New Delhi : Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Delhi government that the Lt Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice by the Council of Ministers.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been engaged in a dragging legal battle with the Lt Governor seeking better and free administrative and governing powers.

“A big victory for the people of Delhi… a big victory for democracy,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Calling the ruling a “landmark judgement”, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that from now on the city government would run smoothly.

“Now Delhi government will not have to send their files to LG for approval, now work will not be stalled. This is a big win for the people of Delhi. 

“Powers are restored back to Delhi. This verdict stands against the whimsicality of the LG. I thank the Supreme Court — it’s a big win for democracy,” Sisodia said.

Kejriwal along with his deputy and other ministers were on sit-in protest at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’ residence from June 11 to 19, seeking action against officials they said were on strike and approval for the city government’s ration scheme.

The AAP government approached the high court in August 2016 alleging obstruction in its functioning by the Lt Governor. The high court, however, ruled in favour of the Lt Governor, calling him the “administrator of Delhi”. 

The city government then approached the apex court.

A Supreme Court Constitution Bench on Wednesday unanimously ruled in favour of the Arvind Kejriwal government saying that the real powers of governance of Delhi rests with the elected representatives.

The apex court said the Lieutenant Governor (LG) was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Minister in all the areas except land, police and law and order.

Speaking for Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that the LG was not vested with any independent decision-making powers and cannot act in a mechanical manner.

It further ruled that in case of difference of opinion with the Council of Ministers, the LG has to refer the matter to the President, whose decision then would be binding.

The court further stated that the decisions of the Council of Ministers has to be communicated to the LG but that does not mean that the Council of Ministers requires his concurrence.

The court said that the provision that the LG can refer “any matter” under Article 239 to the President does not mean every matter.

Chief Justice Misra said that the executive powers of the Delhi government were co-extensive with its legislative powers.

The top court further said that Delhi can legislate on any issue that falls in the State list or the Concurrent list except for three areas of land, police, law and order.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan pronounced separate but concurring judgements.

New Delhi : The family that was found hanging in their north Delhi house on June 30 began preparations at least 10 days before its alleged “mass suicide”, police said. As per a video footage obtained from a premises opposite the family house, the family bought goods used in rituals, five tables and bandage from shops close to their Burari home.

The Crime Branch officials on Wednesday visited the house in Sant Nagar and conducted another search.

Police said Crime Branch investigators believe that one of the dead couples — Lalit Bhatia and his wife Tina — tied the hands and legs of other family members before all of the them hung themselves from an iron grill on a ceiling of a corridor during a ritual prayer.

“In another video clipping, Bhavnesh’s wife Savita and Tina were seen purchasing five stools at 10 p.m. on June 30. After some time, their teenaged children Dhruv and Shivam were seen carrying electric wire, which was used in hanging by some of the family members. 

“The line of investigation is focused on the role of Lalit and his wife,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Joy N. Tirkey said.

“The Crime Branch, which is examining the CCTV footage of the last two months, has found couple involved in suspicious activities. The couple was seen carrying goods used in ritual prayers from June 23 to 30. In one of the footage of June 27, Lalit was seen carrying a polybag containing items connected to Vastu Shastra,” a senior police officer connected to the probe said on the condition of anonymity.

“It was found in investigation that generally the family used to send one of their servants to purchase household goods,” the officer said.

“An employee at a nearby restaurant said he delivered 20 loaves as ordered by Lalit Bhatia on June 30 night. The food packet was received by Lalit Bhatia who took money from his brother Bhavnesh to pay up,” the officer added.

“Lalit Bhatia was last seen entering the house on the night of the incident. He was seen walking in the street with family pet dog which was chained in a room on the second floor during the ritual prayer. Their neighbour said that the family generally unleashed the dog during night hours and the pet was seen barking loudly on the fateful night,” he said.

“Like his late father Gopal Dass, who was in the Indian Army, Lalit gave all family members training in discipline, code of conduct, rehearsals of dos and don’ts during ritual practices. As per an entry in one of the registers seized from the house, he also instructed family members often to stand to position like soldiers after morning prayers for increasing mental strength,” the officer added.

“Lalit daily recalled the previous day’s chores and listed activities in his registers and made lists of things on which he had instructed other family members to follow. He used to research on death and mysteries of soul. As per his mobile phone details, he often watched paranormal and ghost shows on ‘You Tube’ and other Internet platforms,” he added.

The police officer said visera reports were expected within 10 to 15 days, which will tell if the family’s food was laced with sedatives before their deaths. 

“We will take help of psychology and paranormal experts as prima facie we suspect it to be a case of shared psychotic disorder,” he said.

Septuagenarian Narayani Devi and her 10 family members were found hanging in their house on Sunday when a neighbour went to check on them.

