Month: October 2014

Coal and Power minister Piyush Goyal today said one lakh toilets would be constructed in schools and colleges by the PSUs under his ministries within a year.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded highest priority to cleanliness. He gave a message for construction of toilets from the Red Fort…The whole energy family will contribute towards this work,” the Minister said.

He was addressing the officers and staff of ministries of Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and PSUs on Swachh Bharat Divas through webcast from Mumbai.

Mahatma Gandhi, a strong votary of hygiene and cleanliness, came out against the obnoxious Indian male habit of urinating in the open nearly 90 years ago.

“To pass urine anywhere on a street, at any place not meant for the purpose should be regarded an offence,” Gandhi wrote in an article titled “Our Dirty Ways” in the Sep 13, 1925 issue of “Navajivan” weekly.

Aircraft of the US-led international coalition again pounded positions of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation near the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani where heavy fighting continued on the outskirts between the radicals and Kurdish fighters, activists reported Thursday.

The warplanes attacked areas where the jihadis had concentrated southeast of Kobani, which is located near the border with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

Meanwhile, elements of the IS and the Kurdish militia battled southeast of the city.

Chanting “Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik”, hundreds of thousands of white-clad Muslims, including Indians, streamed into Mina in Saudi Arabia as the first leg of the annual Haj pilgrimage began on Thursday, Oct 2.

Many pilgrims out of the over two million performing Haj this year left for the tent-city of Mina straight after Isha prayers last night while others left early this morning after Fajr morning prayers. Among the first group of pilgrims to arrive in Mina were some 136,000 Indians, besides Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

At least seven people were killed today when a blast hit a passenger van in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern region, police said.

The explosion struck the van at Bayzid Khel bus stop on Kohat Road near Peshawar.

A police official from Peshawar said that the exact nature of the bombing is not known.

Amjad Khan, a paramedic, said that “seven people have died and about five injured” in the attack.

Private media footage showed the vehicle which was destroyed in the bombing.

Nobody claimed responsibility but Pakistani Taliban militants often carry out such attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday nominated actors Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and industrialist Anil Ambani among nine people to spread the message of Clean India.

Modi has said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan he launched earlier in the day should clean up the country by 2019, the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

At a gathering here, Modi asked them to nominate more people for the task.

“I have invited nine people and asked them to come to public places and work towards a clean India,” Modi said.

Sudden arrival of CBCID team created flutter in Hajj House complex on Wednesday. The team directly went to Minority Finance Corporation office. A team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police CID Mr. D Opendra Reddy reached Minority Finance Corporation office and recorded the statement of Managing Director Prof. S A Shukoor.

In an indication of Gandhian thoughts continuing to inspire prisoners, 92 inmates of the Taloja Central Jail near Mumbai appeared for the Gandhi Peace Exam.

TRK Somaiya of the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal which conducted the exam, said the exercise was carried out “to evoke a sense of regret for the wrong deeds in the minds of jail inmates and to reform and help them be a responsible citizen of society.”

Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal and Saksham conducted the exam.

Wielding the broom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive that is expected to cost over Rs 62,000 crore, asserting that the “Swachh Bharat” mission is “beyond politics” and inspired by patriotism.

Debunking criticism that his government has been taking credit for every achievement, the Prime Minister acknolwedged the efforts of all previous governments to make India clean.

A Calcutta State Transport Corporation bus carrying about 40 passengers caught fire Thursday morning near the crowded Deshapriya Park in south Kolkata where people had thronged for Durga Puja.

There was no casualty and the fire was doused before the arrival of fire tenders, Fire Brigade officers said.

Terming it as a “minor incident”, Fire Brigade officers said the fire was caused due to an engine short circuit.

An 18-year-old college girl was allegedly raped by a man here when she approached him to seek directions after she lost her way, following which the accused has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

The girl, a student of a reputed college here, who was new to the city lost her way near Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhawan while going to meet a friend at another educational institute on Monday late night, an officer at Bund Garden police station said.

Queen Victoria’s 100-year-old silk bloomer has been put up for sale with a guide price of 2,000 pounds.

The underwear with a 52 inch waist is a size 36, which belonged to Britain’s longest serving monarch, comes with a 66-inch bust chemise both embroidered with the monarch’s crest – and are fully authenticated, the Daily Express reported.

