Sunday, October 4, 2015

Income Tax Authorities Allay Concerns Over Filing Returns

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department does not withhold refunds of small taxpayers nor does it generally select their tax returns for scrutiny and detailed analysis, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said in an attempt to dispel two of the biggest concerns of this category of assessees.

CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur said she would like to bust the myth and “fear psychosis” that once people file their tax returns, they automatically come on the radar of the taxman and then they are tracked.


Ms Kapur, in an interview to PTI, said in cases of neatly filed electronic income tax returns (ITRs), the department has set a deadline of six months for refunds to be generated and sent to the taxpayer.


“We tell the taxpayers that in e-file returns we take a maximum of six months to process it if you have a clean return and no TDS mis-match. But then there is a misinformation campaign that we hold refunds. I will say we don’t hold refunds for small taxpayers,” said the chief of CBDT, the apex policymaking body of the I-T department.


“For large taxpayers, if it is a scrutiny case, then we have to hold it as per law till the scrutiny assessment is over but not for small taxpayers if their ITRs are all correct,” she said.


“We are not interested in holding up small returns.”


Ms Kapur said her second area of concern over which she would like to put the record straight is the version that taxman puts the cases of small and middle-category taxpayers on the scrutiny list which entails submission of additional documents and visits to the assessing I-T officer.


Citing an example, she said no tax inspector can just go to a person, like a fruit-seller, and say he/she has to file his I-T return or that his/her return is going to be scrutinized.


“We are told that people are scared that once tax department knows about them after they have done filing (of ITR) then they are tracked and followed and they stay on the radar of the I-T department. We want to tell the taxpayers that only in less than one per cent cases you will be asked to come to the tax department for scrutiny of your case.”


“And even this less than one per cent category is not discretionary selection by the assessing officer. It is a computer-based programme where risk parameters are fed in, algorithm is developed, and based on that cases get selected,” she said.


The CBDT chief said that when these parameters are built in, they are done in a manner that “in fact, small taxpayers don’t get selected and these parameters are to detect big tax evasion”.


“So, small taxpayers should not be scared of entering the department, doing e-filing and even manual filing,” she said.


This kind of a fear psychosis, Ms Kapur said, is totally “unwarranted”.


“Now, when we are holding out this assurance to you that only less than one per cent cases I am going to scrutinize then I am not looking at small taxpayer. The tax evasion probability of a small taxpayer is less and hence he is not selected for scrutiny.”


“So, if a small taxpayer is willingly paying his taxes, we assume that why would he want to evade taxes? For us, it’s a good situation. This is one way of doing things for the small taxpayer,” she added.


7 Held at Indira Gandhi International Airport With 182 iPhones

7 Held at Indira Gandhi International Airport With 182 iPhones

The US-based tech giant Apple will unveil its latest iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India on October 16.



New Delhi:  Eager to cash in on the craze for iphones, seven youths were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi with as many as 182 iPhone 6S and 6S Plus ahead of their India launch due this month.

These phones were seized recently from young people in their late 20s who had come from Hong Kong and Singapore on separate flights, officials said.


Acting on intelligence inputs, customs officials intercepted them and seized the iPhones.


“All of them were carrying iPhone 6S and 6S Plus in their baggage. We have seized 182 devices from them,” said Vinayak Azaad, Additional Commissioner, Customs, at the IGI airport.


Some of the youths were offered money to smuggle in the devices, the official said.

The US-based tech giant Apple will unveil its latest iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India on October 16.


The company has not disclosed the price of its new products for the Indian market.


Apple had sold over 13 million units of these phones on the first three days of the launch on September 25.


The new iPhone models were available for sale on September 25 across the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Singapore.


Incidentally, the seizure has been affected from the sector, that comprises Hong Kong and Singapore, infamous for gold smuggling.


“We maintain strict vigil on flights coming from Hong Kong, Singapore and other western and South Asian countries for gold smuggling. The officials have been sensitised on the possibility of smuggling of iPhones after the latest seizure,” Mr Azaad said.


He said the youths were detained and questioned to ascertain the end-use of the products to help unearth organised syndicates which might be behind it.


“There are chances of smuggling of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus ahead of their launch which is still 12 days away,” the official said.


Akhilesh Yadav Requests Government to Declare 3 State Highways as National Highways

UP Chief Minister Requests Government to Declare 3 State Highways as National Highways

File Photo: UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav



Lucknow:  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has written a letter to Union Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari requesting the declaration of three state highways as national highways.

Mr Yadav has requested to declare Jhansi-Khajuraho, Lipulekh-Bhind and Dohri Ghat-Azamgarh-Jaunpur-Allahabad routes as national highways.


“The CM has written a letter to Union Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari in this regard,” an official spokesman said in a statement issued in Lucknow.


He said that widening of these routes would help in development of infrastructure facilities and removing bakwardness.


The Chief Minister has referred to a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8 in which it was requested to declare four important routes as national highways and develop them as four lane.


Indrani Mukerjea Conscious, Out of Danger, Say Doctors

Indrani Mukerjea Conscious, Out of Danger, Say Doctors

Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in August and has been lodged at Mumbai jail since September 7.



Mumbai:  Indrani Mukerjea, accused of murdering her daughter, is no longer in critical condition, said doctors at the hospital where she was moved after an alleged suicide attempt in a Mumbai prison.

On Friday afternoon, Ms Mukerjea, 43 — a former media executive arrested in August for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora three years ago — collapsed after allegedly swallowing a combination of pills for depression and epilepsy.


But doctors today said that lab reports show there was no overdose. They told reporters that she is conscious now. “Her condition is good, we will observe her for 24 to 48 hours and then discharge her,” said TP Lahane, dean of JJ Hospital.


While a hospital lab said there were signs of an attempted overdose, results from a forensic lab said the opposite, causing significant confusion.  As it is, jail officials are unable to explain how Ms Mukerjea, who had been prescribed pills after being arrested, had managed to accrue the stash that led to her collapse.


Ms Mukerjea, who is married to former media mogul Peter Mukerjea, is charged with killing her daughter along with an ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna, and a former driver. She founded broadcasting group INX Media with Mr Mukerjea in 2007.


17 Trains Cancelled Between Ambala Cantt-Chandigarh

Chandigarh:  Railways today cancelled 17 trains between Ambala Cantonment and Chandigarh in the wake of non-interlocking work between the two stations, officials said in Chandigarh.

“Some trains have been cancelled, some re-scheduled and some regulated between Ambala Cantonment and Chandigarh railway station due to non-interlocking work between the two stations,” officials said.


The trains have been cancelled, re-scheduled and regulated for six hours, the officials said.


The trains which stands cancelled, included Himalayan Queen, Ekta Express, Shatabdi Express and Jan Shatabdi Express.


While 20 trains have been re-scheduled, seven trains have been regulated passing through Ambala Cantonment junction, officials said.

These included Amritsar-Badra Express, Kalka-Bandra Express, Chandigarh-Jaipur Intercity, Amritsar-New Delhi Express, Shan-e-Punjab, Pathankot-New Delhi Express and Saharsa-Amritsar Express, the officials said.


In view of the work going on between the two stations, many commuters are facing hardship.


Opposition Parties Demand Municipal Re-Election in Bengal

Kolkata:  Opposition parties in West Bengal today demanded re-election in both Bidhannagar and Asansol municipal corporations, alleging that votes were looted amid violence turning yesterday’s polls into a ‘farce’.

“We want a total repoll in all booths in both Bidhannagar and Asansol corporations in view of the rampant corrupt practices and violence,” CPI(M) politburo member Mohd Salim said in Kolkata.


“The whole election process has been rendered a farce. The State Election Commission has the responsibility to hold the election in free and fair manner, but it has failed in its duty,” Salim said.


He also demanded re-election at Bally under Howrah Municipal Corporation.


“The Left Front will sit together and decide on the next course of action,” he said when asked what the Front would do if the SEC turned down its demand for holding fresh polls.

State BJP president Rahul Sinha also demanded re-election in all booths of Bidhannagar and most booths in Asansol.


“Votes were looted in all booths with the ruling party unleashing terror among genuine voters,” he said.


The polls in these two municipal corporations are considered important as these are the last key elections in the state before it goes to Assembly polls next year.


While the opposition parties have alleged that large number of outsiders had been brought in to intimidate and scare off genuine voters, the ruling Trinamool Congress has denied any such activity by the party.


“As the ruling party we will never want any breach of peace,” Partha Chatterjee, TMC secretary-general, has said and accused CPI(M) of trying to create disturbances during the polls.


