Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday termed the Union Budget presented by incumbent Arun Jaitley as ‘reeling in favour of corporates’, adding that the government’s proposals were anti-poor.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said that providing better law and order and effective check on crime are the top priorities of his government.
“Providing better law and order and effective check on crime are the top priorities of the state government.
Policemen have to see that there is no injustice with common people and they should work continuously for redressing their problems,” Mr Yadav said.
“This will also increase people’s faith in them,” he said while addressing a meeting of senior police officials on the occasion of ‘Police Week.’
Centuries from Swapnil Gugale (154) and Chirag Khurana (125) helped Maharashtra end at 390/4 on Day 4 to still trail by 155 runs in the Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Eden Gardens here Saturday.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu had put up 549 on the board in their first innings. Adding to their overnight score of 110/1, Gugale and Khurana strung together a partnership of 270 runs with both batsmen scoring freely.
Gugale, especially took a liking for the Tamil Nadu bowling attack, hammering them all around the park. He was finally dismissed by all-rounder Baba Aparajith with the score at 290/2.
NGO People for Better Treatment (PBT) has termed as “unlawful” the refusal to treat swine flu patients by certain hospitals in West Bengal, and said it would move court if the state government fails to meet its demands of ensuring proper treatment for all patients.
The toll due to swine flu in the state has risen to seven with the death of a person at a city hospital, while 12 fresh cases were reported taking the total number of positive cases to 112.
Terming the 2015-2016 union budget “progressive, positive, practical, pragmatic and prudent”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said it has a distinct focus on farmers, youth, poor, neo-middle class and ‘aam nagrik’ (common man).
The budget delivers on growth, equity and job creation, Modi said.
It was investment-friendly, removes all doubts on tax issues and also assures investors that “we have a stable, predictable and fair tax system”, he said.
Rejected by someone you like? While that might work for many people, it may not be so easy for those with untreated depression, finds a new study.
The pain of social rejection lasts longer for them — and their brain cells release less of a natural pain and stress-reducing chemical called natural opioids, researchers report.
A team from the University of Michigan Medical School, Stony Brook University and the University of Illinois at Chicago worked together on the study which builds on previous work about social rejection in non-depressed people.
Iraq Saturday reopened its national museum, apparently in response to the mass destruction of ancient artifacts by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the northern city of Mosul.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed to hunt down those who destroy and smuggle the ancient artefacts in the reopening ceremony held in the museum, which is located in central Baghdad, the capital of the country.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Saturday said his bowlers have elevated their level of performance, producing another exquisite bowling exhibition against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a World Cup Pool B encounter at the WACA here.
“The bowlers have really stepped up and in a team sport it starts to reflect in other departments too. We dropped one catch today but the fielding has been brilliant,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Refusing to read much into his sacking as the party’s national general secretary, sidelined Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Mukul Roy Saturday took a veiled dig at party supremo Mamata Banerjee, saying she was not even a party member when he initiated the process for the Trinamool’s formation.
“I am still a member of parliament elected on a Trinamool Congress ticket. They can desire anything, you can desire anything but what will happen, only future can tell,” Roy said in Delhi, shortly after the Trinamool sacked him as its general secretary.
Awash with seas of liquid methane, Saturn’s moon Titan could harbour methane-based, oxygen-free life, guess scientists.
A team of Cornell University researchers have modelled a ‘different’ type of life form – which is oxygen-free and methane-based – that can metabolise and reproduce similar to life on earth.
Their theorised cell membrane is composed of small organic nitrogen compounds and capable of functioning in liquid methane temperatures of 292 degrees below zero.
The AAP government in Delhi Saturday criticised the union budget for keeping stagnant the non-plan grant for the capital – an amount not hiked for 14 long years.
The Delhi government also said there was no mention of funds for water and power reforms in the city unlike the current fiscal when the Narendra Modi government gave Rs.500 crore and Rs.200 crore for the two sectors respectively.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday took a dig at the previous United Progressive Alliance government during his budget speech, saying that people wanted “scam, scandal and corruption raj to end” and the Narendra Modi government has lived up to their trust.
Jaitley referred to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s historic victory in the Lok Sabha election last year and said people had voted resoundingly for quick change, faster growth and highest levels of transparency.
Syrian troops Saturday made fresh progress in their battles in the southern province of Daraa as part of a declared offensive to dislodge the rebels from key areas there, media reported.
The Syrian government forces recaptured the towns of Tal Qarin and other “strategic” towns in the triangle of the northwestern countryside of Daraa, the province of Qunaitera, southwest of the capital Damascus, Xinhua news agency reported citing state-run SANA.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday said there was nothing specific for poor and common people in the budget presented by union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
“There is nothing for common people and poor in the budget,” he told media persons here, adding the state would be badly hit by increase in service tax.
