The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said it would hear afresh the appeals filed by Rajesh and Nupur Talwar challenging their conviction in the murder of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, seven months after reserving its judgement in the matter.

A division bench comprising Justices Bala Krishna Narayana and Arvind Kumar Mishra said it would hear the matter again due to “contradictions” in some submissions made by the CBI in the sensational murder case and fixed August 31 for resuming the hearing.

THE AARUSHI-HEMRAJ MURDER TRIAL

Following is the timeline of the case that shook the conscience of the nation and remained in headlines for a long time. 

•   Aarushi Talwar – age 13 – a class 9th student of D.P.S. Noida, was found brutally murdered, in her bedroom, on 16.05.2008, at about 6 am. 

•   As the domestic help Hemraj was not found in the flat, the initial suspicion was obviously on him. However, on 17.05.2008, the body of Hemraj was found on the terrace of the building in which the Talwars lived.

•   The case went through many twists and turns, with Dr. Rajesh Talwar being arrested by the Noida Police, on 23.05.2008, and the Inspector General of Police, Meerut Range, Gurdarshan Singh publicly issuing derogatory and defamatory statements against the deceased minor, Aarushi, her father, Dr. Rajesh Talwar and the deceased domestic help, Hemraj. 

•   The CBI took over the investigation of the case under Joint Director Arun Kumar, on 01.06.2008.

•   In June 2008, the CBI arrested Krishna Thadarai, Rajkumar & Vijay Mandal (all of whom resided in the neighbourhood), after determining that they were involved in the double murder of Aarushi Talwar & Hemraj.

•   On 11.07.2008, the CBI filed a report before the Special Metropolitan Magistrate, Ghaziabad, asking for the release of Dr. Rajesh Talwar, on grounds that the evidence, including the scientific forensic evidence, did not in any manner, connect him with the crime.

•    The application itself clearly stated that no bloodstained footprint or palm print, seen at the crime scene, matched with Dr. Rajesh Talwar.

•  Dr. Talwar was released from custody by the Special Metropolitan Magistrate (CBI), on the basis of the application moved by the agency.

•    Inexplicably, the first team of the CBI was removed although it is widely believed that the first team had concluded its investigation and was very close to filing a charge sheet against the three domestic helps and some high ranking UP police officials.  

•   A fresh investigative team, based in Dehradun and Lucknow, was set up to further investigate the case in September 2009. It is believed that the second team had a “brief” to uphold the “findings” and “theories” of the Noida police.

•   Within 15 days of the second team taking over the case, critical shifts in the prosecution’s story began to surface, including shifts in the post- mortem evidence, introduction of new weapons of offence & theories of cleaning up the crime scene.

•   On  29.12.2010,  the  CBI  filed  a  Closure  Report,  where,  it  concluded, “…the circumstantial evidence collected during investigation has critical and substantial gaps… There is absence of clear cut motive and an incomplete understanding of sequence of events…”

•   The shocked parents of slain Aarushi refused to accept the closure of the case and filed a detailed 90 page Protest Petition challenging each and every investigative finding of the CBI before the Court, on 25.01.2011. 

•   Dr. Rajesh Talwar, through his Protest Petition, asked for the case not to be closed, and prayed for further investigation in the case, to help determine the identity of the actual criminals.

•   The court disallowed the Closure Report and the Protest Petition, took cognizance of the offence, and summoned both Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar to face trial in the case (Dr. Nupur Talwar was never an accused during investigation as there was no material against her).

The shifts in the post mortem findings have caused a serious miscarriage of justice and have defamed the reputation of two people who are no longer alive to speak for themselves. 

The Talwars have found themselves at the receiving end. The so-called “factual reporting” by the media often appeared to be one-sided, and based on leaks from a hostile prosecuting agency.  In such a charged atmosphere, truth is often a casualty.

NEW DELHI : A scheme of booking e-ticket online and making payment after 15 days through ‘ePaylater’ powered by M/s Arthashastra Fintech Pvt. Ltd., as a pilot project, has been introduced by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC). Under this scheme, a customer has the option to pay after 15 days of booking an e-ticket through IRCTC website.

The service charge levied on using ‘ePaylater’ scheme is 3.50% of transaction amount and applicable taxes.

Online ticketing through IRCTC website is gaining popularity and its share vis-à-vis counter tickets is increasing. Further, online ticket booking is also being promoted as a cashless mode of transaction.

ePaylater as a payment option is displayed at the payment page of IRCTC website to make people aware about the availability of this payment method. Details about its service charge and ‘Terms & Conditions’ of the scheme are also provided at the payment option page.

Indian geologists have unlocked mystery surrounding the 1950 Assam-Tibet earthquake – the biggest to rock the Himalayas so far with a magnitude of 8.6 on the Richter scale. 

For the first time, scientists have found evidence that it was not a ‘blind earthquake’ and that there was a rupture on the surface. The earthquake helped release energy – either fully or partially – accumulated in the region due to constant collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. “The fact that the energy would have released fully or partially suggests that there was no possibility of another such big earthquake in the area in the near future,” scientists have concluded.  

