Home  
Latest News

Pushkaram effect; Meat sale banned in Vijaywada

  On the occasion of Krishna Pushkaram, starting from August 9 to August 25, there will be no meat sale in Vijayawada. The decision of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to ban slaughtering of cattle and sale of meat, including seafood, in the city for 16 days on the occasion of Krishna Pushkaralu, has drawn flak from not only traders and hoteliers but also the common public. Authorities stated that in the interest of public health of crores of people visiting the city, the ban has been imposed. No meat shops should be opened during the said period and also slaughtering of animals must be strictly avoided, officials said. Also, the Municipal Corporation’s slaughter house which certifies meat will also be closed down. "There are people from various religions living here and the government must not tell us what to eat," a resident said.   “Banning meat will be a strong step. Consumption of non-vegetarian food is one’s personal choice. Ban for such long period would also impact the lives of people dependant on the poultry and seafood industry. However, officials can make an appeal to the public to avoid sale or consumption of a particular product in the larger interest of people”, said an activist. "There was no ban on the meat during the 1992 and 2004 Krishna Pushkarams. When the government says that it wants to ban mean to maintain piousness, does it mean those who consume it are not pious? What sort of message is it trying to send to the public?" said another resident.  Meanwhile, liquor will be available all over the city except in the shops that are located within 500 metres radius to ghats and Pushkar Nagars.  

RBI Chief's last policy review today

  Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, will hold his last monetary policy meet on Tuesday. Rajan will leave office on 4 September competing his 3-year term at the Mint Road. That marks the end of, arguably, one of the most eventful tenures of any governor served the Indian central bank’s 81-year old history. Although the governor is famous for throwing up surprises, but it is unlikely that he will slash interest rates this time around. Tuesday's money policy review holds significance as it comes in the backdrop of a global economic situation that is in a flux and mixed signals on the domestic economy.    Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, will depart the central bank in September after a three-year stint, the shortest of any central bank chief in India since at least the early 90s. The government announced last week that it would like the RBI to focus on maintaining retail inflation rate of 4 per cent for the next five years, based on which the new interest rate setting panel would take its monetary policy decisions going forward. "We are expecting that there will be no change in rate because vegetable prices are on the rise... It will take a few months for the vegetable prices to come down when the kharif crops come into the market," SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said.

KCR praises Modi for corrupt free Government

  The Prime Minister was paid a compliment by the chief minister of Telangana for his corrupt free governance and he also returned it with  another compliment for the CM. Stating that the Central government under Modi's leadership was running "100 per cent corruption free", KCR said, "The credit for running the corruption-free government goes to Modi. This will go down in history." KCR also termed him as "Bharat desh ke atyant lokpriya neta (very popular leader in India)". The CM represents Gajwel Assembly constituency in the Telangana Assembly. While returning the compliment, Modi, who was on his maiden visit to the youngest state, said the Telangana CM has always been concerned about the development of his state. KCR who had earlier made it clear that he was not averse to ties with the BJP -accompanied PM Modi to his home constituency Gajwel in a chopper ride.   PM Modi spent a little over four hours in Telangana, during which he launched Mission Bhageeratha - the prestigious drinking water project. A power project, a fertiliser plant and a health university were inaugurated by remote control. "We (Telangana State) are getting good cooperation from you (Modi) and also from your ministers," Rao said while noting that the BJP had also played a role in formation of the state in 2014, when it was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. To this, Modi said, "Whenever the Chief Minister (Rao) has met me, he has spoken about the state's development and about water related issues." He is "emotional" on the water issue and appeared to have taken it as a mission, Modi said.The Chief Minister also heaped praises on Union Minister of State for Power, Piyush Goyal for helping to improve the power situation in the state.

Telangana needs your love not aid: KCR to Modi

  Hundreds of hoardings with welcome messages for Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed that Telangana spared no effort to make this an impressive show. While speaking at a public meeting in Medak district after PM Modi launched Telangana's drinking water programme `Mission Bhagiratha' and other projects, CM KCR said, "We are not demanding Rs 50,000 crore or Rs 1 lakh crore because we know governments have their own limitations. We demand your love for this state and your blessings for every initiative by this youngest state." KCR also urged the PM to declare one irrigation project of the state as a national project.   He also sought the Centre's help for `Mission Kakatiya', under which the government plans to restore 45,000 irrigation tanks. KCR also demanded an all-India institute, an All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and help to make the proposed Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) in Hyderabad a reality. He told Modi that Telangana was set to become the No.1 IT exporter in the country with software exports of Rs 75,000 crore. He said 2,303 industrial projects involving investment of Rs 46,000 crore were cleared under the new industrial policy. Meanwhile he also praised the Prime Minister for leading a corruption free government at the centre. "The credit for running the corruption-free government goes to Modi. This will go down in history."

