewellers at the spot market weighed
on the precious metal prices. Silver
also remained under selling pressure and traded lower by Rs 300 to
Rs 35,750 per kg. Bullion traders said
a weak trend overseas where gold
tumbled on speculation that US employment data will show further signs
of recovery, boosting the outlook for
higher interest rates, mainly dragged
down the yellow metal prices. Gold
in Singapore, which normally determines price trend on the domestic
front, fell 0.5 per cent to USD 1,162.84
an ounce, the lowest since March 19.
Silver also eased by 0.2 per cent to USD
15.54 an ounce. Silver coins too came
under some pressure and slumped by
Rs 1,000 to Rs 53,000 for buying and
Rs 54,000 for selling of 100 pieces. In
addition, shifting of funds towards domestic equity market, further dampened the sentiments. In Delhi, gold
of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity lost
another Rs 210 each to Rs 26,500 and
Rs 26,350 per ten grams respectively.
The precious metal prices have fallen
by Rs 240 in the previous two days.
Sovereign, however, held steady at Rs
23,300 per piece of eight grams. Silver
ready moved down by Rs 300 to Rs
35,750 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 380 to Rs 35,180 per kg. Silver
coins too came under some pressure
and slumped by Rs 1,000 to Rs 53,000
for buying and Rs 54,000 for selling of
100 pieces.
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Copra edible
Mumbai, copra office Alapuzha and
copra office Kozhikode prices weakened further at the spice market here
today due to poor demand from millers and exporters on the back of ample
supply positions. While, rest all other
spices held steady in the absence of
any largescale buying. Copra edible
Mumbai fell by Rs 200 per quintal to
Rs 10,000 from Wednesday’s closing
level Rs 10,200. Copra office Alapuzha and copra office Kozhikode fell
by Rs 100 per quintal each to Rs 8,200
from Rs 8,000 from overnight level of
Rs 8,300 and Rs 8,100, respectively.
Following are today’s closing rates
(in Rs with previous rates in brackets): Black pepper (per kg) 650/735
(650/735), ginger bleached (per kg)
240 (240), ginger unbleached (per kg)
260 (260), copra office Alapuzha (per
quintal) 8,200 (8,300), copra office
Kozhikode (per quintal) 8,000 (8,100),
copra Rajapur Mumbai (per quintal)
15,500 (15,500), copra edible Mumbai
(per quintal) 10,000 (10,200).
Small sugar
recovers on
renewed demand
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Small sugar prices recovered slightly at the Vashi wholesale market here today on renewed
demand from stockists and bulk consumers. While, medium sugar weakened further owing to subdued offtake
from stockists and retailers. Small
sugar (S-30) gained by Rs 4 per quintal
to Rs 2,176/2,325 from Wednesday’s
closing level of Rs 2,172/2,325. However, Medium sugar (M-30) dropped
by Rs 30 per quintal to Rs 2,260/2,582
as compared to Rs 2,290/2,582, previously. Following are today’s closing
rates for sugar (per quintal) with the
previous rates given in brackets: Small
sugar (S-30) quality: Rs 2,176/2,325 (Rs
2,172/2,325). Medium sugar (M-30)
quality: Rs 2,260/2,582 (Rs 2,290/2,582).
Groundnutoil
declines on lower
demand
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Groundnutoil
prices declined at the Vashi oils and
oilseeds wholesale market here today
on lower demand from stockists and
retailers. However, castorseeds bold
and castoroil commercial recovered
slightly following mild demand from
shippers and soap industries. Refined
palmolein and linseedoil ruled stable
in the absence of any worthwhile buying activity. In the edible segment,
groundnutoil eased by Rs 5 per 10kg
to Rs 965 from Wednesday’s closing
level of Rs 970. Refined palmolein
closed unchanged at Rs 505 per 10kg.
Castorseeds bold gained Rs 15 per 100
kg to Rs 3,965 from its overnight level
of Rs 3,950 and castoroil commercial
edged up by Rs 3 per 10kg to Rs 823
from Rs 820. Linseedoil ended unaltered at 780 per 10 kg.
Base metals rise on
industrial demand
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Tin, Nickel, brass
and select copper prices rose further at
the non-ferrous metal market here today on stockists buying amid sustained
demand from industrial users. Globally,
London copper held its ground in early
trade today after strong US data eclipsed
worries about factory growth in Asia, with
a jobs report later in the session expected
to support the view that the world’s biggest economy is gaining steam. Tin regained by Rs 10 per kg to Rs 1,140 from
Wednesday’s closing level of Rs 1,130.