A number of journalists covering the elections were also manhandled and a few of them had to be hospitalised.


Leaders of both opposition and the ruling party visited the injured journalists in hospitals this morning.


At Congress Function, Pigeons Stuffed in Rockets and Fired

Kovvuru, Andhra Pradesh:  A shocking video has surfaced in which Congress workers in Andhra Pradesh’s Kovvuru town have been seen stuffing live pigeons inside fire crackers and setting it alight.

The idea was that the pigeons will be released when the rockets burst and fly off – making for a grand spectacle during the visit of state Congress chief N Raghuveera Reddy.


But the rockets went up and the pigeons fell dead, roasted in the intense heat when the crackers burst high up.

In the video, the pigeons were seen being stuffed into paper cones fixed atop rockets. A cardboard lid was put on it and sealed tight. The rocket was then lit.


An NGO – People For Animals has filed a complaint with the police and an FIR has been lodged against the state Congress unit citing cruelty to animals. Cruelty to animals carries a punishment in India.


The local Congress unit is yet to comment on the matter.  


 


North Delhi Corporation Requests Arvind Kejriwal for Early Release of Funds

North Delhi Corporation Mayor Writes to Arvind Kejriwal Seeking Early Release of Funds

File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.



New Delhi:  North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) Mayor Ravinder Gupta has asked Delhi Government for early release of municipal reforms fund and other grants so as to enable the civic body to pay salaries and pensions on time during the festive season.

Mr Gupta has written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for immediate release of funds and grants under various heads. “The festive season is round the corner, all employees expect salaries, pensions and other payments on time,” he wrote in the letter.


Mr Gupta said due to “non-payment” of global share, municipal reforms fund and other grants to NDMC, financial situation of the civic body has become “worse”.


The Mayor apprised the Chief Minister through his letter that due to non-payment of pension by the corporation for more than a year, nearly 80,000 families have been suffering.


“As a result of cutting of funds of Rs 158 crore under education head and Rs 30 crore under health head, many important schemes are pending,” he said.


Mr Gupta has also urged the government to establish a strong coordination with NDMC for an early resolve of fund-related issues and better delivery of services to the people.



 


I Went by Coal Secretary's Advice: Manmohan Singh to CBI

File photo of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Agence France-Presse)



New Delhi: 

He said Patnaik’s letter requesting a review of refusal to allocate the coal block to Kumar Mangalam Birla’s HINDALCO had led to the “re-opening” of the issue.

During the probe into the alleged scam in Talabira-II coal-block allocation, Singh was asked by CBI, “When the letter dated August 17, 2005 of Naveen Patnaik addressed to you as PM had only requested to provide required coal linkage for the important project of M/s HINDALCO, which was already allocated, why did you approve the accommodation of HINDALCO in the share of coal in Talabira-II coal block.”


Responding to the query, Mr Singh said, “This letter of CM of Odisha also mentioned about the allocation of Talabira-II coal block to M/s HINDALCO Industries Ltd. This was required to be looked into by the Ministry of Coal.

“It was interpreted by the MoC that the request in the letter was regarding issue of allocation of Talabira-II coal block. This recommendation was approved by me after it was examined by the PMO officials,” said Mr Singh, who was also the Coal Minister at that time.


“With regard to the query that giving coal block could be more beneficial financially to the company than giving a coal linkage as the price of coal from coal block is much cheaper than price of coal from coal linkage; I state that it is true of all allocations to the private sector,” Mr Singh said.


Mr Singh further said that if this logic was applied, the government should not make any allocation for the private sector.


“In this context, the recommendation of the Chief Minister of Odisha vide his letter dated August 17, 2005 favouring HINDALCO for allocation of Talabira-II is relevant,” he said.


While Mr Birla had written letters requesting the government to “change the decision” of not considering HINDALCO for the coal block, Patnaik had requested a review of the decision.


The special court had summoned Mr Singh, Mr Parakh, Mr Birla and others as accused in the case while refusing to accept CBI’s closure report.


They have all denied any wrongdoing in the case.


The Supreme Court had on April 1 stayed the trial court’s order summoning them as accused.


Mr Singh said while the Coal Ministry “interpreted” Patnaik’s request to be for allocation of the block, Mr Parakh had proposed to “accommodate” HINDALCO.


“This was approved by me after it was examined by the PMO officials,” the former Prime Minister said.


Mr Singh said the issue was to see whether HINDALCO could be accommodated without harming the interest of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC), a PSU, which was initially recommended by screening committee for the block.


“On being asked as to why I approved the proposal of Secretary, MoC, to accommodate HINDALCO in the share of coal in Talabira-II coal block, though the SC (screening committee) had in its minutes mentioned that coal linkage of 3.06 MTPA had already been allocated to HINDALCO which was sufficient to meet the full requirement of 650MW power plant and that no separate coal block needs to be given for the Aditya Aluminium Project; I state that I went by the advice of Secretary (Coal) and as endorsed by the officials of the PMO,” Mr Singh said.


“It was due to the letter of the CM of Odisha (Patnaik) that the whole matter was re-opened. The issue was to see whether Birla could be accommodated without harming the interest of NLC,” he said.


As per the 25th screening committee, the case of a number of companies, including HINDALCO, was not considered favourable and it had decided to allocate Talabira-II coal block to NLC.


Manohar Promises Transparent and Corruption-Free Indian Cricket



Shashank Manohar Sharad Pawar

Shashank Manohar’s first stint as BCCI President was from 2008-2011 .

© AFP




Shashank Manohar was unanimously elected as President of BCCI. Here are the highlights of what he said:


# BCCI is a huge brand in itself. Without the support of the fans, it would not have gotten big. I would like to carry forward the good work done by Jagmohan Dalmiya.


# The BCCI will appoint an ethics officer to look into the complaints of conflict of interest issue.


# The BCCI will also educate the players in order to wipe out corruption from the game.


# The accounts of all the state associations would be handled by an independent officer.


# Any expenditure spent in excess of 25 lakhs would be put out on the website.


# To clear the myth of lack of transparency, we will be putting out details on the website immediately.


# There are no spinners in country and it is the duty of the BCCI to see there is an available lot.


# BCCI would like to develop women’s cricket.


# Priority of BCCI will be to conduct 2016 World Twenty20 in the best possible manner.


# I will not exercise my chairman’s vote in the AGM until the constitution is amended.


# The BCCI will implement all the measures in two months period.


He was the Unanimous Choice


Manohar was the unanimous choice as BCCI President and this was confirmed in the Special General Meeting of the BCCI in Mumbai on Sunday.


This will be Manohar’s second stint as BCCI President, having taken over from Sharad Pawar in 2008/09. It lasted for three years and it ended in 2011 when N. Srinivasan was appointed as the BCCI President.


Manohar took over the post at the Board’s SGM which lasted less than half an hour. He was the only candidate left in the fray for the election in which the deadline for filing nomination ended Saturday evening.


The election was necessitated by the sudden demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who had a short term of seven months after his election in March this year. Dalmiya was made the interim President when Srinivasan “stepped aside” in the wake of revelations that his son-in-law was involved in betting during the 2013 IPL season.


All the six units of East Zone unanimously proposed Manohar’s candidature for the president’s post, reflecting Srinivasan’s diminishing hold in Board’s power politics.


A BCCI by-election needs only one proposer from the zone which is electing the president and it was the East’s turn this time. Manohar got the nod from all the six associations and was the lone nomination at the end of the 7 pm deadline yesterday.


Interestingly, one of the proposers for Manohar was Dalmiya’s son Avishek, who was representing his family club National Cricket Club (NCC) in the SGM.


Srinivasan skipped the meeting and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association was represented by PS Raman.


The others who also proposed Manohar’s name were Sourav Ganguly from Bengal, Sourav Dasgupta from Tripura, Gautam Roy from Assam, Ashirbad Behera of Odisha and Sanjay Singh of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA).


His anointment also means that Srinivasan now has little chance of coming back into the BCCI fold till 2017 when the Vidarbha man’s tenure ends


Thakur Believes BCCI Will Carry on Reforms Under Manohar’s Leadership


Thakur has said that the BCCI will continue the reforms under leadership of new president Shashank Manohar, which the Board had started in the last six months.


