Month: June 2015

States like Mizoram have done well in taking ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ forward by respecting the task of cleaning, NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar said today.

“We need to give the task of cleaning dignity. States like Mizoram are good examples of this effort.

“The regulations will be implemented by local bodies but eventually each one of us will bring the change,” Khullar was quoted as saying in a tweet posted by NITI Aayog.

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In tune with its efforts to ensure uniformity in Value Added Tax with neighbouring states, Delhi government today tabled an amendment bill in the Assembly for bringing flexibility in fixing VAT on liquor, tobacco, aerated drinks and certain other items.

The government said the bill will make enabling provisions for levy of VAT in respect of goods enlisted in the Fourth Schedule such as liquor, tobacco, aerated drinks and others – at flexible rates instead of a flat slab of 20 per cent.

Maharashtra State Information Commission (SIC) does not have information on its own orders that were challenged in courts, an RTI query revealed.

The RTI was filed by city-based activist Anil Galgali seeking details of the orders it had passed that were challenged in courts.

However, desk officer and Public Information Officer of the Commission M Kamble informed Galgali recently that no compiled information was available with the office in this regard.

The Commission also informed him that no special lawyers were appointed to represent it in the court.

Social networking giant Facebook has added 13 million users in six months to take its userbase to 125 million in India, its second-biggest market globally.

The US-based firm, which had 112 million users in India as of December last year, also launched a 2G-friendly mobile app ‘Facebook Lite’ here to cater users with slow internet connectivity.

Globally, it has 1.44 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2015 with the US as its biggest market.

A 42-year-old man, who was declared brain dead at a private hospital here, has become the ninth cadaver donor at AIIMS.

According to hospital authorities, the man’s heart, liver and two kidneys have been transplanted, while his corneas have been preserved.

“The patient was admitted to Rockland Hospital in Qutab institutional area with complaints of severe headache and pain in the right side of the body on June 23 morning.

As e-commerce players battle it out for buyers’ attention, Amazon India has caught up with Flipkart and overtaken Snapdeal in terms of monthly unique visitors in May.

According to data from Internet analytics firm comScoreData, Amazon India had 23.6 million unique visitors in May, edging past Flipkart narrowly.

While Flipkart saw 23.5 million unique visitors, Snapdeal had 17.9 million in May this year.

Negotiators trying to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme have decided not to set a new target date to conclude talks, France’s foreign minister said today, and he warned that if an agreement isn’t “very robust” other countries in the Middle East will seek to develop nuclear weapons.

“We have made some progress, but still it is not the end of the process,” Laurent Fabius told a group of reporters, stressing that all parties have adopted the principle that “nothing is agreed until the moment when everything is agreed.”

The first ever robot wedding has taken place in Japan in a glittering ceremony, complete with a wedding cake, a band and even a ‘kiss’ shared by the couple.

About 100 people gathered in Tokyo on June 27 to witness the two robots tie the knot.

The groom was Frois, a robotic creation from company Maywa Denki, and the bride was humanoid Yukirin, an android made in the likeness of a Japanese pop idol Yuki Kashiwagi, and developed by Takayuki Todo.

Frois, a boxy red and silver robot, wore a bow tie while the bride donned a traditional white wedding gown.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and is believed to have discussed with him the security situation in the Northeast where militants killed 18 soldiers on June 4.

Parrikar and Singh met for nearly 20 minutes and discussed various issues, including security situation in the country, official sources said.

Parrikar, however, told reporters that he, being a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, discussed about developmental issues with Singh, a former Chief Minister of the state.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today questioned the “stalling of answers” by the External Affairs Ministry headed by Sushma Swaraj to the questions posed by him on the Lalitgate issue.

“Seven questions I asked on #LalitModi have become RTI application, MEA stalls answers, Why?” he tweeted

“Also, is Minister Swaraj aware that the MEA has stalled answers to the RTI questions?”, the former Finance Minister said in another tweet.

Police have seized 53 illegal weapons, 17 fake firearms licenses besides several documents including duplicate NOCs for purchasing weapons and 17 fake stamps of District Magistrates of various districts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Addressing the media here, Paramraj Singh Umranangal Inspector General (Bhatinda Zone) today said police had busted an inter-state arms smuggling racket in March during which Arwinder Singh, Manager of Bhajan Gun House, Guruharsahai was arrested along with illegal arms and ammunition.

Senior AAP leader Kumar Vishwas today lodged a complaint with the Patel Nagar police demanding action against a private TV news channel for “damaging” his reputation.

Vishwas has also demanded action against the owner, editor and anchor of the channel for relay of “fake news and defamatory content by words, signs, visible representation intending to harm, knowingly and willingly at the instance of rival political party, the BJP.”

A murder convict today escaped police custody as he was being transported for a court hearing in Khurja town in connection with another case after throwing chili powder into the eyes of escorting policemen.