Nickel climbed by Rs 5 per kg to Rs 945
from Rs 940. Copper sheet cutting and
bras sheet cutting moved up by Rs 2 per
kg each to Rs 420 and Rs 320 from Rs 418
and Rs 318. Copper cable scrap, copper
scrap heavy, copper wire bar and brass
ute nsils scrap inched-up by a Re per kg
each to Rs 439, Rs 434, Rs 459 and Rs 306.
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Friday, July 3, 2015
HDFC Bank sees mobile banking
overtaking net banking next year
Mumbai Jul 2 (PTI): Private
sector lender HDFC Bank may
see transactions undertaken on
mobile devices overtake those
on Internet banking from the
next fiscal, a top official said on
Thursday. “Usage of mobiles has
been growing rapidly and outpacing the growth of the Internet
transactions. We feel next year
it will overtake Internet banking,” its head of digital banking
Nitin Chugh told reporters here.
Declining to share specific data
on mobile adoption within the
bank, he said over 70 per cent
of people access the Internet
through the mobile phones at
present and the same will have
to reflect in its usage as well.
This April, the bank had reported 17.46 lakh mobile transactions
worth over Rs 5,686 crore, making
it the market leader in the segment in value terms, while SBI is
the leader by volume at 78.48 lakh.
He said the use of mobiles
and the Internet combined has
also been growing steadily and
it accounts of 63 per cent of total
transactions for the bank today.
Chugh said the same number
was at 44 per cent two years ago
and a low 13 per cent a decade
ago. After announcing that it has
made an application to run on
Apple’s recently launched Watch,
the bank today gave a demonstration of its software which runs on
the i-Watch. Apple is yet to launch
i-Watch, which sells at a minimum of USD 349, in the country.
Chugh said there are 30 banks
globally which have launched iWatch-based applications and
claimed HDFC Bank is
The bank has developed the
wearable device (watch) application only for Apple phones for
now, but will also be launching
similar ones to run on Androidpowered watches made by brands
like Samsung and Motorola shortly. Chugh said HDFC Bank chose
Rupee remains firm against USD;
tops 1-1/2 mth high at 63.51
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI)
Strengthening for the
third straight session, the
rupee gained 10 paise
to close at 63.51 against
the US dollar today on
continued
selling
of
the greenback by banks
and exporters. Besides,
smooth supply of dollars
on fresh capital inflows
into equities and debts
predominantly weighed
on trading sentiments,
forex dealers said. Positive comments from the
Reserve Bank Governor
Raghuram Rajan that India will see limited impact
of the debt crisis in Greece
as it has little direct exposure to the European nation also supported the
overall trade. The rupee
resumed weak at 63.64 as
compared to overnight
closing level of 63.61 at
the Interbank Foreign Exchange (FOREX) market
on initial dollar demand
from importers and weakened further to hit fresh
intra-day low of 63.66, despite a firm opening in the
domestic equity markets.
However, the local unit
trimmed initial losses and
staged a smart rebound
following renewed dollar
selling to touch
a high of 63.49
before concluding at 63.51,
showing a gain
of 10 paise, or
0.16 per cent,
a the level not
seen since May
15 this year.
In last three
days, it has
gained 33 paise.
Meanwhile,
foreign investors
bought
shares
worth
Rs 75.03 crore
yesterday, according to provisional data. In overseas
trade, the dollar traded
marginally higher against
a basket of other major
currencies amid concerns
over Greece’s debt woes
and also release of key US
economic data later in the
day. The US dollar index
was up by 0.06 per cent at
96.53. Concurrently, crude
prices firmed up after a
steep drop in the previous
session after data showed
an unexpected increase
in US oil stockpiles last
week. . Veracity Group CEO
Pramit Brahmbhatt said,
“The USD/INR pair traded
range-bound as investors
awaited for the US jobs
data due for the day which
will show the road ahead to
the market.” The trading
range for the Spot USD/
INR pair is expected to be
within 63.20 to 64.80. In the
forward market, the premium for dollar ended lower
on fresh receivings from
exporters. The benchmark
six-month premium payable in December dropped
to 219-221 paise as compared to 226-228 paise
while June, 2016 contract
also finished lower at 440442 paise as against.