“After the sad demise of Mr Dalmiya. It was important to continue the reforms taken place in last six months. We have seen the previous tenure of Manohar, where his work has been appreciated by everyone and we believe under his leadership BCCI will continue with the reforms which has taken place under Dalmiya’s leadership,” Thakur said. (Read More)


Manohar’s Experience Will Help Indian Cricket, Says Sourav Ganguly


Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly said he believes Manohar will do a good job. “A lot of important people have led BCCI in the past and Manohar has also done it quite well. I am sure he will do a good job,” said Ganguly, who has been named as Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president. (Read More)


Hyderabad Traffic Police Registers 82 Cases of Drunken Driving

Hyderabad:  The Hyderabad traffic police which is on a special drive to curb drunken driving during daytime to curtail those who endanger their lives and others have registered 82 cases, a police official said in Hyderabad today.

During the special drive daytime (2 pm to 5 pm) carried out on October 1 and October 3, a total of 82 cases were registered against drunken drivers, including drivers of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and cars, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Jitender said.


Drunken drivers will be counselled at all traffic police stations to ensure their safety and as well as other commuters and pedestrians, the police officials said.


The main aim of the special drive is to impart traffic education to violators of safety, the police official said, adding that the drive would continue.


Congress Slams Haryana Government for Hike in Power Tariff

Chandigarh:  Congress today slammed the Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP government in Haryana for raising power tariff.

      

“The BJP government in Haryana has hiked power tariff in a clandestine manner that has broken the backbone of all sections of society, including farmers, and small scale industry,” senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

       

He said that in view of hike in power tariff the farmers and common man is getting “inflated” bills putting them into “miserable” condition.

       

Mr Surjewala, who is sitting Congress MLA from Kaithal, claimed the Khattar government had hiked power tariff by 40 to 50 per cent across the board.

       
“Due to anti-people policy of the BJP government, the small scale industry in the state is on the verge of closure,” he said leading a protest in his Kaithal constituency.

       

“People in urban areas are feeling cheated by the BJP government due to power tariff hike in a clandestine manner,” he said.

       

The employees of power utilities are raiding the houses of common man, employees and farmers and imposing heavy penalties on them, Mr Surjewala alleged.

       

Describing the hike in power tariff by the BJP government as a “Tughlaki order”, he said that the present dispensation had done away with the slab system which was enforced during the previous ten years rule of Congress.

       

Mr Surjewala alleged that the government had burdened the people by imposing municipal tax and fuel surcharge of about 1.72 per cent in the bills of consumers.

       

He claimed that there was acute power shortage in the state as villagers are getting power for eight to ten hours and there are undeclared power cuts for six to eight hours in cities.

       

Meanwhile, seeking immediate withdrawal of hike in power tariff, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that the Congress party will stage a demonstration in Panchkula on October seven in front of office of power utilities.

       

Taking a dig at Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Mr Hooda said that “the party is working in coordination with the BJP rather then playing the role of opposition for the interest of people.    

Government to Soon Make PAN Must for Cash Spending Beyond Limit

New Delhi: To check generation of domestic black money, the government will soon make it mandatory to furnish PAN (permanent account number) card details for cash transactions beyond a certain threshold, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

“The government is at an advanced stage in considering the requirement of furnishing PAN card details if cash transactions beyond a certain limit are undertaken,” Mr Jaitley said in a Facebook post.


He said the monitoring regime of the Income Tax Department has been strengthened and its capacity to access information and apply technology driven analytical tools to expose evasion has been enhanced. (Also read: Non-Declarants of foreign assets to face consequences: Jaitley)


“Its ability to detect large cash withdrawals, or large cash transactions which enter the system, is being strengthened. GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime once introduced will also be a landmark step in this direction.”


“Thus for commodities like gold where the initial purchase by the exporter is after the payment of custom duty, the subsequent transactions which are mostly in cash, can easily be found out,” Mr Jaitley said.


In Budget for 2015-16, the Finance Minister had proposed making quoting of permanent account number (PAN) mandatory for all sale and purchase of over Rs 1 lakh.


“Quoting of PAN is being made mandatory for any purchase or sale exceeding the value of Rs 1 lakh. The third party reporting entities would be required to furnish information about foreign currency sales and cross border transactions,” Mr Jaitley had said.


Thereafter, the government had received representations from various persons, including MPs, MLAs, trade and industry associations, among others, against the proposed mandatory quoting of PAN for sale or purchase in excess of Rs 1 lakh.


Stressing that bulk of black money is still within India, Mr Jaitley said there was a need to change the national attitude so that plastic currency becomes the norm and cash an exception and the government is working with various authorities to incentivize this change.


“Being seized of this problem, the government has been working with various authorities in order to incentivize this change. The opening of a large number of payment gateways, internet banking, payment banks and the emerging reality of e-commerce will prompt the use of banking transactions and plastic money rise significantly,” Mr Jaitley said.


The JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) Trinity and the Direct Benefit Transfer of subsidies to the accounts of beneficiaries of various government schemes will also be a step ahead in this direction, Mr Jaitley added.


Each of the 18 crore beneficiaries of Jan Dhan accounts has been provided with RuPay cards, which will encourage them to use plastic currency and get familiarised with it, he said.


The MUDRA scheme, over the next few years, has a target of 6 crore families out of 25 crore families in India to become entrepreneurs.


Loans being made available to them by the banks can only be withdrawn from the ATMs by use of MUDRA credit cards which are being provided to them. More and more of their transactions will be through plastic currency or through the banking channel, Mr Jaitley added.


State Election Commission Postpones Counting of Votes in Municipal Polls

West Bengal State Election Commission Postpones Counting of Votes in Municipal Polls

The West Bengal State Election Commission have postponed counting of votes in the election.



Kolkata:  The West Bengal State Election Commission today postponed counting of votes in the election to Bidhannagar and Asansol municipal corporation following allegations of large-scale violence.

“We have decided to postpone counting of votes,” State Election Commissioner Susanta Upadhyay told newspersons at SEC office in Kolkata.


The counting was scheduled to be held on October 7.


He said the SEC would go through reports and video footages of violence from its own sources and also news channels before taking any further decision.


Opposition parties in the state have demanded that the elections be countermanded and fresh elections held, alleging large-scale violence by the ruling Trinamool Congress.


To a question on repoll, Upadhyay said, “There is no question of ordering repolls at this juncture. We will take a decision after going through reports and video footages.”


 


Unable to Bear Losses, 2 More Farmers Commit Suicide in Madhya Pradesh

Dewas:  Three-year-old Kashish and her younger brother will never get to see their father again, a farmer in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. Anil Kumavat committed suicide after his crops were damaged due to erratic rain.

In Sagar district, about 350 km from Dewas, another family is in mourning. 35-year-old Bhaiya Raju Adivasi drank pesticide after rain deficit destroyed his soyabean crop on his two and a half acres.


In the last fortnight, two farmers have committed suicide in Dewas and Sagar district, unable to cope with their losses.


The rainfall pattern in the state has been quite erratic this monsoon season, which has either destroyed soyabean crop or has led to a very low yield.

In Barkhedi Maan village,  Anil Kumavat had sown tomato and soyabean crop this year but because of initial dry spell followed by a heavy rain during the flowering period of crop the yield came down to 10 per cent. As losses mounted, the loan of six lakh seemed impossible to repay.


Badrilal Kumavat, father of Anil said: “Last year we sold four bighas of land to repay our debts and this year soyabean and tomato crop failed. So my son took this extreme step.”


At least 22 farmer suicides have been reported this year in Madhya Pradesh but the government says it’s not due to crop failure.


State Agriculture Minister Gauri Shankar Bisen said, “70 per cent of people live in villages in Madhya Pradesh and are farmers. There are other reasons for suicide, but we are with farmers. In 2013 we gave Rs 2,200 crore as compensation to the farmers, which is the highest in the country.”


But farmers say the government’s claims are not true.


“I have suffered a loss of Rs 20,000 this year. Government help does not reach us, even if compensation is allocated to the district only a few farmers, who have an understanding with the administration, receive it,” said farmer Darbar Singh.


Less Bliing For Akshay and More for Talvar on Day Two

Akshay Kumar’s Singh Is Bliing witnessed a sharp dip in collections on Saturday with Rs 14.50 crores, following a ‘phenomenal’ score of Rs 20.67 crores on its opening day, October 2. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the figures on Saturday.


 

However, his prediction says that the romantic-comedy should fare better on Sunday. Singh Is Bliing features Akshay as Raftaar Singh and also stars Amy Jackson as his love interest.