(IANS)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal for expanding the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by expanding its capital base to Rs 10,000 crore.

The CCEA also tasked the HEFA to mobilise Rs 1,00,000 crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Higher Education (RISE) by 2022.

The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to expand this facility to all institutions, especially set up after 2014, Central Universities which have very little internal resources and the school education or health education infrastructure like AIIMS and Kendriya Vidyalayas.

The CCEA has approved five windows for financing under HEFA and the modalities of repaying the principal portion of the fund (interest continues to be serviced through government grants in all these cases).

HEFA was set up on May 31, 2017 by the Central government as a Non ­Profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) for mobilising extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under the Central government.

According to a statement, the CCEA also approved that the modalities for raising money from the market through government guaranteed bonds and commercial borrowings would be decided in consultation with the Department of Economic Affairs so that the funds are mobilised at the least cost.

“This would enable addressing the needs of all educational institutions with differing financial capacity in an inclusive manner,” the statement said.

In the existing arrangement, the entire principle portion is repaid by the institution over ten years and the interest portion is serviced by the government by providing additional grants to the institution. So far, funding proposals worth Rs 2,016 crore have been approved by the HEFA.

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved Minimum Support Price (MSP) for summer-sown crops for the year 2018-19, which will provide farmers a profit of 50 per cent or more over the cost of production.

Addressing the media, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said the cabinet had taken the “historic” decision to provide relief to distressed farmers as it would have “positive impact” on the economy.

He said that the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Production (CACP) had fixed input cost for major monsoon crop paddy at Rs 1,166 per quintal and the government had added 50 per cent profit, which would make the MSP Rs 1,750 per quintal this year — a steep increase of Rs 200 from Rs 1,550 last year.

The MSP for ‘Grade A’ variety of paddy would be Rs 1,770 per quintal while it will be Rs 2,430 per quintal for jowar — a year-on-year jump of Rs 730.

He said the MSP would be based on ‘A2 +FL’ – one of the input cost concepts recommended by the Swaminathan Commission and the Central government would spend additional Rs 15,000 crore on account of the higher MSP.

Rajnath Singh said the MSP for bajra would be Rs 1,950 per quintal — return of about 97 per cent as the input cost calculated by the CACP was Rs 990 per quintal.

The government has fixed the MSP of Rs 5,675 per quintal for arhar (66 per cent profit), Rs 6,975 for moong and Rs 5,600 for urad.

In case of cotton, the MSP has been raised to Rs 5,150 per quintal.

The MSP would be Rs 4,890 for groundnut, Rs 5,388 for sunflower, Rs 3,399 for soybean, Rs 6,249 for sesame and Rs 5,877 for nigerseed.

Rajnath Singh said the higher MSP was a part of the NDA government’s plan to double farmers’ income by 2022.

With Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) failing to deposit Rs 1,000 crore, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the real estate firm to pay Rs 600 crore to pay back to the home buyers who have opted for a refund.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked senior advocate F.S. Nariman, appearing for JAL, to take instruction from the company on depositing Rs 600 crore, instead of RS 1,000 crore, with top court’s registry.

The bench said that after the amount is deposited by the JAL, it would ask the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench at Allahabad to expeditiously decide the company’s plea on revival or restructuring of Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), a subsidiary of holding company Jaiprakash Associates Limited.

The bench on May 16 had asked JAL to deposit Rs 1,000 crore, in addition to Rs 750 crore already deposited, with its registry by June 15, to refund the principal amount to the hassled home buyers and that on submitting the amount, the liquidation proceedings against JIL would remain stayed.

However, failure to deposit the amount would result in the start of insolvency proceedings against JIL, the bench had said. 

On Wednesday, the court was informed that Rs 1,000 could not be deposited. Rs 750 crore has already been deposited with the top court and another Rs 600 crore would be required to pay the principal amount to home buyers, the court was told.

To this, the bench asked the JAL to “establish its bonafide by paying the money”, and directed it to inform by July 13, the next date of hearing, about the company’s stand on depositing Rs 600 crore with it.

JAL had sought, in apex court, a direction for restraining the NCLT bench at Allahabad from proceeding further with the insolvency proceedings.

Earlier, the bench had sought from JAL details of its housing projects in the country and said that the home buyers should either get their houses or their money back.

The court was hearing the pleas of home buyers contending that around 32,000 people had booked flats and were paying instalments, but were not left in the lurch after the NCLT, on August 10, 2017, admitted the IDBI Bank’s plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden company for allegedly defaulting on a Rs 526-crore loan.

London : Undergoing genetic testing for breast cancer creates a “DNA barcode” which can help transform treatment for the deadly cancer and make it more personalised to each patient, scientists say.