Apple for its user interface, design
and also because a ‘good part’ of
its customer base uses i-Phones.
Its rival ICICI Bank also has a
similar offering, but it works on
both Apple and Android systems.
Chugh said there are 30 banks
globally which have launched iWatch-based applications and
claimed HDFC Bank is among the
first three to announce that it will
be developing such an application. A customer can do 10 types of
transactions using the i-Watch, including account information, mobile recharges, sending requests
for cheque books and locationbased services like viewing.
China wants to
combine ‘Make in
India’ with ‘Made
in China’
Beijing Jul 2 (PTI): China said it is making “every
effort” to address India’s concerns on USD 47 billion
trade deficit as it called for combining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative with its
‘Made in China’ to step up investments.
“We are making every effort to fundamentally solve
the issue. We need to find a new channel, new methodology to break the bottle neck,” said Huang Xilian,
Deputy Director General of the Asian Affairs department of the Foreign Ministry. China is trying to address the issue by promoting mutual investments
to balance the trade. “We have agreed two industrial
parks and encouraging more Chinese investments in
India to promote exports to China,” he said.
“We are ready to buy. This is next five years we are
experted to import commodities from USD 10 trillion.
We hope we could import as much as possible from
India,” he said. “We should try to combine ‘Make in
India’ and ‘Made in China’ strategy together. The key
word in India-China relationship is development,
which is a major factor of our cooperation,” he said.
India’s trade deficit with China averaged around
USD 47 billion in last year’s trade of over USD 70 billion. Huang said China has sent delegation to India
to discuss measures to increase imports. China is importing films from India, he said, referring to recent
success of PK which grossed over USD 16 million.
China is also stepping up imports of Indian pharmaceuticals, Huang said. Punj Lloyd Group is a global
conglomerate offering engineering, procurement
and construction (EPC) services. The shares of the
company closed at Rs 24.75 on BSE, up 1.23 per cent
from its previous close
Mkts turn choppy after 2-day
rally; Sensex drop 75 pts
Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Snapping a
two-session upsurge, the benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by
75 points and closed below the
psychologically significant 28kmark following profit taking at
higher levels during the fag-end
amid ongoing Greece standoff.
Metal, technology, infra, capital
goods and healthcare witnessed
fresh bout of selling pressure.
While, oil&gas, fmcg and banking stocks continued attract good
buying interest. Despite a strong
start against the backdrop of firm
Asian sentiment, market turned
highly volatile amid choppiness
and succumbed to profit-booking
at higher as investors turned cautious after two-day impressive
rally as well as much awaited US
jobs data later in the day, a floor
trader said.
The benchmark had gained
over 375 points in last two sessions to hit a 2-1/2 month high.
The 30-share index opened higher at 28,100.38 and hovered between a high of 28,115.96 and a
low of 27,906.37 before settling at
27,945.80, showing a fall of 75.07
points, or 0.27 per cent over its
last close. The broder Nifty also
ended lower by 8.15 points, or
0.10 per cent at 8,444.90. Elsewhere in the region, barring
China’s Shanghai Composite index, most equities ended higher
tracking strong finish on Wall
Street overnight. While European
indices continued their rallying
momentum with key indices in
Germany, France and the UK are
up 1.34 per cent to 1.87 per cent.
Meanwhile, the global rating agency Fitch lowered India’s
economic growth projections to
7.8 per cent for the current fiscal
from 8 per cent earlier. Foreign
investors reversed a recent trend
and bought shares worth Rs 75.03
crore yesterday, according to provisional data. The benchmark
had gained over 375 points in last
two sessions to hit a 2-1/2 month
high. The 30-share index opened
higher at 28,100.38 and hovered
between a high of 28,115.96 and a
low of 27,906.37 before settling at
27,945.80, showing a fall of 75.07
points, or 0.27 per cent over its
last close. The broder Nifty also
ended lower by 8.15 points, or
0.10 per cent at 8,444.90.
