Qayam Ali

Thousands of participants today descended on Rajpath to perform various ‘asanas’ during a rehearsal for the International Yoga Day on Sunday. Officials of AYUSH Ministry which is the coordinating ministry for the event said that around 12,000 participants, comprising students from various schools, NCC cadets and others performed yoga asanas as per the common yoga protocol.

The rehearsal started at 7 am and concluded at 7:33 am which was also the schedule for the June 21 event.

23 giant LED screens had been put up at the Rajpath for the participants to see the asanas.

Mohd Shamsher Khan, a 50-year-old was arrested by the Kamatipura police on Thursday on charges of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl in his house on June 10.

According to the police, Shamsher Khan who is an auto driver and a resident of Osmanbagh, lured the girl by offering biscuits and chocolates. When the victim was on her way to a nearby store, she was stopped by the accused and forcibly took the victim to his house in the neighboring area, said Charminar ACP K Ashok Chakravarthi during a press conference on Thursday.

Eminent business leader Ratan Tata today said there should be some guidelines to monitor spending of CSR funds by corporates as there might be some companies either “wasting money” or “siphoning in some form”.

Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus said corporate social responsibility (CSR) must come form one’s heart.

“I don’t think you can make it (CSR) into a tax which is 2 per cent of your net profit. We don’t expect that there should be a penalty (for not adhering to),” he added.

Amid raging Lalitgate row, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday cancelled her visit to Punjab where she would have come face-to-face with BJP president Amit Shah for the first time since the damaging revelations. “Due to back pain, the Chief Minster’s doctor has advised her to take rest so she has cancelled her visit to Punjab today,” Raje’s press advisor said.

At least 10 people were killed and several others were injured after a massive fire broke out at a hotel in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh on Friday morning.

Several fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the flames.

“We noticed the fire at around 5.00 am. A short circuit is the reason behind the fire,” said Balikaran Singh Yadav, a police official.

Twelve people, who are said to be serious condition, have been rushed to a hospital in Allahabad.

ANI

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the next 2-3 years will be “very critical” as the government plans to implement a series of reforms that will help India reach its “destination targets” of growth higher than the current 7-7.5 per cent rates.

“(In) India today neither the government, the people or the industry are very excited about a 7-7.5 per cent growth rate because everybody realises, including me and the Prime Minister that probably our potential is a little higher than that,” Jaitley said here yesterday.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee finding ‘Ramzan’ to be an opportunity, to put a pressure on the T government for its promise to provide 12 per cent reservation for Muslims. The party is gearing up to target the Government’s lavish Iftar party by appealing the community to boycott it.

“We shall be targeting the much-publicised government’s Iftar party, which will be held at the month end. We will raise our voice for 12% reservations. Our slogan will for this Ramzan is ‘pehle reservation, phir iftar’,” said a senior Muslim leader.

Bharti Airtel launched 4G trials in Delhi NCR and as part of the trial offer, customers can avail a complimentary upgrade to 4G at 3G prices.

“Airtel’s 4G services in the national capital region are the first in India to leverage an integrated FD and TD network which will deliver the fastest 4G experience and superior network coverage,” Airtel said in a statement.

The company said it will assimilate customer feedback and leverage the initial market response towards strengthening its service experience.

From being in the midst of a disturbed neighbourhood, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s relations with its neighbours have improved, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

New Delhi is interested in improving relations with Islamabad and the PM has developed an excellent relationship with the Chinese leadership, Mr Jaitley told an audience in New York yesterday.

Seeking to promote the International Yoga Day mid-air, state-run carrier Air India will on June 21 show a film on yoga across its flights, along with special in-flight announcement.

Starting Sunday, the airline will hold the celebrations mid-air for the entire week, besides, conducting specific yoga and meditation courses during the period to mark the global event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended birthday greetings to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who turned 45 today.

After many years, Mr Gandhi will be in the national capital on his birthday and Congress workers have made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the occasion.

PTI

Two Indian-Americans have been appointed to key positions in the Republican party with the mandate to involve community leaders within the party fold.

Niraj Antani, a Ohio State legislature, and Janak Joshi, a Colorado State legislature, were yesterday appointed to the board of the 2015–2016 Future Majority Project of the Republican Party. The Board is chaired by T W Shannon, Chair, former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Shares of housing finance companies were in the spotlight on Thursday, surging up to 5%, after the government gave its approval to the launch of ‘Housing for All by 2022’ scheme, paving the way for affordable homes to the urban poor and slum dwellers at lower interest rates.

LIC Housing Finance surged 4.63% while Dewan Housing Finance Corporation rose 4.21% on BSE.

