Press Trust of India

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India’s premier news agency, having a reach as vast as the Indian Railways. It employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.

Compete with yourself, not others: Modi to students

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said students preparing for board and competitive examinations should compete with themselves and not others in order to avoid stress and succeed.

“We must not waste our energies in competing with others. Start competing with yourself and make sure that your present is better than your past,” Modi said during a special episode of “Mann Ki Baat”, his regular radio address to the nation that focused on examinations.

“We are responsible for making exams a burden. We should stop doing it,” he added.

40-year-old man held for killing toddler in Gurgaon

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A 40-year-old man was Sunday arrested for killing a two-year-old girl near here after she got separated from his brother, police said.

The man – identified as Govardhan from Hathin area of Haryana – will be produced before a court Monday.

The body of the two-year-old girl was found in Manesar Friday night.

Her parents are rag-pickers. They hail from West Bengal and live in a slum area near Manesar.

Police said the girl Nisha got separated from her seven-year-old brother on Mahashivratri Feb 17.

37 dead in Bangladesh ferry capsize

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An overloaded ferry carrying over 100 people capsized Sunday after being hit by a cargo trawler in Padma river in Bangladesh, media reports said adding that rescuers had recovered at least 37 bodies, including that of women and children.

The ferry – MV Mostofa – was on its way to Daulatdia village — a brothel village — from Paturia area, 40 km from Dhaka. But just 15 minutes after the ferry set sail, it was hit by the cargo trawler, bdnews24.com quoted the police as saying.

Ex-Maldivian president arrested, to face terror charges

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Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed was arrested here Sunday and will face terror charges along with key members of his administration Monday, a media report said.

Nasheed, 47, the opposition leader, was arrested for detention of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed during his presidency, haveeruonline reported.

His arrest warrant read that Nasheed had been arrested for fear that he may “attempt to flee and not answer to charges against him in court”, the report added.

Harbhajan, Ishant congratulate India

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Pacer Ishant Sharma, who was ruled out of the World Cup with an injury, and out-of-favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh congratulated the Indian cricket team on winning their World Cup Pool B encounter against South Africa here Sunday.

India posted a healthy 307/7 in their 50 overs, courtesy superb knocks from Shikhar Dhawan (137) and Ajinkya Rahane (79). The bowlers then came out firing as they bundled out South Africans for 177 in 40.2 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

“Congrats Team India! What a superb win! Brilliant performance @SDhawan25,” Ishant tweeted.

Congress assures smooth functioning; no softening on land ordinance

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Anticipating a stormy session in view of six ordinances that await parliament’s nod, the Narendra Modi government Sunday reached out to Congress for the first time in its nine-month rule but the opposition party, while assuring smooth functioning, said it had not changed its stand on the land ordinance.

As Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu called on party president Sonia Gandhi ahead of an all-party meeting Sunday, she assured the government of cooperation but raised concern over the Land Acquisition Ordinance.

Golfer Lahiri wins Indian Open

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Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won his second title in three weeks after defeating countryman S.S.P. Chawrasia on the first play-off hole at the $1.5 million Indian Open here Sunday.

The 27-year-old, who was seven shots off the pace at the start of the day, fired a two-under-par 69 as overnight leader Chawrasia struggled in the blustery conditions to return with a disappointing 76 at the challenging Delhi Golf Club.

(IANS)

Well played team India: B-town on win over South Africa

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Expressions like “Well done India!”, “glorious victory” and “superb team effort” flooded the social media as celebrities including Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan took to micro-blogging site Twitter to rejoice over India’s win over South Africa in a World Cup pool B match Sunday.

With the victory, India managed to break a 23-year-old jinx.

The members of the film fraternity also lauded the performance of the team with a special mention of Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and cricketers Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane.

Here’s what they tweeted:

Agreement reached on weapons’ withdrawal from east Ukraine

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The government and pro-independence rebels have agreed to start the process of withdrawal of heavy weapons from the troubled regions in east Ukraine, a rebel spokesperson said Sunday.

“The pullout was expected to start three days ago but nuances were determined and now all the sides have agreed and decided that Feb 22 will mark a two-week countdown for the weaponry withdrawal,” the spokesperson said.

Kiev has also agreed to start the heavy weaponry pullout from Sunday, the spokesperson added.

Haryana doctors at odds over swine flu

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A section of private doctors in Haryana has accused the state health department of discouraging laboratory tests for swine flu with a view to reducing the burden on government labs and downplay the number of swine flu cases in the state.

The doctors say that without a proper test, diagnosis or treatment of flu patient as H1N1 virus-affected was not only unscientific but also dangerous for the patient.

The state health department recently issued a public advisory and special guidelines to doctors in a meeting with the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Indian freed by Taliban after 8 months, PM ‘delighted’

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More than eight months after he was kidnapped, Indian national Father Alexis Premkumar Antonysamy has been released by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday expressed happiness at the release and spoke to Father Alexis.

The external affairs ministry said 47-year-old Alexis, who was kidnapped June 2, 2014 from Herat province in western Afghanistan by terrorist elements, has been released.

At the time of his abduction, Alexis was working with the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international NGO, doing work in the educational field in Afghanistan.

The most humble, simple man: Mika after meeting Kejriwal

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Bollywood singer Mika Singh met Arvind Kejriwal over tea here and later described the Delhi chief minister as the most “humble” and “simple” man.