“Service sector is one of the highest growing sectors in Bihar but increasing of service tax would directly hit it,” he said.
Nitish Kumar also questioned the absence of Bodh Gaya, the holiest Buddhist shrine, in Bihar from the list of heritage sites to be developed.
Actress Olivia Wilde, who has 10-month-old son Otis with her partner Jason Sudeikis, says pregnancy is a “terrifying” experience, but she recommends it.
She even compared her “enormous belly” to a “horror movie”.
“I was doing re-shoots for this movie…(at) eight and a half months pregnant and I was just so excited to be working that I was like, ‘I’m gonna act the f**k out of this scene. I was so happy, I was like, ‘Here I go. Still got it’,” she said on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” while speaking about her new film “The Lazarus Effect”, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
India achieved their third consecutive victory in the cricket World Cup when they comprehensively beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by nine wickets in a Pool B encounter at the WACA here Saturday.
After bowling out the UAE for 102, the lowest total of the current World Cup and UAE’s lowest One-Day International (ODI) score, in 31.3 overs, India achieved the paltry target in 18.5 overs with opener Rohit Sharma top scoring an unbeaten 57.
Chris Gayle has come in for high praise from cricket World Cup legend Clive Lloyd who has compared the opener’s strength with that of former West Indies batting supremo Vivian Richards.
The left-handed Gayle wrote his name in the record books when he hammered a World Cup record 215 against Zimbabwe in Canberra Tuesday as West Indies strolled to a 73-run victory, reports CMC.
Actress Kalki Koechlin lost her ATM card but was lucky enough to get it back, courtesy a stranger.
The actress took to micro-blogging site Twitter to share her joy over a lady’s good Samaritan act.
“Forgot my atm in the machine and a woman got it and made the bank call me immediately. Thank you woman. #KindnessOfStrangers,” Kalki tweeted Saturday.
The actress has been appreciated for her performances in films like “Shaitan”, “Dev.D” and “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”. Kalki was last seen in “Happy Ending”, which also featured Saif Ali Khan and Ileana D’Cruz.
–IANS
A film that narrates a heart-warming tale of two imperfect people coming together only to find eternal love — “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” — has managed to tug at the heartstrings of members of the film fraternity, for staying true to the essence of the story in a simple yet powerful manner.
With a message that ‘Love comes in all sizes’, the movie introduces Bhumi Pednekar, who was previously part of Yash Raj Films’ casting division, to the world of showbiz. She has been paired with Ayushmann Khurrana.
Prices of petrol and diesel have been raised by Rs.3.18 and Rs.3.09 a litre (ex-Delhi), effective midnight, following a steep increase in international crude prices, Indian Oil Corp announced here Saturday.
–IANS
‘Queen’ actress Kangana Ranaut is all set to star opposite Saif Ali Khan in the movie adaptation of Japanese best-selling novel ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’.
Balaji Motion Pictures has acquired the rights for the romantic thriller, which is based on author Keigo Higashino’s book. ‘Kahaani’ director Sujoy Ghosh will helm the project.
Kangana, who plays the protagonist in the thriller, is set to start shooting for the film this year.
Two days after returning home to an angry reception, the chief selector Moin Khan has been summoned by the Pakistan Cricket Board to explain his conduct, a visit to a Casino in Christchurch a night before the national team’s World Cup match against the West Indies.
A source in the board told PTI that the former captain had been told to meet the PCB chief Shaharyar Khan on Monday.
“Shaharyar wants to hear what Moin has to say about the incident and then talk to him about the inquiry conducted by the board into it,” the source said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said that providing better law and order and effective check on crime are the top priorities of his government.
“Providing better law and order and effective check on crime are the top priorities of the state government. Policemen have to see that there is no injustice with common people and they should work continuously for redressing their problems,” Yadav said.
“This will also increase people’s faith in them,” he said while addressing a meeting of senior police officials on the occasion of ‘Police Week.’
It is “payback time” for BJP and a “very ‘suit’-able budget” of its government as the entire tax structure has been well organised to give sops to the rich to get richer, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said today.
Terming the budget as “pro-rich and anti-poor”, he said “the entire tax structure has been so well organised to give benefits to the rich and burden the common man. The total direct taxes have been reduced by Rs 8,050 crore and indirect taxes, paid by the people, raised by Rs 23,383 crore.”
Stand-up comedian and “Comedy Nights with Kapil” host Kapil Sharma has refuted rumours that he has refused to be a part of superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming TV show titled “India Poochega Sabse Shaana Kauna.
He says he can never say no to Shah Rukh.”I don’t know where these baseless rumours r coming from. I can’t say no to u ever @iamsrk bhai.. Love u always :),” Kapil posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.
It is well known that Shah Rukh and Kapil share a good bond. In fact, SRK has readily made appearances on Kapil’s comedy show.