Elsewhere in the region, barring China’s Shanghai Composite
index, most equities ended higher tracking strong finish on Wall
Street overnight. While European
indices continued their rallying
momentum with key indices in
Germany, France and the UK are
up 1.34 per cent to 1.87 per cent.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity
Group CEO said, not much action
was seen in the local equity market as the unsolved Greek debt
issue continues to dent the movement of indices and traded flat
and looked to consolidated ahead
of the major U.S economic data
due for the day. Out of 30-share
Sensex pack, 20 finished lower
while 10 ended higher. Major losers Tata Motors (1.84 pc), Hindalco (1.72 pc), HDFC Bank (1.33
pc), VEDL (1.08 pc), ONGC (1.07
pc), Cipla (1.06 pc), Dr Reddy
(1.00 pc), Infosys (0.96 pc), Maruti (0.89 pc), GAIL (0.79 pc), HDFC
(0.73) and L&T (0.71 pc). Among
the gainers included Bharati Artel
(2.13 pc), M&M (2.00 pc), Bajaj
Auto (1.67 pc) Axis Bank (0.62 pc)
Heromotoco (0.56 pc) and Wipro
(0.53 pc). The market breadth
continued to show positive trend
as 1,519 stocks advanced, 1251
shares declined and 116 ruled
steady. Total turnover dropped to
Rs 2,710.70 crore from Rs 3,226.25
crore yesterday.
11
Sports
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Friday, July 3, 2015
BCCI mulling performance-based
incentives for Indian team
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): Encouraged
by the financial model followed by
Cricket Australia and England and
Wales Cricket Board, the BCCI is
planning to introduce a performancebased incentive for the Indian team
for each and every home and away
series. There was an initial blueprint
that was drawn at the Board’s finance
committee meeting that took place in
the capital here on Wednesday.
While BCCI’s finance committee
has agreed in principle on going the
corporate way where profit sharing
will be directly proportional to the
board’s revenue, the members
discussed the possible ways of doing
it. According to BCCI sources, it
was IPL COO Sundar Raman, who
provided a presentation for the
finance committee members where it
was intimated that Cricket Australia,
ECB and BCCI’s next door neighbours
PCB also follow an incentive-based
model in their respective countries.
“Till now, BCCI normally gave
handsome incentives to cricketers
during triumphs in big tournaments
like 50-over World Cup, World T20
or ICC Champions Trophy. But from
now on, the BCCI is planning to
have incentives for each and every
series played at home and away,”
sources told PTI. For example, if India
wins a Test series at home against a
particular opposition, the cricketers
will be entitled to a specific amount of
incentive from the board apart from
their match fees. Similarly, the amount
will shoot up when they are playing
some other opposition on foreign
soil. Even the best performers during
a particular series will get special
performance-based incentives. The
amount will depend on the nature
of opposition, conditions, home and
away and impact of the performance.
While Raman today gave an initial
presentation, an elaborate blueprint is
likely to be chalked out on July 22, when
the next meeting of the committee
will be held. Meanwhile, the finance
committee today decided that India’s
women cricketers will be divided into
two groups A and B for the gradation
payment system that the BCCI is
planning to introduce. “Till now, BCCI
normally gave handsome incentives
to cricketers during triumphs in big
tournaments like 50-over World Cup,
World T20 or ICC Champions Trophy.
Wimbledon 2015, Day 3: Murray,
Federer, Wozniacki breeze
through as weather cools off
London Jul 2 (PTI): Former champion
Andy Murray breezed into the Wimbledon
third round on Thursday as the women`s
top 10 lost its fourth seeded player of
the week. Third seed Murray, the 2013
champion, brushed aside Robin Haase, the
world number 78 from the Netherlands, 6-1,
6-1, 6-4 in just 87 minutes.
The 28-year-old fired 25 winners past
Haase and goes on to face either experienced
Italian Andreas Seppi or highly-regarded
18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric. “I started
the match off very well. I started quickly and
Robin was a little bit slower at the beginning
and then he started to come back in it, he
played better tennis,” said Murray after his
fourth win in five matches against his fellow
28-year-old. “That was the sort of match I
was expecting at the end of the second and
the third set where he was making it tough.
“We were playing some longer rallies. He
has good variety in his game so there were
some fun points.” Seven-time champion
Roger Federer also reached the Wimbledon
third round today with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win
over Sam Querrey of the United States.
Second seed Federer will face Australia`s
Sam Groth for a place in the last 16. Later,
two-time winner Rafael Nadal will attempt
to follow Murray and Federer into the last
32. However, the women`s draw opened
up even further when Russian eighth seed
Ekaterina Makarova, a quarter-finalist
in 2014, went down 6-2, 7-5 to unseeded
Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Before 2015, the world number 65
Rybarikova had never won a match at
Wimbledon in seven years of trying.