Olympics Day 2: Gymnast Dipa creates history for India

  On a day when not many Indians created an impact on the medals tally, Gymnast Dipa Karmakar, the first ever woman gymanast from India to qualify for the Olympics, kept her hopes of clinching an unprecedented medal alive by qualifying for the Vault Final in women's artistic gymnastics. The 22-year-old has clinched the eighth and last qualifying place for the vault final and could become the first Indian to win an Olympic gymnastics medal. "That I have reached the final is an amazing achievement. My coach is very happy because I executed what he had taught me to do," added Karmakar, who last year became the first Indian to compete in an apparatus final at the world championships. The Indian women's hockey team put up a brave face as it came back from a two-goal deficit to hold Japan 2-2 in its opening pool encounter.   The last time India featured in women's hockey at the Olympics was back in 1980 Moscow. The Indian women's archery team comprising Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi raised hopes of India's first medal by reaching the quarter-finals but crashed out after losing to Russia. Heena Sidhu missed out in the race to the women's 10 metres Air Pistol finals, while trap shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai were a poor 17th and 19th respectively on the first day of the men's trap qualifying. World number one Novak Djokovic was dumped out of the Rio Games in the first round on Sunday by Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, a shock result that reduced the Serbian to tears as he left the court. Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic gold medal as the United States won the 4x100 relay at the Olympics on Sunday.

Shoot me but not my dalit brothers says PM in Hyd

  In his maiden visit to the newly formed state of Telangana. The Prime Minister made a strong pitch again the cow vigilantes and attackers of dalits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he called for stopping the attacks on Dalits and the politics over it while addressing BJP workers in Hyderabad, said, "If you want to attack, attack me, not my Dalit brothers. If you want to shoot, shoot me, not my Dalit brothers, stop politics over Dalits. This game should stop," Modisaid in an aggressive way, while addressing a public meeting of polling booth workers of BJP at a "Maha Sammelan" at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad which was at the end of his day long trip to the state.   Without naming opposition parties, Modi said, "I know why a storm is being created against us these days. Because, these people believed they are the owners of Dalit vote. Dalit community is in their pocket". "They fear that if Dalitsunderstood the welfare measures initiated for them by the BJP-led government, this party (BJP) cannot be removed (from power) for 50 years, and it would end their divisive politics," he added. Making an emotional appeal, he asked people to protect and respect Dalits who have for long been neglected by the society. The Prime Minister said if the country has to progress it cannot ignore key mantras of peace, unity and harmony. "Country's unity is the main source of country's development," he said. "Those who want to solve this social problem, I request them to leave politics that divides the society. Divisive politics will not do any good to the country," he said while ending the tour of the state.

Govt asks Gurus to promote organ donation

  If one person donates his/her organs after death, he/she can save or better as many as 50 lives, that is what doctors say. But most of the people due to lack of awareness of the dire necessity of organs for people who are waiting for donors do not pledge for the same. A lot of them are of the opinion also that their religion does not support the donation of organs after death. Whereas not one of the 22 major religions in the world is against it. Most major religions in India including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism support organ and tissue donation, and consider donation the final act of love and generosity toward others. Keeping this in mind, the government is now looking to spiritual and religious gurus to promote the kind act of organ donation. Health minister J P Nadda and senior officials have held two rounds of discussions with these gurus and are now working out a detailed campaign on organ donation, which is expected to be launched very soon, a senior official said.   Surveys showed that around 30% of people in urban areas believed organ donors would not receive any life-saving treatment while around 20% thought their body would be mutilated. Also many people believe in myths like donating organs may impact the next birth. According to estimates, of the 95 lakh people who die in India every year, at least one lakh are potential donors. Despite this, there are nearly 300 deaths every day due to failure of various organs. "Religious leaders and gurus have major influence on people and most of them have mass followers. Involving them would mean spreading awareness among a large number of people through a medium that commands faith and trust," the official said.

Vijay Rupali sworn in as Gujarat CM

  After the sudden resignation of Anandiben Patel as the Gujarat Chief Minister, and a lot of speculations, Vijay Rupali was finally sworn in as the new chief minister of the state. He was sworn in on Sunday in a ceremony held in Gandhinagar's Mahatma Mandir was attended by Senior BJP Leader L K Adwani, Party National President Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitli, Former CM Anandiben Patel, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Hariyana CM ML Khattar, among other dignitaries were present. The new government - sworn in after former BJP CM Anandiben Patel resigned last week - is expected to shoulder the responsibility of steering BJP to victory in the high stakes 2017 assembly polls in Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated Vijay Rupani and other members of his team, saying they would "continue the development journey" of the state. "Congrats to @vijayrupanibjp, Nitinbhai Patel & others sworn-in as they begin their innings to continue the development journey of Gujarat," Modi said in a tweet. 23 ministers were sworn in the Vijay Rupani cabinet apart from Rupani himself and Nitin Patel who was sworn in as the deputy chief minister. Seven OBCs , three from the Scheduled Tribes and one from the Scheduled Caste have also been given berth in the new cabinet.

