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.

Modi to brainstorm with economists at Niti Aayog Friday

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With the first full-fledged budget of the Narendra Modi-led government due Feb 28, the prime minister, who is also chairman of the newly-constituted NITI Aayog, has convened a meeting of eminent experts on Friday to discuss the state of the economy and invite suggestions on the upcoming budget.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Planning Minister Rao Indrajit Singh, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha and chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian will also attend the meeting, the Niti Aayog said in a statement here.

Come clean on religious conversions: BJP tells Akhilesh

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday demanded compliance of the recommendations made by the State Minorities Commission with regard to alleged religious conversions in Agra and Aligarh.

Based on a report submitted by panel chief Shakeel Ahmed to the state government, state BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said reference to “intelligence failure” in these incidents is an indictment of the chief minister.

Another complaint against Kejriwal for bribery remark

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A court here Tuesday asked Delhi Police to file reply to another complaint against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly asking voters to take bribes from other parties but vote for his party.

Metropolitan Magistrate Richa Gusain Solanki sought a status report from police on a complaint filed by advocate Ikrant Sharma and posted the matter for Feb 21.

Ghaziabad AAP convenor sues Shazia Ilmi

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The Ghaziabad convenor of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sued ex AAP and presently BJP leader Shazia Ilmi.

In a defamation case filed against Shazia Ilmi, Thakur Davendra Singh alleged that she Jan 21, 2015, in an interview to a private TV channel alleged that he slapped a girl during her election campaign in Ghaziabad.

According to Singh, Shazia claimed in the interview that when she complained about it to Manish Sisodia, he also ignored it and said Singh was his man and had to be kept in good humour.

Professor thrashed inside Bengal college

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A college professor in West Bengal was thrashed inside the premises more than once by students allegedly owing allegiance to the Trinamool Congress Tuesday for a Facebook post critical of the party’s students’ wing.

Amit Roy, associate professor and head of the department of economics at Ghatal Rabindra Satabarsiki Mahavidyalaya in West Midnapore district, later filed a police complaint.

Four swine flu cases in Gwalior

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Four cases of swine flu have been reported in Gwalior district so far, said District Collector P. Narhari Tuesday, a day after a woman died due to the disease.

Another woman is under treatment while two other patients have gone out of the city for treatment, he added.

The newborn daughter of a swine flu patient died Tuesday. Her viscera sample has been sent for testing, he said.

(IANS)

Congress promises shelter to Delhi slum dwellers

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After promising cheap power and water in the first part of its poll manifesto, the Congress Tuesday sought to woo the poor by promising right to shelter to each slum dweller in the national capital.

Releasing the second part of its manifesto, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said the capital would become free of beggars if the Congress was voted to power in the Feb 7 assembly polls.

The party also talked about making the city disabled-friendly.

Bank unions declare four day strike from Feb 25

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Unions in the banking sector Tuesday decided to strike work for four days (Feb 25-28) as the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has not come out with any attractive proposals, said a union leader.

“IBA has not come out clearly on the wage revision. They are offering 13 percent hike as against their earlier offer of 12.5 percent,” C.H.Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIEBA) told IANS Tuesday over phone from Mumbai.

Wage negotiations between United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and the IBA were held in Mumbai Tuesday.

France ‘no Jews’ job ad sparks outrage

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An advert for a graphic design job in France has been withdrawn after it said the candidate should “if possible not be a Jew”.

Racial discrimination is illegal in France and anti-racism group SOS Racisme says it is taking legal action, BBC reported.

The ad was posted Monday by Paris-based NSL Studio on jobs site Graphic-Jobs.com.

NSL Studio has apologised for the ad but offered various explanations as to why it contained the offending clause.

Vodafone Group CEO meets Ravi Shankar Prasad

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Vodafone Group Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao Tuesday met Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and expressed the telecom major’s intent to take part in Digital India and National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) programmes of the Indian government, according to sources here.

Colao said the company wants to partner the Indian government in the NOFN project to help in the last-mile connectivity of broadband, the sources said.

Odisha government urged to reopen closed mines

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The Eastern Zone Mining Association (EZMA) Tuesday urged the Odisha government to expedite the process of opening 18 merchant mines having all statutory clearances in the state.

The mining association said it requested the government to expedite the process of examining the mines and recommend to the central government to operationalise the eligible mines having all statutory clearances.

BJP only full of big talk: Congress’ Sharmistha Mukherjee

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Attacking the BJP and its leaders for their “big talk” and “tall promises”, Congress candidate for Delhi’s Greater Kailash assembly constituency Sharmistha Mukherjee Monday appealed to voters in the Bengali-predominant Chittaranjan Park colony to vote for her and give her a chance to prove herself.

Addressing a well-attended gathering in the busy Market No.1 in Chittaranjan Park, Mukherjee, the daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee, spoke in Bangla to the largely Bengali audience that gathered in the market well known for its variety of fish and Bengali sweets and snacks.

After ex-CM, Rajasthan’s home minister hit by swine flu

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Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria Monday tested positive for the swine flu virus, a day after former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said he was suffering from the disease.

“He (Kataria) has tested positive for the H1N1 virus and is recuperating at his residence in Udaipur,” the minister’s personal aide Vijay Singh told IANS over phone.