Makarova joined third seed Simona Halep,
seventh seed Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez
Navarro, seeded nine, in failing to get
beyond the second round.
Rybarikova goes on to face Belarus
qualifier Olga Govortsova who put out
French 25th seed Alize Cornet 7-6 (8/6), 2-6,
6-1. Cornet had knocked Serena Williams
out of Wimbledon last year.Former world
number one Caroline Wozniacki made it
through to the third round with a 6-1, 7-6
(8/6) win over Denisa Allertova, the world
number 83 from the Czech Republic.
Wozniacki, who has never got beyond the
last 16 at Wimbledon, next takes on Italian
31st seed Camila Giorgi. Also going into the
third round was German 18th seed Sabine
Lisicki, the 2013 runner-up, who fought
back to defeat Christina McHale of the
United States 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Lisicki next meets French Open semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky, the 15th seeded
Swiss. Federer faces America`s world
number 36 Sam Querrey who has lost both
his previous matches against the secondseeded 17-time Grand Slam title winner,
failing to win a set. The only time Federer
has lost before the third round at a Grand
Slam in his last 48 major appearances was at
2013 Wimbledon, when he was defeated by
Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.
Nadal, the two time winner and seeded 10
this year, takes on German qualifier Dustin
Brown. Brown, the dread-locked world 102,
defeated the Spaniard on grass in Halle last
year in what was the pair`s only previous
meeting. Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych
is also in action on Thursday when he faces
French wild card Nicolas Mahut. Reigning
women`s champion Petra Kvitova, the
second seed, meets Japan`s Kurumi Nara.
Thursday`s action started late due to rain
which came as a welcome relief to fans and
players who had sweltered.
Recalled Steven
Finn has learnt his
England lessons
But from now on, the BCCI is planning
to have incentives for each and every
series played at home and away,”
sources told PTI. For example, if India
wins a Test series at home against a
particular opposition, the cricketers
will be entitled to a specific amount of
incentive from the board apart from
their match fees. Similarly, the amount
will shoot up when they are playing
some other opposition on foreign soil.
Even the best performers during a
particular series.
London Jul 2 (PTI): England
pace bowler Steven Finn
has learnt his lessons after a
dramatic loss of form and is
ready to make “another debut”
if he is selected for the first test
against Australia next week. The
26-year-old`s last test match was
the 14-run win over Australia
in the first Ashes test at Trent
Bridge in 2013, a series England
went on to win 3-0.
But the Middlesex bowler
struggled with his rhythm and
pace and did not feature in
England`s 5-0 Ashes defeat in
the return series before being
sent home to work on the
technical aspect of his game.
Having regained his line and
length, Finn, who has collected
90 wickets in 23 tests at an
average of 29.4, was included
in England`s 13-man squad for
the first Ashes test in Cardiff
starting on July 8. “If I do play,
it will feel like making another
debut in test match cricket, so
it`s really exciting,” Finn told
reporters on Thursday. “I have
done a lot of learning about
my cricket over the last 18
months to two years and the
way I need to go about things.
“It wasn`t beneficial at the
time but overall, it has been.
“I am now very comfortable
with where I am at and with the
technical side of things and it is
now just about getting batsman
out and putting the ball in
the right area.” England pace
bowler Steven Finn has learnt
his lessons after a dramatic loss
of form and is ready to make
“another debut” if he is selected
for the first test against Australia
next week. The 26-year-old`s last
test match was the 14-run win
over Australia in the first Ashes
test at Trent Bridge in 2013, a
series England went on to win
3-0. The 26-year-old`s last test
match was the 14-run win over
Australia in the first Ashes test
at Trent Bridge in 2013, a series
England went on to win 3-0.
Finn`s return to form has
coincided
with
England
adopting a new attacking
approach that earned plaudits
during the recent drawn test
series against New Zealand.
“The way we have built
momentum over the last eight
weeks or so is really exciting,”
Finn said. “I have confidence
in the way I am bowling and, if
selected, I feel I can do myself
justice.”
Sushil Kumar opts out of World
Championships with shoulder injury
New Delhi Jul 2 (PTI): Twotime Olympic-medallist Sushil
Kumar has opted out of the
World Championships after
sustaining a shoulder injury,
thereby taking the sheen out
of the upcoming selection
trials, slated for July 6-7 here.