Pension for Central Govt employee jumps up 157%

In some great news for the central government pensioners, after the newly revised pay hike, the pension has jumped by almost 157%. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has earlier notified acceptance of the 7th pay panel's recommendations fort he pensioners. There are about 58 lakh central government pensioners. The highest pay in the government is Rs 2,50,000 with effect from January 1, 2016. The amount of pension shall be subject to a minimum of Rs 9,000 and the maximum pension would be Rs 1,25,000 - which is 50 per cent of the highest pay in the government, an order issued by the ministry said. A payment of Rs 25 lakh, from existing Rs 10 lakh, will be given in case of death occurring due to accidents in course of performance of duties and those attributed to acts of violence by terrorists, anti-social elements etc. The revised provisions shall apply to government servants who retire or die in harness on or after January 1, 2016. The Commission had not recommended enhancement of fixed medical allowance, which is Rs 500 per month, whereas on constant attendance allowance, it suggested that it may be increased by a factor of 1.5 i.e. to Rs 6,750 per month. The allowance needs further increase by 25 per cent each time DA rises by 50 per cent, it had said.

Olympics Day1: Heartbreak for Leander; Cheers for hockey

  After the glittering opening ceremony of the olympics was over, it was time to get back to the action on the field. The Indian men's hockey team began their campaign with a morale boosting 3-2 win against Ireland in their opening pool encounter. Dattu Baban Bhokanal produced a pleasant surprise in the men's single sculls event as he reached the quarter-finals after finishing third in his heat. In the first heat of the day, the 25-year-old from the Indian Army finished the 2000-metre race in seven minutes and 21.67 seconds at the Lagoa Stadium.   With nine first-round exits, India's campaign on day one of the 2016 Rio Olympics was a not a great one. Leander Paes was not Bopanna's partner of choice and the duo clearly did not enjoy the best camaraderie in the run up to the Olympics. That clearly reflected in their on-court performance as the Indians went down 4-6, 6-7 (6) to 's Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland. It was Paes' record-setting seventh Olympic appearance, which ended on a disappointing note for the veteran star. The day continues to go downhill for Indian tennis. Doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare make first round exit, losing 6(6)-7, 7-5, 5-7 to Chinese Shuai Peng and Zhang Shuai. Mixed doubles hope still alive for Sania. Indian challenge in TT ends as all four competitors fall in the 1st round. Later in the day, medal hope Jitu Rai finished eighth in the men's 10 metre Air Pistol event. Jitu produced a string of poor shots for a total score of 78.7 and was the first to be eliminated from the eight-man final.

Dir sentenced for rape; Wife says he is innocent

  A court on Thursday sentenced Mahmood Farooqui, co-director of Hindi film Peepli Live, to seven years jail after finding him guilty of raping an American woman and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Farooqui, who was convicted on July 30 of raping a 35-year-old woman from Columbia University who was in India for research on her doctoral thesis. But his wife says the judgement is unjust. In a Facebook post, Anusha Rizvi, the wife said, "Independent record makes the charge of 'forced oral sex' against Mahmood Farooqui simply impossible. The conviction is unjust for it ignores irrefutable evidence on the most flimsy grounds. "Indeed, it appears that the Judge has given more than the benefit of the doubt to the prosecution but has expected the defence to prove it's case beyond reasonable doubt.   We shall appeal the judgment." she said. She added: "Lives and reputations are irretrievably lost when there is denial of justice, but our fight for rightful exoneration continues. I firmly believe that we will secure justice in the High Court." Rizvi co-directed the critically acclaimed movie "Peepli Live" with her husband. The American woman, who moved to Delhi in June 2014, was looking for contacts for her work in Gorakhpur and came in contact with Farooqui through a common friend. The incident occurred on March 28, 2015 when Farooqui invited her for dinner at his house. While in court Farooqui denied the allegations, and claimed he was falsely implicated.