According to doctors at the Britain’s Cambridge University, mapping the genetic code could help them choose the right treatment as well as predict whether patients are likely to experience side effects, the BBC reported.

It can also reveal whether their cancer, the second most common cancer in women, is becoming resistant to treatment.

“Breast cancer is not one but 10 or 11 diseases that are distinct molecular entities… By sequencing the tumour we have something like a barcode which gives us the pattern of mutations in that cancer,” Carlos Caldas, Professor at the varsity, was quoted as saying.

The genome sequencing can detect whether patients have inherited mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2 genes which increases their risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. The findings can also have implications for their family.

“We can understand how the body and in particular the immune cells are responding and this enables us to deliver more precision in the medicine,” Caldas said.

“This barcode also enables us to do surveillance and identify early whether a tumour is coming back because of developing resistance to treatment. When those cells start releasing their DNA we can detect them in a blood test known as a liquid biopsy,” he noted.

Launched in 2016, the varsity’s Personalised Breast Cancer Programme has mapped the entire genetic code of nearly 300 women diagnosed with breast cancer, the report said.

These women have a sample of their tumour and of their blood sent for sequencing, with the full results coming back within 12 weeks.

“We want to reduce the number of toxic drugs that we give to patients, and where possible treat them with targeted therapies with fewer side effects,” Alejandra Bruna, molecular biologist at the varsity, was quoted as saying. 

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and the National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) are now offering ‘Manage Tuberculosis – an online certification course for Doctors.’ It is expected to impart a major boost to the ‘End TB’ Strategy & ‘TB Free Chennai’ initiative.

This eight-week course has been prepared in consultation with experts in the field of TB management and covered the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of TB as a public health problem. The NPTEL has provided the support for recording and hosting on the portal, along with coordination for conduct of final exams.

The ‘Manage TB – an online course for Doctors’ was developed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – NIRT in collaboration with the NPTEL. It is an initiative to address this felt need of sensitizing doctors both in the public and private sector to the standards of care and the new guidelines and developments in the modern management of TB.

The course has been designed after extensive discussions with subject experts and has been planned keeping in mind the busy work schedule of doctors in practice. This 8-week course consists of video lectures, case discussion scenarios and video demonstrations of laboratory procedures.

Speaking about the course, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL coordinator at IIT Madras, said, “We believe that this is the first course of this nature addressing a specific disease of public health importance in India. We hope that it will benefit doctors treating TB patients and help them to offer care of a higher order to their patients.”

He added that there was vast potential to develop online courses in a range of subjects and the NPTEL would welcome new proposals and coordinate the offering of the same.

The course was launched recently by Mr Madhusudhan Reddy IAS, Deputy Commissioner (Health), Greater Chennai Corporation, at ICMR-NIRT in the presence of Dr. Srikanth Tripathy, Director-in-Charge of NIRT. Expressing happiness with the move by NPTEL to enter the field of medicine, Mr. Madhusudhan Reddy said that a course like this was very much needed in view of the ‘End TB’ Strategy and the ‘TB Free Chennai initiative that have been rolled out recently.

Mr. Madhusudhan Reddy said that he would urge all the doctors in the Chennai Corporation to enroll in the course. He also said that courses aimed at the paramedical staff involved in TB control would be very helpful. Dr. Sanjay Mehendale, former Additional Director General of the ICMR advised the organisers to explore the feasibility of awarding CME credit points for the course as that would encourage a larger participation among doctors.

Tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem in much of the developing world. India has nearly one-fourth of the global TB patients and an estimated 4.8 lakh lives are lost every year due to this illness. The End TB strategy of the World Health Organisation (WHO) seeks to achieve 95% reduction in TB mortality and 90% reduction in TB incidence by the year 2035.

The National Strategic Plan of the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) has a more ambitious target of working towards TB elimination by 2025. To achieve these goals it is important to build the capacity of Doctors to appropriately diagnose and treat TB. There have been major advances recently in the diagnosis and treatment of TB. There are also new national and international guidelines.

The NPTEL was initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2003. The online courses cover all disciplines of Engineering such as Biotechnology, Ocean Engineering and, Metallurgical Sciences apart from the popular courses such as Computer Science Engineering or Electrical Engineering.

Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee have developed computer vision approach for monitoring of railway track using a drone. The technology is a fusion of drone and satellite data.  The aim of the project is to provide some automated techniques for track inspection, which is carried out manually today.

Railway track health monitoring is one of the major tasks in railway inspection and monitoring system which is performed in order to maintain safety and security. The track-monitoring task involves inspection of various railroad components such as loose rail fasteners, defect in clips and switches, broken and misplaced crossties, cracks in various components of track and gauge measurement between the rails.