The World championships,
scheduled to be held in Las
Vegas from September 7-12, will
also be the first qualification
tournament for the 2016 Rio
Olympics. “Yes, I have sustained
an injury to my right shoulder
while practising. So I would
not be able to take part in the
upcoming selection trials. So,
automatically that rules me out
of the first qualifying event for
next year’s Rio Olympic Games,”
Sushil told PTI. “I have been
advised by the doctors to take
rest. At the moment, I don’t
know exactly how long my injury
will take to heal completely, but I
am taking good care,” he added.
Sushil’s injury has ended what
HWL: Indian men
eager to tame attacking
Belgians in semi-final
Antwerp (Belgium) Jul 2(PTI): India will face
one of their toughest tests in defence when they
square off against the marauding Belgians in
what promises to be a robust semifinal clash of
the FIH Hockey World League Semifinals here
on Friday. The encounter will test the ability
of India’s defence to guard against the Belgian
strikers, who have tasted enormous success in
the past couple of years to boost their world
ranking to No. 4 -- the highest in their hockey
history. Ranked No. 9 in the world, India faces
a formidable side that has enjoyed a slight
edge in their recent encounters since the 2011
Champions Challenge final in Johannesburg.
The Belgian players have, in fact, made giant
strides in international hockey. Starting with
the victory in the Champions Challenge that
earned Belgium their maiden entry in the elite
Champions Trophy, the Red Lions have emerged
victorious in their fixtures against India in the
2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 World Cup.
could have been a enthralling
battle between the veteran
wrestler and the young Narsingh
Pancham Yadav in the selection
trials slated for July 6-7 for a place
in the World Championships.
After
the
World
Championships, there are six
more qualification tournaments,
all of which are scheduled to
be held next year, starting from
March 2016. The 32-year-old
grappler said that it would not
be wise to aggravate the injury as
there are a number of qualifying
events before the Olympics. “I
am not keen to take a chance,
even though the injury is not so
serious. It is not good to take part
in a competition half fit. I will
be competing in the qualifying
events next year before the
Rio Olympics and I have been
working hard for it,” insisted
the wrestler from Haryana.
Sushil, who had created history
in 2010 by becoming the first
Indian to win a gold at the World
After turning pro,
Vijender Singh meets Haryana
CM Manohar Lal Khattar
Chandigarh Jun 2 (PTI): Drawing
flak from some quarters for turning
professional, Olympic bronze-medallist
boxer Vijender Singh met Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here
today. However, there was no official
word on what transpired in the meeting
which lasted for about 30 minutes at the
CM’s official residence here.
The ace boxer, who also holds the
rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police
(DSP) in Haryana, came in his Sports
Utility Vehicle and avoided the media.
However, it is understood that the CM
had asked the boxer to follow the rules
for turning professional from amateur.
Recently, Haryana police had warned
of taking action against Vijender if he
fails to seek permission from the state
government for turning professional.
Vijender,
the
country’s
most
celebrated boxer, had bid adieu to his
amateur career by turning professional,
ruling himself out of next year’s
Olympics. The first Indian boxer to win
an Olympic medal -- the 29-year-old
signed a multi-year agreement with
Queensberry Promotions through IOS
Sports and Entertainment.
Vijender was appointed as Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP)
by the previous Bhupinder Singh
Hooda government in Haryana for
his outstanding record in boxing
at national and international level.
However, Vijender was currently on
probation and had not yet completed
his training.
US seeks extradition of 7 FIFA officials in Switzerland
Geneva Jul 2 (PTI): The
United States has demanded
the extradition of seven FIFA
officials detained in May
setting off what could become
a prolonged legal battle over
the handling of the major
corruption case.
Swiss
authorities
said
Thursday that the US embassy
in Bern had sent an extradition
request the day before. The
seven were detained in a dawn
raid on a Zurich hotel on May 27
as a FIFA congress was about to
start. FIFA leader Sepp Blatter
was reelected to a new term at
the congress but amid a storm
of controversy over parallel
US and Swiss investigations,
he announced four days later
that he would stand down.
Blatter has not been accused
by either inquiry and again
strongly denied involvement in
corruption in a German media
interview released Wednesday.
The US legal authorities
had until July 3 to make their
request and a Swiss federal
justice office statement said
the embassy action was “within
the timeframe set down in the
bilateral extradition treaty”
between the two countries.