The opening day collections of the movie, surpassed the Bollywood Khiladi‘s other 2015 releases like Gabbar Is Back (Rs 13.05 crores), Baby (Rs 9.3 crores) and Brothers ( Rs 15.20 crores ). And it did so by a fair margin, to become his “biggest opener.” (Also Read: Akshay’s ‘Spectacular’ Box Office Bliing, Rs 20 Cr on Opening Day)


On the other hand, Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar performed slightly better than Friday, minting Rs 2.75 crores on Saturday. Mr Adarsh shared the collections, which read a total of Rs 5.75 crores.



 



Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma’s Talvar is a crime-thriller and is based on the Aarushi Talwar murder case. Both Singh Is Bliing and Talvar hit screens on October 2.



 


Manage Traffic Properly Near Rao Tula Ram Flyover: High Court

Manage Traffic Properly Near Rao Tula Ram Flyover: High Court

The court was hearing a plea by the resident’s welfare associations of Vasant Vihar challenging the Public Works Department (PWD)’s decision to build a three-lane flyover parallel to the single-lane flyover on RTR marg.



New Delhi:  Delhi High Court has asked the city government and traffic police to ensure that “traffic management is done properly” near the Rao Tula Ram (RTR) Marg flyover on the Outer Ring Road.

“Has traffic management (been) done properly,” a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva asked Delhi government and the traffic police after the court was informed that the area was witnessing serious traffic snarls due to gaps in the barriers placed to prevent traffic coming in from adjoining colonies.


The court was told that due to gaps in the barriers kept on the road to regulate vehicular movement, cars were entering Outer Ring Road through the adjoining Vasant Vihar colony at various places near the RTR flyover, causing major jams.


It was also submitted before court that the road connecting RTR marg to Mahipalpur was not navigable, and this was further leading to the traffic chaos in the area.

The court was hearing a plea by the resident’s welfare associations of Vasant Vihar challenging the Public Works Department (PWD)’s decision to build a three-lane flyover parallel to the single-lane flyover on RTR marg.


The court will now hear the matter on November 18.


On October 28 last year, the court had said that “the alternative measures discussed for de-congesting the traffic to and from the airport, particularly, at the T-junction joining Nelson Mandela Marg and the Outer Ring Road as also the entry point after Ryan International School from Mehrauli- Mahipalpur Road to the DDA road shall be made operational within two weeks.”


It had said the authorities shall endeavour to make operational every route they intend to use during diversion of traffic while building the flyover.


Vasant Vihar residents associations have sought that a six-lane flyover be built in the same location by demolishing the existing one while PWD plans to build a three-lane elevated road from Munirka to Signals Enclave, which will also run parallel to the RTR Marg flyover.


Birth, Death Certificates to Be Linked With Aadhaar Card: Anil Vij

Chandigarh:  To ensuring prompt availability of birth and death certificates in the state, Aadhaar card is being linked to them, said Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij today.

This would ensure that people do not have to face any problem while getting birth and death certificates, he said in a release in Chandigarh.


Speaking on female foeticide, Mr Vij said that the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 was being implemented in a strict manner.


Under this, investigation and raids have been conducted in about 2,400 cases, and registration of 53 private centres has been canceled or suspended. In this duration, 41 ultrasound machines have been sealed and 28 cases have been registered in lower courts, he informed.

Mr Vij said for the strict implementation of this Act, District Advisory Committee organised 93 meetings in various districts of the state, in which it was asked to make people aware and motivate doctors to avoid such acts.


Apart from this, the Health Department is making efforts to spread awareness among the people to stop female foeticide.


This is giving a fillip to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme, he added.


For SBI Home Loan Customers, Not Much to Cheer. Here's Why

Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) may have cut its base lending rate by 40 basis points to 9.3 per cent following the Reserve Bank’s latest policy rate cut, but home loan customers of the country’s largest lender will have to pay up to 0.7 per cent above the base rate, and interest of as much as 10 per cent for their loans.

Accordingly, the actual reduction in home loan rate will be a maximum of only 20 basis points, while a higher margin above the base rate will mean customers will have to pay the same rate of interest for home loans above Rs 1 crore.


The rate for ‘Maxgain’ home loans above Rs 1 crore – at 9.75 per cent for women – would come down only 20 basis points, while for other customers it would actually remain unchanged at 10 per cent with effect from Monday despite a reduction of 40 basis points in base rate.


For CRE (commercial real estate) Maxgain loans, SBI would charge as much as 65 basis points above base rate or 9.95 per cent for women customers and 70 basis points above the base rate or 10 per cent for other customers.


The bank’s spokesperson was not immediately available for comments. However, bank officials tried to justify the increase in the markup over base rate, saying the decline in actual home loan rates has been 75 basis points since December 2013, as against a reduction in base rate by 70 basis points.


They also said that the base rate for other lenders continues to be higher at 9.55 per cent, while in December 2013 also it was higher at 10.3 per cent as against SBI’s 10 per cent.


Interestingly, state-owned SBI was among the first lenders to announce a reduction in its rates after the RBI surprised with a 50 basis points cut in its policy rate on September 29 as it lowered its minimum lending rate, or base rate, by 40 basis points – the highest for any lender so far – from 9.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent with effect from October 5. (Read: SBI cuts lending rate)


“RBI has cut interest rate by 0.50 per cent, we have reduced it by 0.40 per cent,” SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya had said on Tuesday about the cut in SBI’s base rate, soon after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan announced a 50 basis point cut in the central bank’s policy rate to 6.75 per cent – the lowest level in his tenure.


However, in its latest circular dated October 3 to all local head offices, SBI has explained the actual home loan interest rates that would be applicable across various categories following the latest reduction in the base rate coming into effect from Monday, October 5.


According to the circular, women customers, who typically get a subsidised rate, would be charged 20 basis points above the base rate, resulting in an actual interest rate of 9.5 per cent Monday onwards – down only 20 basis points from the existing rate of 9.7 per cent.


Till now, women home loan customers were being given housing loans at the base rate of 9.7 per cent without any markup, but Monday onwards, they will be charged 20 basis points above the base rate of 9.3 per cent or an interest rate of 9.5 per cent.


Other customers, who were being charged 5 basis points above the base rate or 9.75 per cent, would have to pay 25 basis points above base rate, or 9.55 per cent, for home loans – resulting again in an actual reduction of 20 basis.


For Maxgain home loans for amount more than Rs 1 crore, SBI was till Sunday charging 25 basis points above the base rate or an actual rate of 9.95 per cent to women customers and 30 basis points over and above the base rate or a final rate of 10 per cent for others. This rate would come down to only 9.75 per cent for women customers, as the markup has been increased to 45 basis points over the base rate, while the rate for other customers in this category would come down to only 9.8 per cent as the margin has gone up to 50 basis points.


From Monday, the rate for women customers in the CRE Maxgain category would be 65 basis points above base rate or an actual rate off 9.95 per cent, while the same for other customers would be 10 per cent or 70 basis points over the base rate.


Explaining the revised rates, SBI said these would be applicable to all home loans including takeover proposals from other lenders and those sanctioned by various branches with effect from October 5.


The revised rates would also be applicable to those existing home loan borrowers who are paying higher interest rate than the current rate and want to switch over to the current rates on upfront payment of one-time switchover fee.


“No further interest concession would be available under any arrangement and in any case, the effective interest rate should not be allowed to go below (these) rates,” SBI said.


Rash Driving: 37-Year-Old Woman Gets Rs 5 Lakh Compensation

Rash Driving: 37-Year-Old Woman Gets Rs 5 Lakh Compensation

The tribunal directed the National Insurance Company Ltd, insurer of the offending motorcycle, to pay Rs 5,36,127 to Laxmi Nagar resident Sabita Haldar.



New Delhi:  A 37-year-old woman, who suffered grievous injuries after being hit by a rashly and negligently driven motorcycle, has been awarded compensation of over Rs 5 lakh by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in New Delhi.

The tribunal directed the National Insurance Company Ltd, insurer of the offending motorcycle, to pay Rs 5,36,127 to Laxmi Nagar resident Sabita Haldar, who suffered injuries in the mishap in September 2013.


“The insurance company is hereby directed to pay the compensation of Rs 5,36,127 within one month to the claimant (woman),” said MACT presiding officer, Ravinder Bedi.


In its order, the tribunal also said that “a victim of an accident has to be compensated in terms of money even if gratuitous services are rendered by a family member”.

According to the petition filed by Ms Haldar, she was hit by a motorcycle driven at high speed and in a negligent manner at 9.30 PM on September 26, 2013, while she was crossing the road.


She suffered grievous injuries in the accident and was taken to a hospital, it said.