AP ministers are the richest in India

  A recent study has found that Telugu Desam Party's leader Ponguru Narayana with the total assets of Rs 496 crore is the minister with highest assets while he is followed on the list by Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar who has an asset value of Rs 251crore. These details have come out on the findings made by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) based on the declarations of a total of 609 ministers out of 620 have been analysed from 29 state assemblies and two Union Territories.   Andhra Pradesh with 20 ministers tops with the highest average assets per minister with average assets of Rs 45.49 crore, followed by Karnataka which has 31ministers with average assets of Rs 36.96 crore and Arunachal Pradesh with 7 ministers with average assets of Rs 32.62 crore. The state with the lowest average assets of ministers is Tripura with 12 ministers with average assets of Rs 31.67 lakh. 97% of state council of ministers in Karnataka are crorepatis . While all of them from states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Puducherry are crorepatis. The average assets per minister from state assemblies is Rs 8.59 crore. Compared to this, the average assets of the Union council of ministers is Rs 12.94 crore. Out of the 609 state ministers whose declarations were analysed, 210 (34%) ministers have criminal cases against their names.

Apple iPhone sales drop by 35% in India

  Apple, which is planning to make it big in India in the coming time has got a big jolt with its recent sales figures according to a report by an analytics firm. Apple iPhone shipments fell 35 per cent annually at 0.8 million smartphones in India in the second quarter of 2016.  The company shipped 800,000 smartphones in India in Q2 2016, this compares to 1.2 million smartphones it shipped during the same quarter last year. Apple's smartphone marketshare halved from 4.5 per cent to just 2.4 per cent in India during the past year. "Apple iOS will need to reduce iPhone pricing to cheaper levels, attract more operator subsidies and enlarge its retail presence through Apple stores or online channels if it wants to regrow significantly in the future ", said the head of the firm which gave the report.    This sure seems to be a worry for the giant who is planning to open its company-owned stores in India. At its recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said, "In the first three quarters of this fiscal year, our iPhone sales in India were up 51 per cent year-on-year. We are looking forward to opening retail stores in India down the road and we see huge potential for that vibrant country,". While Android dominates the India smartphone market and looks unbeatable right now for its extensive distribution channels, and a wide range of low-cost apps. India is currently the world's third largest smartphone market, after China and the US. India is growing quickly due to low smartphone penetration rates, an expanding middle class with more disposable income, and intense competition among major vendors, retailers and operators says an official.

Soon Milk mafia could be given life sentence

  In view of the rampant adulteration of milk being taken place in the country these days the Supreme court has taken a note of this and has asked the government to look into the matter seriously. The Supreme Court on Friday said that offenders found guilty of adulterating milk with harmful chemicals should spend their life behind bars and directed the central government to raise the penalty to deal with the menace adding that the present six-month imprisonment "was" hardly a deterrent". "Since in India traditionally infants/children are fed milk, adulteration of milk and its products is a concern and stringent measures need to be taken to combat it. The consumption of adulterated milk and adulterated milk products is hazardous to human health," said the apex court. "As observed by this court earlier, it will be in order if the central government considers making suitable amendments in the penal provisions at par with the provisions contained in the State amendments to the Indian Penal Code.   It is also desirable that Union of India revisits the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to revise the punishment for adulteration making it more deterrent in cases where the adulterant can have an adverse impact on health," said the three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, which was acting on a petition filed by religious guru, Swami Achyutanand Tirth of Haridwar, four years ago. The court had earlier also pointed out this issue and said, "The poisoning in the body is gradual and once it happens people think they are afflicted with cancer and nobody blames milk. Are you waiting for them to add cyanide in milk? Only then instant death will be caused for you to take action," the court had said.

5000 cops for Modi's security in Telangana

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Telangana on August 7 will see over 5,000 police personnel deployed as part of the security arrangement. The foundation stone for the first phase of NTPC's Telangana Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) will be laid by Prime Minister on Sunday. The AP Reorganisation Act 2014 mandates that NTPC shall establish a 4000MW power facility for the newly carved-out state of Telangana. Around 1.5 lakh turnout of people is expected at the joint public meeting to be addressed by Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Gajwel in Medak district. "Our priority is to maintain peace and security during the Prime Minster's visit.   As many as 5,000 police personnel will be deployed during his visit. We have identified four specific locations where security will be atits peak. Security on the way from Hyderabad to Gajwel will be tightened," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Hyderabad range), Akun Sabharwal said. "The ground where the public meeting will be held has a capacity of 2.5 lakh. We expect the crowd to be around 1.5 lakh for the meeting," he said. The officer said a total of 50 fixed metal detectors will be installed at all important entry points of the public meeting. During his visit, Modi is scheduled to launch 'Mission Bhagiratha' at Komatibanda in Gajwel mandal. The mission is the water grid project which aims at providing safe drinking water to every household across Telangana in the coming four years.

