Ali Khan

For greater returns, the stock market investment from the New Pension System (NPS) corpus rose to 13 per cent in the last fiscal, while the pension regulator PFRDA is in discussion with the government for greater tax benefits for subscribers of this scheme.

In the previous fiscal 2013-14, the total investment in equities stood at 9 per cent of the NPS corpus.

Total assets under management of the NPS currently stands at Rs 87,000 crore and 94 lakh subscribers have already been brought under its fold.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda today reviewed the preparedness of Delhi’s civic bodies to tackle the outbreak of vector-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya during the monsoon season and thereafter.

East Delhi Mayor Harsh Malhotra and South Delhi Mayor Subhash Arya today met Nadda at Nirman Bhawan here to apprise him about the arrangements in place for handling such situations and requested government’s assistance for further preparation, a senior health official said.

The minister assured all possible support to the civic bodies, he said.

Eight compartments of Mumbai- Bhusawal freight train today derailed between Kasara and Igatpuri railway stations near here.

However, nobody was injured in the accident, according to Central Railway officials at Nashik Road railway station.

The derailment delayed traffic on the route for some time but there was no major disruption, they said.

The mishap delayed Pune-Bhusawal mail, Godavari Express, Sewagram Express and Lucknow Express, officials said.

The cause of the derailment could not be known immediately, they added.

India has been successful in bringing Pakistan under monitoring of Asia Pacific Group to enforce UN sanctions against underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terror mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed despite strong opposition from China.

Officials said China has stood by Pakistan on terror asking India to back off at the recently-concluded meeting of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body, held in Brisbane, Australia, when New Delhi had strongly raised non-compliance by Islamabad on freezing assets of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates and Dawood.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) today said it plans to bring in 50 more banks as promoters and widen the capital base by nearly Rs 100 crore.

“We are working on expanding the promoter base of the Corporation by adding 50 more banks. We are already on the job and it is likely to be done before the end of the calendar year. We will be raising around Rs 100 crore,” NPCI managing director and chief executive A P Hota told reporters.

Ireland’s Health Department says doctors last year performed 26 abortions to protect women’s lives, including on three women who had threatened to kill themselves if denied one.

Today’s report is the first to document abortion in Ireland.

The predominantly Catholic country bans abortion in its constitution. But the government in 2013 legalised abortions in cases where doctors judge that continued pregnancy poses a risk to the woman’s life.

Granting an abortion to prevent a suicide requires a unanimous recommendation by a three-doctor panel.

Facebook announced today it had opened its first African office in Johannesburg as part of its efforts “to help people and businesses connect” on the continent.

The office will be headed by Nunu Ntshingila, a former executive at the advertising agency Ogilvy.

“This office will support the significant growth in businesses and people using Facebook,” said a statement from the world’s biggest social network, which has some 1.4 billion active users worldwide including 120 million in Africa.

Youth Congress activists today organised a rally here to demand CBI probe into the MPPEB and DMAT exam scam for admissions to government as well as private medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, and later courted arrest.

“Yesterday, death of the 25th accused in the MPPEB scam was reported, which was shocking. Only a CBI probe will do justice in the matter,” Youth Congress state president Kunal Choudhary, who led the demonstrators, said.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic fears he is becoming the victim of a smear campaign after his opening Wimbledon victory today was overshadowed by more allegations of cheating.

The world number one and top seed eased to a 6-4, 6-4, 6 -4 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber on Centre Court but many eyes were glued to the Serb’s coach Boris Becker after the German legend admitted he employed ways to instruct his player even though coaching is banned during a match.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that negotiations on climate change were moving too slowly and urged governments to quicken the pace ahead of the December conference on reaching a new global deal.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius echoed Ban’s call, saying a fresh effort was needed to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Copenhagen conference, which ended in failure.

“The pace of the UNFCCC negotiations is far too slow,” Ban told a UN meeting on climate. “It’s like snails, moving (at a) snail’s pace.”

“The key political issues are still on the table,” he said.

Former British migrants who were physically and sexually assaulted at a notorious school in Australia today won the largest compensation payment for survivors of mass child abuse in the country’s legal history.

A class action lawsuit was brought by almost 150 former residents of Fairbridge Farm School, which housed British child migrants, against the Australian and New South Wales state governments after they were abused between 1938 and 1974.

Sebi today slapped a six-year ban on seven individuals for manipulating trading in the shares of LGS Global Ltd over a period of three years starting from 2008.

After observing irregularities, Sebi had initiated investigation into trading in certain scrips, including LGS, during the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Seeking to strengthen its fleet, Delhi Metro will procure 17 new eight-coach trains and convert 61 six-coach trains into eight-coach formations to provide more convenience to the commuters on the Red, Blue and Yellow lines of its network.