Gehlot had Sunday said he was suffering from swine flu.

With one more death due to swine flu reported Monday, the toll due to the virus in the state reached 52 since Jan 1, officials said. Ten people had died Sunday.

World Cup 2015: Big B excited about ‘debut’ in Indo-Pak match

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Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is busy cramming to get into the intricacies of cricket terminologies ahead of his debut commentary stint during the upcoming India- Pakistan match of the 2015 World Cup.

Bachchan, 72, who will be joining seasoned commentators Harsha Bhogle and Kapil Dev for the highly-awaited February 15 match, said he is taking tips from them.

Watch What Woman Does to Her Alleged Molester on Indigo Flight

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A woman flipped out her cellphone to record the roasting she gave a man who had allegedly molested her during their Indigo flight to Bhubaneswar.

The man is reported to be Ravin Jhunjhunwala, chairman of the Orind and Shashwat Group of Companies, according to his company website.

According to the video, he’s in custody following the victim’s complaint to the airport police. The woman claimed Jhunjhunwala was sitting behind her and allegedly touched her through the gaps in their seats.

Syrian air strikes kill 12 in rebel-held town

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At least 12 people were killed and 25 others wounded when the Syrian air force carried out four air strikes against a rebel-held town in southern Syria Monday, a monitoring group reported.

The Syrian warplanes struck the town of Jassem in the countryside of the southern province of Daraa, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the death toll could rise due to the numbers of critically wounded people, Xinhua reported.

The Observatory said it had documented 2014 air strikes carried out by the Syrian warplanes on rebel-held areas nationwide this month.

Former Sri Lanka minister arrested over fake document

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A leading Sri Lankan politician was arrested here Monday based on a complaint lodged by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, police said.

Former health minister Tissa Attanayake was apprehended over a document which he had made public before the Jan 8 presidential election, alleging a secret deal between newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Xinhua quoted police spokesperson Ajith Rohana as saying.

Diafra Sakho, West Ham face FIFA inquiry

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Striker Diafra Sakho and Premier League club West Ham United face a FIFA inquiry over Sakho’s withdrawal from Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations team.

According to football’s governing body, it has opened disciplinary proceedings for “a potential violation of regulations”, reports bbc.com.

The 25-year-old pulled out of the squad citing a back injury, but later scored for United in their 1-0 FA Cup triumph over Bristol City Jan 25.

FIFA rules state that a player cannot appear for a club if he was meant to be on international duty, but the Hammers deny any such wrongdoing.

Bangladesh to ask India to play ODIs

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Bangladesh will ask India to play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) rather than one Test match later this year, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said Monday.

Hassan had said last year that India would be touring Bangladesh in 2014, 2015 and 2020 as per the new Future Tour Programmes (FTP) cycle, while Bangladesh would play their first ever Test in India in 2016, reports ESPNcricinfo.

Tragedy at national games, Maharashtra netball player dies

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Tragedy struck the 35th National Games when a young netball player from Maharashtra suddenly collapsed and died during a practice session here Monday. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said his state will bear all expenses for airlifting the body to the player’s home state.

Mayuresh Pawar, 21, become dizzy and fell unconscious around 1 p.m.

His teammates immediately rushed him to a hospital but by that time, he had passed away, according to an official.

A Games official told IANS that Pawar’s team had played against Chandigarh in the morning.

Austrian firm to provide technologies for Andhra irrigation projects

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Andhra Pradesh has signed an agreement with an Austrian firm for implementing state-of-the art technologies in to improve the service delivery and technological baseline of irrigation projects in the state.

The cooperation agreement between Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Development Corporation (APWRDC) and Austrian Power and Environment Technology GmbH (APET) was signed here Monday.

Under this agreement, APWRDC will act as a nodal implementing agency and APET will provide training to the department to implement these technologies and provide international financing.

Infosys partners with Cornell for hospitality research

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Global software major Infosys Ltd is partnering with Cornell University in the US for high quality research in hospitality industry.

“As part the agreement with Cornell University, we are joining its school of hotel administration’s centre for hospitality research advisory board to understand problems clients in hospitality industry face and design industry research,” the company said in a statement here Monday.

Micro-finance firm VFS applies for banking license

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Kolkata-based micro finance company Village Financial Services Monday said it has applied to the Indian apex bank for a small finance banking license to extend its operations and portfolio.

“Microfinance is a crucial driving force in the process of total financial inclusion where people do not have the banking facility. Around 800 gram panchayets are still unbanked in West Bengal,” said company’s CEO Kuldip Maity.

World’s first software defined data factory comes up in Hyderabad

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Dragonfly Data Factory, a US-based firm engaged in enterprise cloud and data infrastructures, Monday announced the launch of the world’s first “software defined cloud enabled” data facility here.

Powered by the company’s patent-pending factory operating system, the facility will enable global clients to cost effectively extract, mine, manage and monetise unlimited volumes of data from any number of sources.

UAE Exchange India applies for small bank license

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The Indian operation of UAE Exchange Group, a global remittance and foreign exchange company, Monday said it has applied for a small bank license with the apex bank in the country.

“Reaching to the underserved and making them aware about the availability of various financial amenities is sure to bring a drastic change in the growth and development of the nation at large,” said the company’s India managing director V. George Antony.