Ms Haldar, who was working as a maid, had claimed that she had suffered multiple fracture of bones of her right limbs and sought compensation.


The motorcycle driver did not file his written statement before the tribunal and the proceedings were conducted ex-parte.


Assam Legislator Arrested for Allegedly Raping Minor Maid

Rangia, Assam:  Assam legislator Gopi Nath Das, who was absconding since last month, was arrested today for allegedly raping his minor domestic help.Mr Das, who was on the way to surrender at the CJM Court in Kamrup district, was arrested at Amingaon,” Kamrup Superintendent of Police Indrani Barua said.

Mr Das, who represented Boko constituency on All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) ticket, was taken to Palashbari police station, she said.


Mr Das was absconding for more than a month to evade arrest in the alleged rape case filed by his minor domestic help.


On August 29, a case under section 343 IPC for wrongful confinement, read with Section 4/8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, was registered following a complaint by the 14-year-old girl at Mandira outpost under Boko police station that she was allegedly raped by the MLA inside his car in Guwahati.


The case was later transferred to Boko police station.


The girl, hailing from Heckra Jogipara under Nagarbera police station in Kamrup district and staying in Mr Das’s house as a domestic help, had alleged before media that the MLA had raped her inside his car in Guwahati.


Mr Das had rejected the girl’s charges as “conspiracy”.


 


3D Printed Ice Shelter for Mars Wins $25,000 NASA Award

New York:  A 3D printed ice shelter designed for Mars, which aims to rely on the red planet’s predicted liquid water and low temperatures, has won the first-place award of $25,000 in NASA’s Mars habitat design competition.

NASA has awarded a total of $40,000 in the first stage of the 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge Design Competition.


The design competition challenged participants to develop architectural concepts that take advantage of the unique capabilities 3-D printing offers to imagine what habitats on  Mars might look like using this technology and in-situ resources.


More than 165 submissions were received and 30 highest-scoring entries were judged. The first-place award of $25,000 went to Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office for their design, Mars Ice House.


“Given the predicted abundance of water in certain areas on Mars, our approach takes full advantage of its properties as an indigenous material that acts both as a life-force to sustain a human and plant ecosystem, and, when 3D printed, as our primary fabrication material,” the team said.

As water is a means of sustaining life and ice a potential building material, the team opted to locate at Alba Mons in Mars’ northern hemisphere, where it is believed sub-surface water ice is plentiful.


The proposal uses a lander as the basis of the shelter, containing both private and communal interior spaces. Once in situ, it would deploy an inflatable membrane to create an interstitial environment between the outside of the capsule and the Mars atmosphere.


Rovers would then extract water from the ice below the surface at Alba Mons and apply it to form a protective skin on the inside of the inflatable environment.


The layer of ice would provide protection from radiation in the outside atmosphere, and it would also be translucent and allow light into the habitat, ‘Gizmag’ reported.


By conditioning the environment within the inflatable section, it is proposed that the ice be kept frozen indefinitely and vegetation could be grown, which would help to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.


The second place award of $15,000 went to Team Gamma, from architecture firm Foster + Partners. Its concept proposes using semi-autonomous robots to build a shelter using regolith (the loose soil and rocks found on the surface of Mars).


Delhi Police Denies Permission to Observe 'Car-Free Day' on October 22

New Delhi:  Delhi Police has denied permission to AAP dispensation’s ambitious ‘Car-Free Day’ event planned to be held later this month, saying the government did not hold “prior consultation” with the force before taking any decision in this regard.

In his letter to Chief Secretary KK Sharma, Police Commissioner BS Bassi said that the choice of the event date — October 22 — when people will celebrate Dusshera – for such an event (‘Car-Free Day’) seems to be “hasty and quite impractical”.


Having been at loggerheads in the past over several issues, the move may trigger a fresh round of confrontation between the Kejriwal-led government and the city police.


‘Car-Free Day’ has been planned by the city government to be held on the stretch falling between the Red Fort and the India Gate.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai said that “ego of politics” should not come in the way of ‘Car-Free Day’ as it aims to encourage people to use public transport and reduce pollution level to make Delhi’s air clean.


Sources said that Rai may soon meet Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and take up the “unjustified” move by the police.


“Surprisingly, there was no prior consultation with Delhi Police before taking the decision for holding such an event or regarding the suitability of the date proposed.


“The choice of date i.e 22.10.2015 for such an event seems to be hasty and quite impractical. It is the day of Dussehra festival which people celebrate by going out in large numbers with their families. The proposed Car-Free sretch from Lal Qila to India Gate is home to some of Delhi’s most popular and traditional Ram Lilas,” Mr Bassi said in his letter.


He also said that there will also be Durga idol immersion at Yamuna ghats in good numbers on October 22.


These occasions demand massive police arrangements including police patrolling all over the city for safety and security of citizens and maintaining law and order. Besides, there will also be VVIP movements on that day which require special requirements, the police commissioner said.


Mr Bassi also said that Delhi Police being the primary agency responsible for regulation of traffic in the city is the first stakeholder in any such event which has a direct impact on the smooth flow of traffic and needs to be consulted before organising such event.


Government has said that it is not the only stakeholder to hold ‘Car-Free Day’, but MCD, DDA, city police are also part of it.


“There are several agencies like DDA, MCD and police which have the similar responsibility to make government’s ‘Car-Free Day’ a success. Government will hold consultations with concerned agencies to observe it. Additional Commissioner (Traffic) was also present in the meeting wherein the decision to hold this event was taken,” Mr Rai said.


Nitin Gadkari to Chair Sagarmala Committee Meet Tomorrow

Nitin Gadkari to Chair Sagarmala Committee Meet Tomorrow

File photo of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.



New Delhi:  The maiden meeting tomorrow of the apex body of Sagarmala, an ambitious port-led development project along India’s 7,500 km coastline, will be chaired by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

     



“The first meeting of the National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) will be held on October 5, 2015 in New Delhi. The meeting will be chaired by Union Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari,” an official statement said in Delhi.

     

Sagarmala is an initiative that aims at promoting “port- led development” along India’s 7,500-km long coastline, with the Shipping Ministry as the nodal ministry.

     

“The members of the NSAC include Vice Chairman NITI Aayog and Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal,” the statement said.

     
The members also include Union Cabinet Ministers of Finance; Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Urban Development; Railways; Agriculture; Rural Development; Civil Aviation; Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; Environment, Forests & Climate Change; Commerce and Industry; Tourism while Secretary, Shipping is Member Convener.

     

The broad agenda of meeting includes discussions on constitution and scope of NSAC, Concept of Sagarmala and government decisions on it, action taken on setting up of Sagarmala Institutional Mechanism and role of the Centre as well as states in project identification and implementation.

     

“The prime objective of the Sagarmala project is to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively,” the statement said.

     

The project aims at providing for an institutional framework for ensuring integrated development, including modernisation and setting up of new ports, and efficient evacuation to and from hinterland.

     

The government recently discussed potential for developing a world-class transshipment port in India and promoting the usage of coastal shipping and inland waterways for transporting key commodities like coal, iron ore, foodgrains and petroleum products recently.

     

Cabinet in March had given ‘in-principle’ nod to the project, aimed at port-led development in coastal states.

     

Funds required in 2015-16 for implementation of projects in the initial phase of Sagarmala is pegged at Rs 692 crore.

How Quantico Earns Ranveer a Compliment From Priyanka

Actress Priyanka Chopra’s new international TV series Quantico aired in India on October 5, but before that, her Bajirao Mastani co-star Ranveer Singh urged fans to see the show while mimicking some dialogues from it in a video.

Priyanka was “touched” by his gesture and called him a “good mimic.”


Priyanka’s team shared the video on Twitter in which Ranveer features in a different persona.


 





 



The National Award-winning actress shared the link on the microblogging site, along with a ‘thank you’ note and a compliment.


 

In the show, Priyanka plays Alex Parrish, a potential FBI recruit with a mysterious past. The show also features actors Jake McLaughlin, Tate Ellington and Graham Rogers, who all play fellow recruits.


The show will narrate the adventures and experiences of the trainees, who are at the Quantico base in Virginia. However, following a terrorist activity in the country, Alex Parrish becomes the prime suspect behind the incident. (Also Read: Priyanka Chopra and Quantico Make Us Proud, Tweets Bollywood)


Quantico will be aired in India on Star World.



 


Delhi Civic Body to Open 28 Parking Lots by Month-End

Delhi Civic Body to Open 28 Parking Lots by Month-End

NDMC is working to open over a dozen more parking lots, for which land has been identified and the process of seeking ‘no-objection certificates’ from various departments and agencies is underway.