The 19th Century silk undergarments were gifted to a member of staff at the Royal household by the Queen herself as thanks for long service and will go under the hammer at Westernhanger Auctioneers in Stamford, Kent, on October 12.

A new study has revealed that decreased ability to identify odors can predict death within five years.

According to the study, 39 percent of respondents, who failed a simple smelling test, died during that period, compared to 19 percent of those with moderate smell loss and just 10 percent of those with a healthy sense of smell.

As a part of the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” many national airports undertook a special cleaning drive on Thursday.

These included Amritsar, Dehradun, Jaipur, Leh, Pune, Ahmedabad, Safderjung, Vadodra, Jammu, Chandigarh, Tirupati, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Mangalore.

A “Swachhata Shapath” ceremony was also organized here at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in which all the officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry took the pledge for a “Swachh Bharat”.

The pledge was administered by the secretary of civil aviation, V Somasundaran in the presence of senior officials.

A report has revealed that ANZ is moving 20 jobs to India and will not rule out “offshoring” more jobs in the future to ensure cost-efficiency.

A spokesperson for the company said that the number is expected to increase in March next year and will impact 20 New Zealand jobs, reported Stuff.co.nz. He added that the staff were consulted and advised some time ago.

The spokesman said that ANZ has been able to redeploy four staff to other roles within the bank and are working to identify more redeployment opportunities.

A new study has revealed that sharks have personalities too, as some of them can be ‘gregarious’ and have strong social connections, whilst others are more solitary and prefer to remain inconspicuous.

According to the study, individual sharks actually possess social personalities, which determine how they might interact with group mates in the wild.

Scientists for developed a paint-on, see-through, “smart” bandage that glows to indicate a wound’s tissue oxygenation concentration.

Six people including five women were injured in group clash over a land dispute at Hiranwara village in Shamli district, police said today.

A clash broke out between one Deepchand and Subedeen of the same village over a land dispute yesterday. The two groups used lathis and bricks to hurt each other, they said.

Deepchand and five women were injured in the clash and were rushed to the hospital.

Subedeen has been arrested in this connection and police is further investigating the issue, they said.

—PTI

A study has reported that millions of children across the world die before the age of five.

According to a study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, deaths due to preterm births and pneumonia were largely prevalent even during the year 2000 and together these two have killed nearly 2 million young children in 2013.

The International Olympic Committee has reportedly said that it is satisfied with the advance made by the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in its preparations for the 2016 Olympics .

The IOC inspection team chair, Nawal El Moutawakel, said that the construction of hotel rooms and Olympics venues were “on track” and the authorities have the situation “under control” at the end of a three-day visit to Rio, reported the BBC.

However, she said that the schedule was tight and added that their main concern had been hotel rooms and the pace of building the Olympics venues.

The Khan trinity- Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan- has been ruling Bollywood since the last two decades. Despite the emergence of the young guns, these biggies have held their positions strongly.

Although Salman and Aamir are still a bit of friends, Srk has been unlucky in terms of the bond he shares with the actors. There have been several verbal wars between them, which prove that friendship is defiantly not on the cards between the superstars.

Recently too, Shah Rukh made a similar comment about Aamir, when he apparently termed him ‘half actor’.

In a new research, the scientists have combined human eyes and rat brain together in a robot, to enable it navigate intelligently.

The researchers at Queensland University of Technology used new computer algorithms to enable robots to navigate unrestricted by high-density buildings or tunnels.

Researcher Michael Milford said that this was a very Frankenstein type of project, which had put two halves of a thing together, like taking the eyes of a human and linking them up with the brain of a rat.

In a new study conducted on flies, scientists have for the very first time found that a baby can have resemblance to the mother’s former sexual partner.

The researchers have discovered a new form of non-genetic inheritance, known as telegony, which dated back to ancient Greek times, but was discredited in the early 20th Century with the advent of genetics.

A new study has revealed that consumption of Montmorency tart cherries caused changes in uric acid metabolism, which can have an impact on joint pain .

The study also detected increases in specific anthocyanin compounds in the bloodstream after consuming tart cherries.

In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will connect with the people through radio and share his thoughts on a variety of issues on Friday.

The radio programme named ‘Man ki Baat’ is one more innovative way used by the Prime Minister to communicate with the people.

While taking a decision in this regard, he had sought suggestions from the public on the initiative.

A separate forum was created on the website ‘MyGov’ to enable the citizens to share their views.

The idea has been received by people with great enthusiasm.