Vineet (35), jailed in connection with a 2010 murder case, was being taken from the district jail here for a hearing in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate in Khurja, Police Circle Officer, Khurja, R L Niranjan said.

He threw chili powder into the eyes of policemen escorting him and and escaped. A hunt has been launched to arrest him, he said.

Seven more airports, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi and Ahmedabad in his home state, will soon be declared as entry points along with the existing nine where citizens from eligible countries can land with an e-tourist visa.

Besides these two, Jaipur, Amritsar, Gaya, Lucknow and Trichy will be declared as entry points as government is expecting rush of Chinese tourists to India when the e-tourist visa facility will be finally rolled out to the citizens of the neighbouring country.

At least 16 people, including four cops, were today injured when slum dwellers clashed with police during their protest against administration’s proposed drive to demolish an alleged illegal colony on the outskirts of the city.

The clash occurred outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here when some residents of Dhanas village refused to leave the premises after submitting their memorandum against the demolition plan, police said.

For greater returns, the stock market investment from the New Pension System (NPS) corpus rose to 13 per cent in the last fiscal, while the pension regulator PFRDA is in discussion with the government for greater tax benefits for subscribers of this scheme.

In the previous fiscal 2013-14, the total investment in equities stood at 9 per cent of the NPS corpus.

Total assets under management of the NPS currently stands at Rs 87,000 crore and 94 lakh subscribers have already been brought under its fold.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda today reviewed the preparedness of Delhi’s civic bodies to tackle the outbreak of vector-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya during the monsoon season and thereafter.

East Delhi Mayor Harsh Malhotra and South Delhi Mayor Subhash Arya today met Nadda at Nirman Bhawan here to apprise him about the arrangements in place for handling such situations and requested government’s assistance for further preparation, a senior health official said.

The minister assured all possible support to the civic bodies, he said.

Eight compartments of Mumbai- Bhusawal freight train today derailed between Kasara and Igatpuri railway stations near here.

However, nobody was injured in the accident, according to Central Railway officials at Nashik Road railway station.

The derailment delayed traffic on the route for some time but there was no major disruption, they said.

The mishap delayed Pune-Bhusawal mail, Godavari Express, Sewagram Express and Lucknow Express, officials said.

The cause of the derailment could not be known immediately, they added.

India has been successful in bringing Pakistan under monitoring of Asia Pacific Group to enforce UN sanctions against underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terror mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed despite strong opposition from China.

Officials said China has stood by Pakistan on terror asking India to back off at the recently-concluded meeting of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body, held in Brisbane, Australia, when New Delhi had strongly raised non-compliance by Islamabad on freezing assets of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates and Dawood.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) today said it plans to bring in 50 more banks as promoters and widen the capital base by nearly Rs 100 crore.

“We are working on expanding the promoter base of the Corporation by adding 50 more banks. We are already on the job and it is likely to be done before the end of the calendar year. We will be raising around Rs 100 crore,” NPCI managing director and chief executive A P Hota told reporters.

Ireland’s Health Department says doctors last year performed 26 abortions to protect women’s lives, including on three women who had threatened to kill themselves if denied one.

Today’s report is the first to document abortion in Ireland.

The predominantly Catholic country bans abortion in its constitution. But the government in 2013 legalised abortions in cases where doctors judge that continued pregnancy poses a risk to the woman’s life.

Granting an abortion to prevent a suicide requires a unanimous recommendation by a three-doctor panel.

Facebook announced today it had opened its first African office in Johannesburg as part of its efforts “to help people and businesses connect” on the continent.

The office will be headed by Nunu Ntshingila, a former executive at the advertising agency Ogilvy.

“This office will support the significant growth in businesses and people using Facebook,” said a statement from the world’s biggest social network, which has some 1.4 billion active users worldwide including 120 million in Africa.

Youth Congress activists today organised a rally here to demand CBI probe into the MPPEB and DMAT exam scam for admissions to government as well as private medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, and later courted arrest.

“Yesterday, death of the 25th accused in the MPPEB scam was reported, which was shocking. Only a CBI probe will do justice in the matter,” Youth Congress state president Kunal Choudhary, who led the demonstrators, said.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic fears he is becoming the victim of a smear campaign after his opening Wimbledon victory today was overshadowed by more allegations of cheating.

The world number one and top seed eased to a 6-4, 6-4, 6 -4 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber on Centre Court but many eyes were glued to the Serb’s coach Boris Becker after the German legend admitted he employed ways to instruct his player even though coaching is banned during a match.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that negotiations on climate change were moving too slowly and urged governments to quicken the pace ahead of the December conference on reaching a new global deal.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius echoed Ban’s call, saying a fresh effort was needed to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Copenhagen conference, which ended in failure.

“The pace of the UNFCCC negotiations is far too slow,” Ban told a UN meeting on climate. “It’s like snails, moving (at a) snail’s pace.”

“The key political issues are still on the table,” he said.