New Delhi:  To meet the growing demand for parking space, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) will open 28 more parking lots in its area by the end of this month.

“We have completed all the formalities and short-term tenders will be invited for the parking lots next week. The parking lots, small and large in capacity, will be ready by the end of this month,” said Virendar Babbar, vice-chairman of Standing Committee of the civic body.


The demand for parking space is growing as the number of vehicles is increasing every day. But lack of availability of land for parking space poses a big challenge, he said.


The 28 parking lots will be opened in crowded parts of the city, including Karol Bag and Civil Lines, and will help ease the parking crisis, Mr Babbar said.

Also, NDMC is working to open over a dozen more parking lots, for which land has been identified and the process of seeking ‘no-objection certificates’ from various departments and agencies is underway.


“We have opened over 50 parking lots in the NDMC area recently. There are, at present, nearly 140 parking lots of municipal corporation in North Delhi,” Mr Babbar said.


2 Jaish-e-Mohammad Terrorists Killed in an Encounter in Kashmir's Awantipur

Srinagar:  Two terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were today killed in an encounter with security forces in Awantipur area of south Kashmir, police said.

“The terrorists, identified as Adil Pathan and Burmi, were Pakistani nationals,” a senior police officer told NDTV.


“They have been operating in south Kashmir for the last 5 years and were involved in several attacks in the area. Two AK rifles, magazines and a hand grenade have been recovered from the site of encounter, he added.



 



The encounter took place after a joint team of Awantipur police and 42 Rashtriya Rifles of army launched an operation based on information about the presence of terrorists in Gunchibal village in Awantipur.


As the security forces zeroed in the cordon they came under heavy fire. The security forces retaliated the fire and in the ensuing encounter the two terrorists were killed, police said.



 



JeM has been responsible for several major attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.


Less Bliing For Akshay and More for Talvar on Day Two

Akshay Kumar’s Singh Is Bliing witnessed a sharp dip in collections on Saturday with Rs 14.50 crores, following a ‘phenomenal’ score of Rs 20.67 crores on its opening day, October 2. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the figures on Saturday.


 

However, his prediction says that the romantic-comedy should fare better on Sunday. Singh Is Bliing features Akshay as Raftaar Singh and also stars Amy Jackson as his love interest.


The opening day collections of the movie, surpassed the Bollywood Khiladi‘s other 2015 releases like Gabbar Is Back (Rs 13.05 crores), Baby (Rs 9.3 crores) and Brothers ( Rs 15.20 crores ). And it did so by a fair margin, to become his “biggest opener.” (Also Read: Akshay’s ‘Spectacular’ Box Office Bliing, Rs 20 Cr on Opening Day)


On the other hand, Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar performed slightly better than Friday, minting Rs 2.75 crores on Saturday. Mr Adarsh shared the collections, which read a total of Rs 5.75 crores.



 



Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma’s Talvar is a crime-thriller and is based on the Aarushi Talwar murder case. Both Singh Is Bliing and Talvar hit screens on October 2.



 


Congress Organises Blood Donation Camp

Congress Organises Blood Donation Camp

File photo of Congress leader Ajay Maken.



New Delhi:  Delhi Congress today organised a blood donation camp at Shaheen Bagh in Okhla to help meet the growing demand for platelet in the wake of spurt in dengue cases in the national capital.

The blood donation camp was organised by former Congress MLA Asif Mohamma Khan and local councillor Shoeb Danish. DPCC president Ajay Maken visited the camp.


The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) had initiated dengue awareness and prevention campaigns last week as part of its social responsibility. Accordingly, fogging drives were carried out in all 14 districts of Delhi, Mr Maken said.


Accusing the AAP Government in Delhi and BJP-ruled civic bodies of “inaction” resulting in spread of dengue, Mr Maken said that both failed to take timely steps.


“There were no beds in hospitals to treat dengue patients, and now, there is severe shortage of blood,” the Congress leader claimed.


 


Gujarat Election Commission Postpones Local Body Polls in the State

Ahmedabad:  Gujarat State Election Commission has announced postponement of polls to various local bodies in the state, citing law and order situation as a reason.

The announcement was made thorough a notification issued by the commission.


Though the notification does not mention the exact reasons affecting the law and order situation, it is believed that the commission is concerned about the current scene prevailing in the state due to the Patel quota agitation.


As per the notification issued by the Secretary in the state Election Commission Mahesh Joshi, the decision to hold the election to the local bodies, including municipalities and district panchayats, will be taken within three months time after examining the situation.


The notification stated that elections to six municipal corporations, 56 municipalities, 230 taluka panchayats and 31 district panchayats were expected to be held between October and November this year as the term of these bodies is expiring in the period.

“Keeping in mind the necessity to hold elections in free, fair and peaceful environment, the commission has evaluated the present law and order situation across the state. After such evaluation, we have decided not to hold elections at present,” the release stated.


“The commission will take a decision to hold elections in next three months after re-examining the situation in the state,” the notification, signed by Joshi, said.


The announcement came hours after the Gujarat Governor OP Kohli issued an ordinance to bring uniformity in the law about the situations where local body elections are deferred.


Through the ordinance, the Gujarat government also empowered itself to take a decision to delay the polls if there is an apprehension that the voters would not be able to use the franchise freely and fairly.


The Supreme Court has recently stayed the elections to municipalities and municipal corporations, following a plea by advocate Anirudh Sharma.


Since the ban was not applicable on Panchayati Raj institutions, Gujarat Congress unit had recently met the state Election Commissioner Varesh Sinha and requested him to expedite the process to hold elections in district panchayats and taluka panchayats across the state.


Congress has been alleging that the BJP-led Gujarat government is not interested in holding the elections at this juncture due to the situation in the state created by the Patel quota stir.


In the Islamic State 'Caliphate,' Daily Life is Laden With Fear and Brutality


The white vans come out at dinnertime, bringing hot meals to unmarried Islamic State fighters in the city of Hit in western Iraq.

A team of foreign women, who moved from Europe and throughout the Arab world to join the Islamic State, work in communal kitchens to cook the fighters’ dinners, which are delivered to homes confiscated from people who fled or were killed, the city’s former mayor said.


The Islamic State has drawn tens of thousands of people from around the world by promising paradise in the Muslim homeland it has established on conquered territory in Syria and Iraq.

But in reality, the militants have created a brutal, two-tiered society, where daily life is starkly different for the occupiers and the occupied, according to interviews with more than three dozen people who are now living in, or have recently fled, the Islamic State.


Foreign fighters and their families are provided free housing, medical care, religious education and even a sort of militant meals-on-wheels service, according to those interviewed. The militants are paid salaries raised largely from taxes and fees levied on the millions of people they control in an arc of land as big as the United Kingdom.


Those whose cities and towns are held by the Islamic State said they face not only the casual savagery of militants who behead their enemies and make sex slaves out of some minority women but also severe shortages of the basics of daily life.


Many residents have electricity for only an hour or two a day, and some homes go days without running water. Jobs are scarce, so many people can’t afford food prices that have tripled or more. Medical care is poor, most schools are closed, and bans on most travel outside the Islamic State are enforced at gunpoint.


Over the past two years, the militants have produced a torrent of startlingly sophisticated online propaganda that has helped persuade at least 20,000 foreign fighters, many with families, to come from as far away as Australia. The campaign, largely distributed on YouTube and social media, depicts a place filled with Ferris wheels and cotton candy, where local families cheerfully mingle with heavily armed foreigners.


But local people interviewed said their daily lives are filled with fear and deprivation in the Islamic State “caliphate,” governed by the militants’ extreme version of Islamic sharia law.


“We went back to the Stone Age,” said Mohammad Ahmed, 43, a former Arab League worker from Deir al-Zour, a town near Raqqa, the militants’ self-proclaimed capital in northern Syria.


“We used to have a beautiful house with marble and ceramic floors,” said Ahmed, who fled his home in June and now lives alongside 20,000 other Syrians in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp. “All our lives, we had everything we needed. Then, when they came, we were cooking over a fire outside and washing our clothes in a bucket.”


Several of those interviewed said the Islamic State was actually less corrupt and provided more efficient government services, such as road construction and trash collection, than the previous Syrian and Iraqi governments. In Iraq, some said, the Sunni Islamic State militants treated them better than the Shiite-dominated central government in Baghdad. But none of those interviewed said they supported the militants, and all said efficient government did not excuse the group’s brutal and fanatical behavior.