Due to the course of time, rail track component come across various defects like: loose rail fasteners, rail cracks, rail burns, misplaced crossties, broken crossties, a problem with the joints, and defect at switches as well as less visually evident defects like shifting from the mathematical model of track geometry over time. In particular, a common problem in the railroad industry is the tendency of rails to deviate from their proper gauge.

The existing system is expensive, time-consuming, involves human inspection, and automated vehicle-based system that needs proper track engagement for inspection. Researchers from IIT Roorkee is using computer vision for railroad component analysis to improve efficiency, objectivity and accuracy in the inspection system. This system helps to achieve cost-effective solutions with a higher level of performance, which is often unattainable through human inspection, a statement issued by the IIT-Roorkee said.

The inspection of rail track is done by applying Image processing, Computer Vision techniques on the images sent by drone. Images and generated data obtained from the drone is analysed which gives useful information about the health of the rail tracks.

Speaking about the technology, Dr. Dharmendra Singh, Coordinator, RailTel – IIT Roorkee Center of Excellence in Telecommunication, Professor in Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Microwave Imaging & Space Technology Application Lab, IIT Roorkee, said: “Computer Vision Approach for the Drone data is a good alternative to monitor the railway track health in less time and it is also a very cost effective system. Some modules has already been developed which are giving quite satisfactory results and in some other modules like crack detection and all work is in progress and  hopefully it will be completed soon”.

The main objectives of the technology are  pre-processing of the data collected using a drone, creation of reasonable, simple, and fast computer vision algorithm that is capable of processing the experimental field data and finding railroad defects reliably, comparative evaluation of the performance of different algorithms and design schematics uncovering their better and worse features, automated gauge Inspection through data provides by drone to see whether the gauge is constant throughout, and tracks are aligned or not,  and find the localization of defect in a particular area using latitude and longitude.

Automated computer vision mechanism for railway inspection system provides a fast, accurate and cost-effective way of detecting various anomalies present in the railway track.

Drone data has proven much more effective as it provides high-quality images that contain large information for monitoring and analysis. Inspection through drone does not require dedicated track for inspection, hence, it does not affect the smooth running of trains. The calculation of gauge gives the highly accurate results.

New Delhi : Interpol has issued a red corner notice (RCN) against fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi after the CBI requested this in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore fraud on Punjab National Bank (PNB), officials said here on Monday.

“Interpol has accepted our request to issue RCN against Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and an executive of his company Subhash Parab,” a Central Bureau of Investigation official told IANS.

The official also said that the Interpol has put the charges of money laundering against the fugitive diamond jeweller, as levelled by Enforcement Directorate (ED).

According to agency officials, with the RCN issued against the three, now they can be arrested by any of the 192 member countries of the Interpol, after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.

The financial probe agency and the CBI had written to the Interpol to issue the RCN against the jeweller in June.

On June 11, the CBI first approached the Interpol to issue the RCN. On June 13, it again approached the Interpol to issue an RCN against Nishal Modi, a Belgian national, and Parab.

The CBI sent the request to the Interpol after it filed the first charge sheet naming Nirav Modi, Nishal and Parab beside 18 others in a special court in Mumbai on May 14.

The CBI filed three FIRs between January and March to probe the PNB fraud. Most of the accused are common to these cases. The fraud was committed during 2011-17 by illegally issuing Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs).

In its first charge sheet, the CBI alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai. Meanwhile, his uncle Mehul Choksi of the Gitanjali Group allegedly swindled Rs 7,080.86 crore.

Nirav Modi left the country along with his family in the first week of January, weeks before the scam was reported to the CBI.

His wife Ami, a US citizen, left on January 6 and Choksi on January 4.

Chandigarh : With the opposition mounting pressure on the Congress government to take action against rampant drugs abuse in the state, the Punjab cabinet on Monday decided to recommend death penalty for drug peddlers and smugglers to the Central government.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who chaired the special meeting of the cabinet on Monday to discuss the drugs issue, directed Director General of Police Suresh Arora to intensify the police crackdown on the drug menace.

The decision to recommend death penalty for drug peddlers and smugglers was taken at the cabinet meeting, and it was resolved to send a formal recommendation soon to the Union Government to this effect, an official spokesperson said here.

“The cabinet also decided to constitute a special working group under the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, N.S. Kalsi to review and monitor, on a day-to-day basis, the action being taken to check and control drug abuse,” the spokesperson said.

The cabinet took stock of the cases of deaths resulting from drug overdose, which Special Task Force (STF) chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu admitted to be a matter of concern.

Citing data relating to arrests and seizures under the NDPS Act, the DGP pointed out that there had been a sharp increase in the figures since the present government took over.