The singer took to micro-blogging site Twitter to express his feelings about theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief.

“I have met the most humble man, the well grounded person and yes our CM of delhi @ArvindKejriwal(sic),” Mika tweeted.

The “Tu mere agal bagal hai” hitmaker also posted photos of the meeting and thanked the leader for “the lovely tea”.

Warm Sunday in Delhi, similar weather likely Monday

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The national capital experienced a sunny, warm Sunday as the maximum temperature settled four notches above the season’s average at 28.6 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is likely Monday, the Met Office said.

“There will be very light mist early morning but the day would be clear and warm,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 28 and 16 degrees Celsius.

Sunday morning was sunny and the minimum temperature settled at 16 degrees Celsius, five notches above the season’s average.

Bahrain minister in India, holds talks with Sushma

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Bahrain, a key Gulf partner, and India held their first High Joint Commission meeting here Sunday during the meeting between its foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral, regional and other issues of mutual interest.

The Bahraini minister was paying an official visit to India Feb 22 at the invitation of Sushma Swaraj, who is also overseas Indian affairs minister. He was here to co-chair the first meeting of the India-Bahrain High Joint Commission with her.

Nitish returns as Bihar CM, to meet Modi over development

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Nitish Kumar Sunday returned as Bihar chief minister, nine months after he resigned following his party JD-U’s massive defeat in the 2014 general elections. Party leaders said he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek more funds to speed up development work in the state.

The 66-year-old Janata Dal-United leader was administered the oath of office as the 24th chief minister of Bihar by Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi.

Woman killed in Bengal for being ‘possessed’

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A 50-year-old woman, said to be “possessed”, was tortured to death by seven tantrics in West Bengal’s Bankura district, police said Sunday. All the seven have been arrested.

The incident happened in Joypur block in the district Saturday night when the seven tantric mercilessly beat and branded the woman to exorcise the demon.

The locals allegedly took Shibani Das to the tantric alleging she was possessed by a demon and practiced black magic.

Industry for legalising lobbying after ministry document leak

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In the wake of this week’s sensational arrests by Delhi Police in connection with alleged corporate espionage, the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India Sunday reiterated their earlier demand for legalising lobbying to improve transparency in government-industry dealings.

“Each Indian and multinational company should have a right to engage in lobbying groups to advance their line of arguments and convince the decision-making authorities that they have merit. Lobbying should no more be considered as a dirty word,” Assocham secretary-general D.S. Rawat said in a statement here.

Kumble inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

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Former India spinner Anil Kumble was Sunday inducted into the prestigious International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here.

Kumble became the fourth Indian to be given the honour after Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Bishan Singh Bedi and also joins the likes of Australian legends Donald Bradman and Shane Warne.

“It’s an honour to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. I deem it as a great privilege to join the list of great cricketing luminaries,” said the 44-year-old.

TDP to pressurize centre for special category status to Andhra

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Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided to mount pressure on the central government to grant special status to the state.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who also heads the TDP, Saturday asked party MPs to raise the issue in parliament and demand the government to fulfill the assurances given to the state in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Naidu presided over a meeting of party MPs, which discussed the issues to be raised during the budget session of parliament, beginning Monday.

IS militants burn over 40 people alive, Iraqi forces launch offensive

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The Iraqi security forces Saturday launched a major offensive in the western province of Anbar to free a town from where the Islamic State (IS) militants abducted around 43 people and later burned them alive inside iron cages, a provincial security source said.

Iraqi soldiers, police and allied Sunni tribesmen, backed by the US-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, advanced in the morning from three directions to free the town of al-Baghdadi, some 200 km northwest of the Iraqi capital, Xinhua news agency reported citing the source.

Khattar defends land ordinance

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Saturday defended the ordinance on land acquisition promulgated recently by the central government, saying that it would only bring prosperity to farmers and lead to development of the country.

Asking people not to get carried away by the “false and misleading propaganda unleashed by some vested interests”, he contended that the provisions of the ordinance had taken care of interests of farmers.

GOVIN Capital to be pilot incubator at Andhra startup facility

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GOVIN Capital Pte Ltd of Singapore has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh government to be a pilot incubator at the incubation facility in Visakhapatnam.

GOVIN Capital intends to incubate 100 startup companies and nurture 1,000 students as first generation technocrat entrepreneurs over the next five years.

The MoU was signed by the officials of Information Technology department of the state government and the Singapore firm in the presence of IT Minister Palle Raghunath Reddy here Saturday.

Jet Airways to introduce mobile check-in

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Airlines major Jet Airways Saturday said it is pilot testing issuing boarding passes on mobile platform and is collaborating with government and airport authorotes in this regard.

“In a first of its kind initiative in India, Jet Airways is collaborating with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security of India (BCAS) and Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) for a pilot project to test the use of mobile boarding passes on its flights,” the company said in a statement.

BJP observes second anniversary of Hyderabad’s twin blasts

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The second anniversary of the twin bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar here was observed Saturday by BJP which paid tributes to the victims.

The twin blasts at a road side eatery and a nearby bus stop in the crowded area killed 18 people and injured 131 others on Feb 21, 2013.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised a meeting at the blast site to pay tributes to the victims.

BJP’s Telangana unit president G. Kishan Reddy demanded the state government to take immediate measures for rehabilitation of the affected families.