“We hate them,” said Hikmat al-Gaoud, 41, the former mayor of Hit, who fled in April and now divides his time between Baghdad and Amman, Jordan.


The Islamic State came to power in the wake of years of fighting in Syria and Iraq that already had shattered many public institutions. But people interviewed said the Islamic State had made the damage worse, in ways that could be felt for decades to come – reversing gains in public education, ruining the medical infrastructure, establishing a justice system based on terror, and exposing a generation of children to gruesome and psychologically devastating violence.


For women, living in the Islamic State homeland often means being subjected to a virtual assembly-line system for providing brides to fighters, or sometimes being abducted and forced into unwanted marriages.


Many who were interviewed gave only their first name or declined to be identified at all, for their own safety and the security of their family members still living under Islamic State control. They were interviewed via Skype or telephone calls from Syria and Iraq, or in person in Iraq, Turkey and Jordan.


Those who spoke from inside areas controlled by the Islamic State did so at great peril, saying the militants closely monitor Internet access. They agreed to speak so that they could tell their story of life inside the Islamic State caliphate.


Nearly everyone interviewed said they had witnessed a beheading or another savage punishment. It is virtually impossible to independently verify these accounts, just as it is impossible to verify the claims in much of the propaganda material put out by the Islamic State. The militants almost never allow journalists or other observers inside their territory, and they have posted video of the beheadings of several they have captured.


The interviews, conducted over several months, were arranged largely at random or through long-established contacts in the region. Although several activists were among those interviewed, The Washington Post did not rely on activist groups to provide interview subjects. At the Azraq camp, Post reporters reviewed records of arrivals and sought out those who recently came from militant-controlled areas. Many of the interviews lasted two hours or longer.


The militants control small farming communities and large urban areas, including Mosul, an Iraqi city with a population of more than 1 million people. The Islamic State’s policies differ somewhat in each area, so there is no single, uniform way of life; but in the interviews, consistent themes emerged about women, health, education, justice and the economy in the Islamic State.


Women must be fully veiled and can be whipped for leaving the house without a male-relative escort. Many simply stay at home for fear of being picked up on the street and forced to marry a foreign fighter.


Hospitals are usually reserved for foreign fighters and are staffed by doctors who have come from as far as Britain and Malaysia. Local people are forced to seek care in ill-equipped clinics, which have expired medications and poorly trained staff.


In some places, the Islamic State has shut down cellphone service and Internet access. Where it still exists, the militants try to control it closely. They have set up Internet cafes that have become centers for propaganda, where recruiters encourage young people around the world to leave their homes and come to the Islamic State. They have persuaded about 200 Americans – some still in their teens – in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis and other U.S. cities to try to come to Syria. Most were arrested before reaching their destination, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.


Except for religious schools for the children of foreign fighters, schools are generally closed. Militants have confiscated college diplomas and burned them publicly.


“Life under Daesh is a nightmare each day,” said a female math teacher who lives in Mosul, using an Arabic name for the Islamic State.


“We have an unknown future,” she said, asking that her name not be used. “Maybe Daesh will kill us or maybe we will die in the war, or maybe after. What we are going through right now is a slow death.”


The militants have established checkpoints to prevent people from fleeing. But those interviewed said a growing network of smugglers is helping people flee, and they are entering Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and non-militant-controlled areas of Iraq in increasing numbers. U.N. officials said that 60 percent of refugees who have crossed the Syria-Jordan border recently were escaping areas controlled by the militants.


The Islamic State’s propaganda portrays the militants as liberators; one recent video showed armed fighters delivering sweets to a home for the elderly. But according to those interviewed, the majority of residents view the militants as a merciless occupying force, and they stay away from them as much as possible.


“Even if we see them in the streets or in the shops, there is no mingling,” said an activist who calls himself Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, a native of Raqqa who runs a social media site called Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently.


People in Raqqa, he said, “feel like strangers in their own city.”


The Islamic State has had some success recruiting local people. Those interviewed said many of their friends and neighbors in Syria and Iraq have chosen to join the Islamic State, becoming fighters, teachers or workers in their government offices.


Some do so because they believe in the militants’ goal of uniting the world under their extreme interpretation of Islamic law.


But most of the people who work for the Islamic State do so out of economic desperation, according to those interviewed. In places where the cost of food has skyrocketed and where many people are living on little more than bread and rice, some men have concluded that becoming an Islamic State warrior is the only way to provide for their family.


“There is no work, so you have to join them in order to live,” said Yassin al-Jassem, 52, who fled his home near Raqqa in June. “So many local people have joined them. They were pushed into Daesh by hunger.”


Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at King’s College in London, said that although foreign fighters have given the Islamic State a boost, “in the long term, they will turn out to be a burden.” He said that local tribes rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq in the mid-2000s partly because that group was perceived as a foreign organization. He said people now under Islamic State control could do the same – especially in Iraq.



But those interviewed who had lived under the Islamic State said it has gone to great lengths to suppress any potential uprisings, killing anyone suspected of disloyalty.


Faten Humayda, 70, a grandmother who fled her town near Raqqa in May and now lives in the Azraq camp, said the violence increases local anger at the militants, but it also creates suspicion among local people. It is harder for any kind of resistance movement to form when people think their friends and neighbors might be informants for the militants.


“They have turned us against each other,” she said.


Ahmed, who fled his town near Raqqa in June, said some of the Arab fighters would try to mix with the local population, but the Europeans and other non-Arabs never did. He said that although the Islamic State militants claimed they were there to create a better life for Muslims, they seemed mainly focused on battles with other rebel groups and government forces.


“They were always very aggressive, and they seemed angry,” he said. “They are there to fight, not to govern.”


Interviewed in his baking-hot metal hut in the Azraq camp, Jassem recalled that while he was living under Islamic State control, his 2-year-old grandson developed a brain tumor. Doctors wanted $800 to remove it.


Jassem, a farm hand, hadn’t worked since Islamic State militants took over his home town. He was desperate, so in late May he went to the militants to beg for his grandson’s life, and they offered him a choice.


“They said to me, ‘If you give us your son to fight with us, we will pay for your grandson’s treatment,"” he said.


The idea of one of his sons becoming an Islamic State fighter turned his stomach, and the thought of losing his grandson broke his heart. So Jassem took his family and escaped in the back of a smuggler’s truck. He said his son is now asking Jordanian authorities for medical help for the little boy.


“I am never going back to Syria,” Jassem said, looking out from his 12-by-18-foot hut at the bleak expanse of empty Jordan desert. “It’s not my Syria anymore.”


© 2015 The Washington Post


Woman Who Put Her Foot Down for Toilet Becomes 'Cleanliness Ambassador'

Betul:  A 20-year-old woman, who left her husband about a year-and-half ago demanding a toilet facility, has been made Betul’s ‘Swachhata Doot’ (cleanliness ambassador).

“We have made Seema Patel the district ‘swachhata doot’ under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Work of constructing a toilet at her husband’s place has also started. We are also going to felicitate her for her extraordinary courage,” Betul collector Gyaneshwar B Patil told PTI.


He said that Seema’s action will give a fillip to the Prime Minister’s flagship campaign.


Seema left her 23-year-old husband Mohan Patel’s home at Shahpur block in the district a year-and-half ago.


She had returned to her maternal house at Piparia town in Hoshangabad in January last year saying that she will return to her in-laws place only after a toilet was build.

Recently, Mohan approached a family counselling centre at Shahpur to re-unite with Seema.


The counselling centre member Rajani Gaikwad took a dim view of the matter and after going through it last week, asked Mohan to build a toilet within a month.


After her marriage in May 2012, Seema spent a long time at her in-law’s place and constantly asked them to build a toilet in the house, Ms Gaikwad said.


Before Seema, Betul district’s Anita Narre, a tribal woman of Chichouli village also left her husband in 2011 for want of toilet facility.


Narre’s courage was widely praised and Bindeshwari Pathak, chairman of NGO Sulabh International presented her Rs 5 lakh for her decision.


Narre was also honoured by former President Pratibha Patil in 2011.


PM Modi-Angela Merkel to Discuss Steps to Scale Up Indo-German Ties

PM Modi-Angela Merkel to Discuss Steps to Scale Up Indo-German Ties

File Photo: PM Narendra Modi with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.



New Delhi:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold wide-ranging talks in new Delhi tomorrow to significantly scale up bilateral relations in an array of key sectors with special focus on boosting trade, security and defence ties.