The seven officials -- all from
South and North America -have all indicated they will fight
extradition. The seven held
include Jeffrey Webb of the
Cayman Islands and Eugenio
Figueredo
from
Uruguay,
who are both former FIFA
vice presidents. Costa Rican
Eduardo Li was supposed
to join the FIFA executive
committee in May.
There was also Brazilian
football federation chief Jose
Maria Marin, Nicaraguan Julio
Rocha and Costas Takkas, a
Briton who worked for the
Cayman islands federation
and Rafael Esquivel, president
of the Venezuelan Football
Federation.All are accused by
US authorities of involvement
in more than $150 million of
bribes given for marketing
deals for football tournaments
in North and South America.
The seven are among 14
people -- officials and sports
marketing company executives
-- that US authorities have
charged. Four others have
already made deals with US
prosecutors. Zurich police
will now question the seven
officials again and they will
have 14 days to respond to the
extradition request, the federal
justice office said.Experts said
the battle over their extradition
could take more than a
year with hearings running
alongside the election for a new
FIFA president.FIFA declined
to comment on the extradition
request. “This is a matter for
the relevant authorities,” said a
spokesperson.
Blatter said on June 2 that
a new presidential election
would be held and he would
hand over to a successor.
Indications that he could
stand again have been strongly
opposed by other FIFA leaders.
The FIFA executive is to meet
in Zurich on July 20 to decide a
date for the election, expected
between this December and
March 2016. The 79-year-old
Blatter has defended his own
record, insisting in an interview
with German magazine Bunte
that no-one could accuse him
of corruption. “I will answer:
Do you understand this word at
all which you use?
“Anyone who accuses me of
being corrupt must first of all
prove it to me,” he insisted in the
interview released Wednesday.
“No one can do that, because
I am not corrupt.” The
accusations against FIFA are
unlikely to ease in the coming
months, however. Alongside
the arrest of the FIFA seven,
Swiss police are investigating
the attribution of the 2018 and
2022 World Cups to Russia and
Qatar respectively.
Both have already been the
target of a FIFA investigation.
Football`s world body said
nothing had been found which
merited a new vote on the
tournaments. But it has so far
not released the full report
made by former US federal
prosecutor Michael Garcia who
resigned from his role as a FIFA
watchdog in protest.
12
Entertainment
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Friday, July 3, 2015
Indian Horizon
After Ranbir Kapoor,
Alia Bhatt to move
out of her
parents’ home?
Yes, it seems the
Highway actress has
decided to live independently and therefore is
on a house-hunt these
days…
Last year, Ranbir Kapoor moved out of his
parents’ place and rented a apartment in Bandra with his ladylove
Katrina Kaif. Well, if the
latest grapevine is true
then even Alia Bhatt is
planning to walk down
the same path. Yes,
the Shaandaar actress
might move out of her
parents’ place but she
isn’t going to live with
her beau Sidharth Malhotra. As per media
reports, Ms Bhatt has
been checking out flats
and meeting property
dealers for a while now.
And that’s the reason
Finally Yami gets over her fear?
It is not easy for anyone to
overcome their fears, especially when you carry them
since childhood.
Yami Gautam had one
such fear that she recently
overcame. The pretty young
actress, who is currently in
North India shooting for her
upcoming next film, came
across a white mouse there.
She always found mice to
be a little creepy and ran to
the other side each time they
came around her. She has
always been petrified at the
sight of them.
But this time around, when
she saw the mouse, she had a
change of heart and decided
to get over her fear.
She was so determined,
that she directly went close
to the mouse and after some
hesitation caught the white
mouse in her hand.
A source present there reveals that there were a few
screams initially but within
seconds, Yami felt comfortable with it. She found the
creature so cute that she then
she played with it for a while
and even clicked some pictures with it.
Courtesy:SB.com
hush-hush whispers are
doing the rounds that
Alia may shift to a new
place soon.
While talking to a daily, a source said, “Yes,
she is looking for something close to her parents’ home. From what
I understand and know,
it’s just for investment
purposes. She is still living with her parents. But
then you never know.”
Whether the Udta
Punjab heroine is looking for a new place to
invest or move in, we
dunno. But we won’t be
surprised if she starts
living on her own. After
all, she comes from a
family where everyone
is strong-headed and
independent, right Bollywoodlifers?
Courtesy:Bollylife.com
Troll attack:
Abhishek Bachchan
is the new target of
Internet trolling!
What left Priyanka
Chopra speechless
on the sets of
Bajirao Mastani?