Till now geologists did not have a clear picture of the quake as it had occurred in a highly inaccessible part of the Himalayas and there was no sign of any rupture on the surface. It was postulated that the fault responsible for the quake was deep inside the ground and thus it may be considered a ‘blind earthquake.’ 

The new study was conducted at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh by digging a trench and performing a multi-radiometric analysis. Researchers used Cesium137 – a radioactive isotope released in the environment after bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and probably transported by wind from there – as a ‘chronomarker’ for the study of sediments.

“It is for the first time evidence has been found for the transportation of radioactive material from Hiroshima and Nagasaki into the Indian subcontinent. Our wind analysis of 1948 suggest that radioactive clouds were transported by strong easterly winds to the north-eastern India, where fallout on the sediments occurred by a process of dry deposition of aerosol,” explained Dr. R Jayangondaperumal, a member of the research team from Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology. The study results have been published in journal Scientific Reports.

The tectonic activity in the Himalayan region due to collision of Indian and Eurasian plates results in accumulation of huge amounts of energy which gets released off and on in the form of big and small earthquakes along the 2,500 km long boundary between the two plates. “Geologists try to understand history of earthquakes in the Himalayas with a view to have a better understanding of seismology of the region so as to come up with some idea on what future holds. The results from the present study could help unravel more geological mysteries in future,” Jayangondaperumal said. 

He noted that “this study further indicated that ocean like subduction is taking place in the Himalayas also and that the Assam-Tibet earthquake, which occurred in the Himalayan Frontal Thrust, could be related to other earthquakes in the region.  Normally, big earthquakes with a magnitude of above 8 on Richter scale occur in the Greater Himalayan region and these affect the rocks of the Himalayan frontal thrust area too.”

Researchers from Geological Survey of India, Physical Research Laboratory, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Kumaun University and Pondicherry University also participated in the project. The team included Priyanka Singh Rao, Arjun Pandey, Rajeeb Lochan Mishra, Ishwar Singh, Ravi Bhushan, S. Ramachandran, Chinmay Shah, Sumita Kedia, Arun Kumar Sharma and Gulam Rasool Bhat. (India Science Wire)

It was like a dream come true. One year ago, scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi demonstrated that it was possible to generate electricity from water – at room temperature and without the need for any external energy. The innovation is now ready for next stage of development.

“We are waiting for the government and the industry to take the initiative. A pilot plant can be set up within one and a half years,” said Dr Ravinder Kumar Kotnala in an interview. Dr Kotnala, along with his associate, Jyoti Shah, has developed the hydroelectric cell using a novel approach.  

Dr Kotnala, Chief Scientist at NPL, was fascinated by the potential of humidity-sensing nature of porous magnesium ferrite nanomaterial at room temperature. The material showed a change in electrical potential in the presence of humidity in the atmosphere. This set them thinking: can we exploit the same difference in potential energy to generate electricity? 

One thing led to another and soon enough they found that a small piece of magnesium ferrite measuring three square inch can generate about 250 milli ampere (mA) of power. A slightly bigger prototype measuring four square inch was made and it was also found effective. It was clear that the cell could be scaled up. 

Explaining his work, Dr Kotnala said the cell was fundamentally a type of galvanic cell that derives electrical energy from spontaneous oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions of an electrolyte with a cathode and an anode. In a school laboratory, for instance, a galvanic cell is made by inserting a piece of zinc metal and a piece of copper wire into a lemon fruit. When the two metal pieces are connected to a bulb, it glows. It happens because of a redox reaction of the lemon juice with two dissimilar metal pieces.  

In the hydroelectric cell, Dr Kotnala and his team used a pellet of lithium substituted magnesium ferrite which had a zinc plate electrode stuck on one side and a silver comb electrode on the other. When the system was sprinkled with water at room temperature, it generated a stable flow of electricity. 

“Magnesium has high affinity for hydroxide ion (OH), and it pulls a hydroxide ion from the normal H₂O (water) when it comes in contact. The remaining hydrogen combines with another H₂O molecule to form hydronium (H₃O). Normally, within a matter of seconds, hydronium and hydroxide ions will recombine to produce once again two molecules of water. But in our cell, hydronium ions get trapped inside the nanopores of lithium-substituted magnesium ferrite and generate an electric field. The electric field helps in further dissociation of water. This cascades and continuous electricity is produced,” explained Dr Kotnala. 

Oxidation reaction of hydroxide ions at Zinc electrode releases two electrons which are collected on silver electrode. A net current flow results in the cell due to a potential difference developed between the electrodes.

Scientists across the globe have been trying to produce electricity from water for over 70 years now. Chemical dissociation of water molecules by surfaces of oxides such as Silicon dioxide, Titanium dioxide, Magnesium Oxide and Ferric Oxide had been theoretically calculated and even experimentally observed. But, all the efforts to develop a practical hydroelectric cell had failed till now. In this context, the work of Dr Kotnala using lithium substituted magnesium ferrite could be a game changer.