The talks are likely to focus on deepening bilateral engagement in defence, security, education, renewable energy, high technology, skill development, science and technology, railways, water and waste management, urban development and agriculture. India and Germany are strategic partners since 2001.


Ms Merkel’s three-day visit here comes around six months after PM Modi’s visit to Germany and there have been expectations of “path-breaking results” from the summit-level Inter- Governmental Consultations (IGC) between the two leaders who have been pushing for unlocking the potential and taking the ties to higher trajectory.


PM Modi and Ms Merkel, accompanied by a large delegation of several Cabinet Ministers and top officials besides CEOs of several top German companies, are expected to delve deep on removing bottlenecks for expanding bilateral trade and investment.

The German Chancellor is expected to convey problems faced by German industries in proceeding with planned investments.


Both the leaders are also likely to exchange views on regional and global issues of common concern such as climate change.


Germany is India’s largest trading partner in the European Union and the seventh largest foreign investor in India. The overall exchange of goods and services between the two countries was valued at around around 15.96 billion euros last year, a drop of 1.14 billion euros from the level of 16.10 billion euros registered in 2013.


While India’s exports to Germany rose marginally to 7.03 billion euros in 2014, its German imports dropped to 8.92 billion euros from 9.19 euros in the previous year. More than 1,600 Indo-German collaborations and around 600 Indo-German joint ventures are currently in operation.


Ahead of Ms Merkel’s visit, German Ambassador Martin Ney said the 3rd Inter-Governmental Consultations are expected to come out with “path-breaking results” and inking of “substantial” number of agreements between the two countries.


Tomorrow, the German Chancellor will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan. She will also visit Rajghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Both PM Modi and Ms Merkel will have one-on-one meetings before delegation-level talks.


The Chancellor will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee. The Chancellor and the Prime Minister will visit Bengaluru on 6 October, where both will participate in a business event hosted by NASSCOM. They will also visit the innovation and skilling centres at the German company M/s Bosch.


The 'Water Mafias' That Suck Karachi Dry

Pakistani residents fill containers with water provided by the government in a slum area of Karachi. (AFP)



Karachi:  The moment they saw the city water tanker stop in their neighbourhood, Mohammed and Nayla rushed towards it. That day, the water was free a rare event in Karachi, where organised gangs siphon it off to sell to thirsty residents.

In Sadiqabad and other Karachi slums, water barely flows through the pipe meant to supply the shacks packed along the rutted earth lanes.


The shortage doesn’t just annoy the millions of residents in Pakistan’s largest city this summer it exacerbated the effects of a heatwave which killed more than 1,200 people.


Over recent decades Karachi has expanded in an uncontrolled, unplanned way, booming from 500,000 to 20 million inhabitants in the space of 60 years and sprawling over an area 33 times the size of central Paris.


The coastal city pumps around 2.2 billion litres (580 million US gallons) of water a day from the Indus and Hub rivers, which have seen their flow reduced by insufficient rains in recent years.

But it is not enough to meet demand in a metropolis where the vital textile industry gobbles up huge amounts.


Mohammad Akeel Siddiq works in one such factory, earning 10,000 rupees ($100) a month with which he supports his wife Nayla and their five children.


From time to time the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) fills the reservoir in their neighbourhood and residents flock to it.


But the rest of the time they turn to the semi-clandestine mafias that control the lucrative trade in water distributed by tankers.


The family pays up to $15 a month for water which is not even always safe to drink.


“The water is polluted and dirty so we only use it for washing and cooking,” Nayla told AFP.


“The children sometimes get diarrhoea when they drink that water.”


As a result the family are sometimes forced to use money they should spend on food to buy clean drinking water.


Dig, Pump, Bill


The water mafias dig tunnels to tap into the mains supply, stealing millions of gallons a day, said Iftikhar Ahmed Khan of KWSB.


“These illegal hydrants are established by armed people, so it is very difficult for KWSB staff to just dismantle them,” he told AFP.


In recent months government forces on a major anti-crime crackdown in the city have shuttered 200 illegal water connections, forcing many tankers to refill from KWSB and pay fees of $1-2 per 1,000 US gallons (3,700 litres).


The water is then resold for at least 10 times that price a few kilometres (miles) away in slums, posh neighbourhoods and industrial areas.


“There is an enormous amount of demand… (but) there is no regulatory check of the price the tankers are charging to the customer,” said Noman Ahmed, an expert on the water crisis at NED university in Karachi.


On the ground the gangs continue to steal from the network while others pump directly from the groundwater table to resell what is undrinkable saline water.


Water, water everywhere


Karachi’s textile factories the lifeblood of the Pakistani economy  use hundreds of millions of litres of water a day producing fabrics, T-shirts and jeans, many of which are exported to the West.


One industrialist speaking on condition of anonymity admitted paying bribes to ensure the water kept flowing to his factory, but said even then he was sometimes forced to turn to the tanker gangs.


Many rich people are investing in powerful suction pumps to draw what water there is from the mains thereby depriving their neighbours of their supply.


Karachi is on the Arabian Sea, but desalination costs are prohibitively expensive and, with the water table falling and the population continuing to boom, it seems the city’s water woes are only just beginning.


“The government says there are water shortages,” said Abdul Samad, resident of the poor Metroville area.


“But we see tankers in our neighbourhood every day where’s that water coming from?”


Delhi Metro Ranked First in Information During Travel: Survey

New Delhi:  Delhi Metro has been ranked first in “information during travel”, as per an international survey of Metro systems conducted by Railway and Transport Strategic Centre (RTSC).

According to a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official, in the survey, DMRC has secured  second position in “train cleanliness and comfort”.


The survey was conducted by RTSC, which manages the ‘NOVA’ and ‘CoMET’ benchmarking groups of Metro networks.


“The survey was conducted as per international standards EN 13816 (an European survey system used widely to assess the performance of the public transportation systems in Europe) and was controlled directly by RTSC through an internet link on DMRC’s website- www.delhimetrorail.com,” official statement issued by DMRC states.


The survey was conducted from April 13 to May 10, 2015.

It also conducted the third edition of its in-house “Customer Satisfaction Survey” (CSS) from August 24 to September 1, 2015 and covered 96,466 respondents.


“The survey was conducted at the top 50 Metro stations of the network and some responses were also collected from inside the trains. Like the international survey, this survey was also done as per international standards EN 13816,” the official said.


CSS included various crucial aspects of Metro operations such as availability and accessibility, new facilities offered to customers, information, quality of service, customer services, outside Metro area, comfort and view on fare revision, security and safety, it added.


The official statement, however, states that the areas in which commuters expressed the need for improvement were pavements, lighting, cleanliness/orderliness and encroachment outside station premises.


DMRC will take up these issues with the civic authorities and work towards necessary improvement, it added. 


Nitish Kumar Can't Develop Bihar by Carrying Lalu, Congress: Amit Shah


File photo of BJP President Amit Shah.



Muzaffarpur:  BJP national President Amit Shah today said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won’t be able to bring development to Bihar by carrying two allies, Congress and RJD, on his shoulders.

“The Congress had presided over scam to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore during the UPA rule at the Centre and the RJD had presided over ‘jungle raj’ during its 15-year rule… how can Nitish Kumar bring development to Bihar by carrying these two allies on his shoulders,” Mr Shah told party workers at Nehru Stadium in Muzaffarpur town.


Urging the electorate of Bihar not to get swayed by the bluff of senior JD(U) leader, Mr Shah warned that Bihar would end up with ‘jungle raj – 2′ in the event of the grand secular alliance coming to power.


In a broadside at the JD(U) leader, the BJP national president accused him of being a master of ‘politics of betrayal’ saying that he will not remain faithful to Bihar and its people given his penchant of betraying the socialist icons, namely Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, BJP and lastly Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Mr Kumar broke alliance with the BJP and betrayed the mandate from the people for his “sheer greed” for the post of prime minister and joined hands with the RJD supremo against whom he had fought all his life and later had no remorse in co-opting Congress against whom the socialist icons, Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, had stood for all their lives, Mr Shah said.


Describing Mr Kumar as a habitual betrayer, Mr Shah said the former took no time in becoming chief minister on the shoulders of the RJD supremo after junking the BJP despite the fact that the BJP workers had toiled hard against the RJD’s ‘jungle raj’ and made him the Chief Minister of Bihar in 2005.


Mr Shah held the RJD supremo and the JD(U) leader collectively responsible for backwardness of Bihar by ignoring development in pursuit of caste politics and dynasty rule and promised that the BJP-led coalition will retrieve old glories of the state in the event of being elected to power at the hustings.