The All is Well actor is the latest celebrity to
have got trolled on Twitter and its harsh…
Abhishek Bachchan is big on pulling pranks and
being witty in life but we wonder how he will take
to the Internet trolling! The actor tweeted a picture
of himself aboard an airplane as he is leaving for
Dubai to shoot for his upcoming film Hera Pheri 3
opposite John Abraham. Here is what Jr Bachchan
tweeted, “Dubai calling” with this picture;
An internet troller picked up Abhishek’s picture and was quick to make a mean meme out of
it. The troller we are talking about is also a member of a popular comedy group. Here the meme
to troll Jr Bachchan’s Dubai calling tweet.
Now we are all for jokes and everything but
this meme is just too harsh. It’s like writing off
an actor without even watching their work first.
Anyway, we will leave it for you to decide how
you feel about this meme. Share your opinions
with us in the comments section below!
Courtesy:Bollylife.com
Priyanka Chopra is back in Mumbai and she is currently shooting for Bajirao Mastani…
Priyanka Chopra has finished shooting for her ABC
show Quantico, she is back in Mumbai and she has
also resumed shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s
Quantico. But all the chance, not only of place, but
characters as well has got to PC! From playing a halfCaucasian and half-Indian FBI trainee to playing a
royal Marathi queen, PC has to make quite a transition
in terms of the characters that she has to play. And let’s
face it, it’s quite tough to just switch off the brain, get
out of playing one character, reboot and start playing
another character all of a sudden. PC needs some time
to settle into her character of Kashibai, who is Bajirao’s
wife in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Bajirao Mastani.
Talking about the trouble she is facing switching
from one character to another, PC tweeted, “Going
from an American dialect to an ancient maharashtrian
dialect!Phew.In the middle of all this I’ve forgotten
how I talk!!#BajiraoMastani” And all the travelling and
change has left PC quite speechless.
Courtesy:Bollylife.com
Hrithik, Anushka to perform at IPL
Sussanne Khan to lend creativity to
foreign company
Decor expert Sussanne Khan
has been appointed the creative
director of London-based resi-
dential and hotel design
company YOO.
YOO,
founded by international property entrepreneur John Hitchcox and
Philippe Starck in 1999,
and Sussanne will partner in a vision to create
sustained value through
exceptional
design,
launching with a project
in India in quarter four
of this year.
"Together (with the
YOO design family), I
hope to offer new dimensions in creativity to
the global market," Sussanne said.
"New India is a rich
mother lode of style,
structure and material
and the world is now
ready to explore these
intricately. Design to me
is a feeling and an emotion and when all such energies
align, we will, hopefully, reach
heights of intensity and bal-
ance, " she added. Sussanne
is an interior designing skills,
tastemaker and style influencer, with over 15 years of experience working on international
design projects. Apart from
putting her creative side to
many high-profile international
projects creating home, restaurant, office, retail, spa and outdoor spaces, she also launched
a two-storey store in Mumbai
-- The Charcoal Project, stocking diverse collections by global
and Indian designers, as well as
furniture designed by Sussanne
herself.
Hitchcox is also excited about
the association.
"We're delighted to welcome
Sussanne Khan to the YOO family
in a collaboration that represents
an exciting evolution for the
brand. This partnership creates
a unique opportunity to promote
the very apex of contemporary
Indian design across the world
through one of its foremost figures, " said the co-founder.
Bollywood stars Farhan Akhtar,
Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Pritam and Hrithik Roshan are all set to
light up the stage at the 2015 Indian
Premier League (IPL) Opening Ceremony at the Salt Lake Stadium here
on Tuesday.
According to a Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI) release,
the entertainers will come together
to mark the start of the eighth sea-
son of the cash-rich Twenty20 league
with the evening's proceedings being
hosted by actor Saif Ali Khan.
All eight team captains will be present to take the Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket pledge.
Gautam Gambhir, captain of defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders, will put the trophy back in play,
signalling the start of the 2015 season.
The two-hour show will start at
7:30 p.m. and the gates of the venue
will open at 5:00 p.m. Tickets for the
opening ceremony, which start at
Rs.200, can be purchased online at
iplt20.com or from gate No.1 and 4 of
the Salt Lake Stadium.
The programme will be telecast
live on Sony Max and Sony Six and
will also be streamed on mobile app
Hotstar.
Courtesy:Bollylife.com
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