Others like GIC Housing Finance gained 4% and Indiabulls Housing Finance advanced 3%.

Filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar paid tribute to the armed forces of India on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of his second directorial venture Lakshya.

Lakshya is a coming-of-age story with a fictionalised backdrop of the Kargil war.

The 2004 war drama starred Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Sharad Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Aditya Srivastava, Om Puri and Boman Irani.

“#11yearsofLakshya & still climbing. Salute to our armed forces and a big shout out to the entire cast & crew,” Farhan posted on twitter alongside pictures from the film.

PTI

French Open champion Stan Wawrinka joins the list of the tennis stars to be knocked out of the Queen’s Club tournament as Kevin Anderson defeated him in the second round of the Aegon Championships.

The second seed player struggled against Anderson’s stunning tennis display, crashing to a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (13-11) defeat, the BBC reported.

Jubilant with his victory, the South African said that the victory meant as a lot to him as Wawrinka is a great player.

He will now face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez who defeated Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

An Afghan official says insurgents have killed three policemen in an attack on government buildings in an unstable district of southern Helmand province.

Omar Zawaq, spokesman for Helmand’s governor, said on Thursday that insurgents overran police headquarters and other buildings in the Musa Qala district which has shifted between government and Taliban control for years.

He says the attack began on Wednesday and the fighting lasted several hours. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has neither sought an appointment with BJP chief Amit Shah nor has she been denied a meeting, her office on Thursday said amid claims that the party leadership had distanced itself in the wake of allegations against her in the Lalitgate.

In a statement, the Press Advisor of Chief Minister’s Office said that a few news channels showed that Raje desired an appointment from Shah but she was denied a meeting, which was “untrue”. It also refuted reports that 30 BJP MLAs went to Delhi in support of Raje.

France and England both advanced to the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup with wins as Colombia booked their spot as one of the best third-placed finishers.

Third-ranked France bounced back from a shock defeat to Colombia by whipping Mexico 5-0 in Ottawa to finish top of Group F with six points.

England, also on six points, but behind France on goal difference, beat Colombia 2-1 in Montreal and advance second from the group.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza elected to bat after winning the toss against India in the first one day international cricket match, here today.

Bangladesh will have two debutants in their line-up in uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das and left-arm medium pacer Mustafizur Rahman.

Bangladesh are batting at 105-1 at the end of 14 overs.

India XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt and wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Country’s second-largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank today launched a 10-second paperless instant loan plan for its existing customers.

“HDFC Bank will now disburse personal loans to its customers in just 10 seconds. With this product, existing customers will have a pre-approved loan amount available to them 24×7,” the bank said in a statement.

The entire process of availing the loan is completely paperless, and users can simply log into their bank account via net-banking or mobile banking and avail of this loan at a click, it added.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on Thursday called on Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and sought his assistance in acquiring land for construction of new schools and colleges in Delhi.

“Arvind Kejriwal and I today met Naidu ji and asked him to give land to the Delhi government for construction of new schools and colleges,” Sisodia told reporters after the meeting.

“How will we be able to do other works if we spend Rs 8-10 crores for purchasing land? As such the Delhi government has asked the Union Minister to give it land,” he said.

Indian companies are expected to offer their employees an average salary hike of 10.8% this year, the highest in the Asia Pacific, and for top performers, it can be 12%, says a report.

According to 2015-16 Asia Pacific Salary Budget Planning report by Towers Watson, a global professional services company, India is clearly the front-runner with a 10.8% average salary increase, ahead of countries like Indonesia (9.5%), China (8.6%) and the Philippines (6.7%).

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supported the concern of BJP patriarch L K Advani on Thursday that Emergency-like situation could emerge again and said that Bihar was “facing it on a daily basis”.

“Advani is among the senior-most leaders of BJP and his concerns should be considered seriously. As far as Emergency- like situation is concerned, we are facing it here on a daily basis,” Kumar said.

As a shot in the arm for Cairn India, its partner Oil and Natural Gas Corp has asked the government to extend the tenure of prolific Rajasthan oil block by 10 years without any changes in terms and conditions.

Cairn, which holds 30% interest in the Rajasthan block, wants to retain the Rajasthan block beyond the contractual deadline of 2020. And for such an extension the nod of the state-owned firm, which is a licence of the block holding 30% interest, was necessary.

More than 70 children of Chinese billionaires attended behavioural training classes after President Xi Jinping called for a ‘positive image’ of the young rich, as many of them came under flack for vulgar display of their wealth and luxurious lifestyles.

With an average age of 27, the so-called fuerdai or second generation of the nouveau riche, were taught traditional Chinese culture, social responsibility and business knowledge at a training school in east China’s Fujian province, state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.