Bindra leads Indian contingent at Olympics ceremony

  The 2016 Olympics have been formally opened with a colourful and pulsating ceremony at Rio's Maracana stadium. Broadcast to an estimated audience of three billion, it celebrated Brazil's history, culture and natural beauty, before former marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima lit the Olympic cauldron. The Games, the first to be held in South America, have also been disrupted by concerns over the Russian doping scandal, the Zika virus and problems with the city's security, infrastructure and venues. But organisers will hope the focus can now shift to the action in 28 sports, with 207 teams, after the Games of the 31st Olympiad were officially opened.    Each athlete will be asked to plant seeds that will eventually grow into trees and be planted in the Athletes Forest in Rio in a few years. More than 10,000 athletes from 207 teams took part, with the biggest cheers reserved for the specially formed refugee team and the joyous Brazilian athletes. Iran's flagbearer was wheelchair-bound Zahra Nemati, their first ever female flag-carrier who will compete in archery despite being paralysed in both legs. Friday's ceremony lifts the curtain on a more than two-week sporting festival featuring superstars like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, as well as thousands more who will compete for 2,102 medals until August 21.

Modi to start Rs 10600 Cr Telangana Power Project

  The foundation stone for the first phase of NTPC's Telangana Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) will be laid by Prime Minister on Sunday. The AP Reorganisation Act 2014 mandates that NTPC shall establish a 4000MW power facility for the newly carved-out state of Telangana. NTPC will establish the project in two phases, 1600 MW (2x800MW)in Phase-I and 2400 MW (3×800 MW) in Phase-II, it said in a statement. The project is being set up in the available land in the premises of NTPC’s existing Ramagundam station.   An investment approval of Rs 10598.98 crore has been accorded for the project. Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh E S L Narasimhan, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Union Minister of State Power, Coal, New & Renewable energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya are among those expected to be present on the occasion tomorrow. Ministry of Coal last year allotted Mandakini-B coal mine in Odisha to NTPC for the 4000 MW Telangana STPP. As an interim arrangement till the development of this mine, tapering coal linkage for Telangana Phase-I (2X800 MW) shall be provided from WCL, the statement added.

PM to address first ever Town Hall today

  Prime minister Narendra Modi will be going the Barrack Obama way today. Modi will interact with citizens at an indoor stadium in his first-ever 'townhall' style event on Saturday evening in true Obama style. The townhall to be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi will be preceded by a series of panel discussions and sessions in keeping with the Do, Discuss and Disseminate theme of MyGov and will culminate in the first ever townhall address by the Prime Minister. A new PMO app to enable mobile users to connectwith the PM's website will also be launched at the mega event.  The event is expected to see participation of various ministers and senior government officials, which will be inaugurated by IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and will have four sessions. "The Prime Minister will talk about the concept of citizen engagement, MyGov, the response to this participative governance initiative and how he sees the platform evolving," MyGov Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gaurav Dwivedi said. The event marks two years of MyGov and PM Modi's session is scheduled between 5 and 6 pm. Those who would be short-lististed from among the regular users of MyGov, based on their ideas, level of engagement, questions and suggestions, will get to interact with Modi.   The townhall address will also see launch of new MyGov initiatives and distribution of awards to winners of MyGov contests - Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, Duties of a Citizen, Governance Quiz and India Africa Quiz.

Vijay Rupani is the new Gujarat CM

  After various names being in the fray for the position of the next Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupali seems to have come out victorious.  Vijay Rupani will take over the top job of the state from Anandiben Patel who recently submitted her resignation.Nitin Patel will be the deputy chief minister of Gujarat. Rupani was picked for the state's top job by party MLAs at a meeting on Friday. The meeting saw the participation of BJP president Amit Shah and senior leader Nitin Gadkari as observers. The oath taking ceremony will take place on Sunday, 7 August, 2016. Rupani was considered the most non-controversial prospect as her successor , and enjoys wide acceptance among party cadre. Vijay Rupani is the state president of the BJP and was the minister for transport, water supply, labor and employment in Anandiben's cabinet.   He was elected an MLA for the first time in 2014, winning the Rajkot West seat vacated by Vajubhai Vala, who went on to become Karnataka Goveror. Anandiben Patel tendered her resignation to Governor OP Kohli on Wednesday evening, hours after it was accepted by theBJP's parliamentary board. Patel had been at the receiving end of a string of high-pressure crises in Gujarat. Also according to reports, Anandiben was pushing for Nitin Patel to be the next CM. She was not ready to listen to any argument against the Patel leader. She apparently said in a meeting that no candidate of Amit Shah should be the Gujarat chief minister.