A total of 258 new coaches are being procured. Bombardier’s facility in Savli, Gujarat will assemble 162 coaches while 96 new coaches will be procured from state-run BEML’s plant in Bengaluru, an official of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and five-time women’s winner Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon second round today as organisers boosted security and weathermen ramped up warnings of a crushing heatwave.

Top seed Djokovic enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber with crucial breaks in the ninth game of each set and goes on to face either 2004 champion Lleyton Hewitt or Jarkko Nieminen for a place in the last 32.

Delhi ACB chief M K Meena today transfered the SHO, considered close to the AAP government, and made a new appointment hours after the Delhi High Court turned down its plea seeking to restrain him from entering his office.

Inspector Brij Mohan has been appointed as the new SHO of ACB. He will replace Inspector Vinay Malik with immediate effect, sources said.

Malik is considered close to the AAP government-appointed ACB chief S S Yadav and had been playing a crucial role in the recent anti-corruption action, according to the sources.

In an evening of poignant remembrance, friends and admirers of former IAS officer and noted urban planner Mahesh Neelkanth Buch today came together to “celebrate” his life marked by honesty and integrity.

Luminaries cutting across political, bureaucratic and legal spectrum eulogized Buch, widely regarded as the architect of new Bhopal, at a memorial service organised at the India International Centre.

The UN cultural organisation today condemned the “barbaric assaults” the Islamic State group has launched on World Heritage sites in Iraq and Syria, saying they may amount to war crimes.

Meeting in Bonn, Germany, UNESCO delegates said the IS attacks on sites such as Iraq’s ancient city of Hatra recalled the “mindless destruction” by other Islamist extremists in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in Mali’s Timbuktu and elsewhere.

Taking a serious view on non-filing of counter affidavits in response to various petitions, the Madras High Court today imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on four government departments.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam directed Housing and Urban Development, Home (Fire and Rescue Services), Labour and Employment departments and the Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai to pay the cost of Rs 5,000 each.

Jharkhand forest department’s efforts to use trained camels to drive wild elephants back to deep forest was ‘unsuccessful’ after the herd entered a residential area on the borders of Ranchi-Khunti districts injuring a couple of villagers.

“Three trained camels were brought yesterday to drive a herd of about 12 elephants into the forests. The elephants did go some distance at the sight of the camels, but they came back and chased away the camels and the forest officials,” the region’s forest guard, Naval Paswan, said today.

Ahead of the Bihar polls, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad should lead the fight at a time when socialist ideology was under threat.

“Socialism and socialist ideologies are under threat, at present. I hope Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad to lead and assist the fight of socialism conceived by Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru in 1954-55, against the growing capitalist system,” Singh said at a book release function here.

Australia and New Zealand will play the first ever day-night Test under lights with a pink ball in November at the Adelaide Oval, according to a report.

The historic event on November 27 will be the third Test of a three-match series against the Black Caps on Australian soil this summer and will be the first to be played under lights and with a pink Kookaburra ball.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested two alleged racketeers who duped at least seven businessman from different states of several crores of rupees.

The accused — Arun Kumar Sharma and Parvez Alam — were arrested from Faridabad in Haryana on Thursday last, police said, adding that several other accused are still absconding.

According to EOW, the duo, along with other accused, duped a Gujarat-based businessman of Rs. 12.7 crore on the pretext of promising him a loan of Rs. 400 crore from a Thailand-based company.

A system has been reached in talks between Iran and major powers towards a nuclear deal that will give the UN atomic watchdog access to all suspect sites, a senior US official said today.

“The entry point isn’t we must be able to get into every military site, because the United States of America wouldn’t allow anybody to get into every military site, so that’s not appropriate,” the official said.

The state credit plan in Andhra Pradesh for 2015-16 has been pegged at Rs 1,25,748 crore, in which the share of agriculture is Rs 65,272 crore.

The plan, launched by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a meeting of State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) here today, allocated Rs 16,960 crore for MSMEs and Rs 14,688 crore for other priority sectors, an official release said.

The total credit for priority sector is Rs 96,920 crore and non-priority segment at Rs 28,828 crore.

Terming the Delhi government’s maiden budget as a “deficit budget”, Opposition leader Vijendra Gupta today alleged that the revenue figures shown by the AAP dispensation were “inflated”, and claimed this will cause a financial crisis in the national capital.

Gupta, while participating in a discussion on the Budget tabled by Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia in Delhi Assembly on June 25, also alleged the government has “not introduced” any measure reflecting austerity and expenditure in it.