A small hydroelectric cell made with a magnesium ferrite pellet measuring three sq in has generated about 250 mA of power. A prototype made with a pellet measuring four square inch material has also been found effective. This implies that the scaling up of the cell is possible. It is expected that when connected in a series, the cells would be able to produce enough electricity to drive a small electric motor or energise a LED bulb.  

“There are many advantages of hydroelectric cell compared to electrochemical cells. For instance, they would be portable. Also, in other cells, anode and cathode gets eroded after a period of time. But in hydroelectric cells Zinc can be reused or recycled and silver extracted out,” says Dr Kotnala. The cell releases hydrogen gas and zinc hydroxide, neither of which pollute environment in the manner that fossil fuels do. Hydroelectric cells are no burden on the environment. It is the world’s first acid and alkali-free cell. 

Dr Kotnala heads the Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology division at NPL. He completed his doctorate in silicon solar cell from IIT Delhi. He has expertise in a wide range of subjects including Spintronics, electronic materials, Spin Hall Effect, humidity sensor, solar cell and hydroelectric cell. A recipient of many national and international awards and recognition, he has also published more than 360 research papers in international journals. He has nine patents in his name.  (India Science Wire)

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya wants to return to academia in the U.S. 

Two years into his job of heading the rejigged Planning Commission, Prof. Panagariya has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relieve him of his post. 

Officials sources said today here that Prof. Panagariya could not get his leave from the Columbia University further extended, so he decided to quit to rejoin as professor of economics.

The 64-year-old Columbia University Professor had been chosen by the Prime Minister to head the erstwhile Planning panel in its new avatar as NITI Aayog in 2015. He was holding the rank of a Cabinet minister. 

He, has, however told the Prime Minister that he would be available for serving the nation in anyway possible while continuing his academic assignment. His last day in the office will be August 31.

Arvind Panagariya has resigned as vice chairman of Niti Aayog, reported the Press Trust of India today. The 64-year-old economist says he will return to academia in the US. August 31 will be his last day in office.

He has been chief economist at the Asian Development Bank and also has a PhD in economics from Princeton University.

A protege of economist Jagdish Bhagwati, Prof. Panagariya has also worked for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development. 

NEW DELHI:  The Government today denied any move to extend protocol for VIPs in private airlines in the country.

In written reply to a question by Harivansh in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha answered in an emphatic “No’’ when asked whether the ministry had sent a notice to private airlines and other stakeholders regarding protocol to be extended to VIPs in private airlines.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has been under pressure from MPs and other members of the political class that private carriers roll out the red carpet for them on the lines of the State-owned Air India.

In the recent past at least two MPs Ravindra Gaikwad and Diwakar Reddy were in the news for their alleged misbehaviour with airline staff. Lawmakers have been demanding that they should be extended privileges whenever they take flights to their destinations.

The Minister said there was no question of common people being put to any hardship because of protocol being extended to VIPs by private airlines.

The University of Central Lancashire has been awarded £1.9m from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), to support further implementation of best practice stroke care in India. The three-year research project is led by the University and will be a collaborative effort with the George Institute for Global Health in Australia and India, Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, clinicians from three hospitals across India, and other key colleagues in the UK, India and Australia.  

The research is due to start immediately and will build on existing stroke unit care, implementing and evaluating best practice stroke care, and developing research that will not only help developing countries, but will inform implementation of best practice globally.

“This study should help capacity development in management of stroke in India with specific focus on strategies that impact better health outcomes for people suffering from stroke. A key component would be to increase the skills of India’s frontline workers in stroke care,’’ said Dr Pallab Maulik, deputy Director, Head of Research, The George Institute for Global Health India.   

Stroke incidence in India is rising. The average age of people suffering a stroke in India is in the 50s, compared to the 70s in the UK. This is largely due to change in lifestyle of the population in addition to environmental factors such as poor living conditions, lack of  health awareness and fragmented healthcare infrastructure.

There are currently around 50 dedicated stroke units in India. As part of this project, researchers will be working with existing stroke units at CMC, Ludhiana; AIIMS, New Delhi and SCTIMST Trivandrum. They will look to determine the most effective processes for stroke assessment, care, monitoring and therapy, as well as determining the most economical approaches to assessment.

Professor Dame Caroline Watkins, Director of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire and Chief Investigator of the study, said: “A stroke is one of the most serious life-threatening conditions that people can suffer, which is why prompt and effective diagnosis and aftercare is incredibly important.”

For example, accurate diagnosis of whether a stroke is caused by a haemorrhage or blood clot, and precise assessment of associated disorders, will determine the correct type of treatment. This also provides invaluable insight into the most relevant acute stroke care for those most at risk of long-term damage.
A country the size of India should have around 3,500 dedicated stroke units to cater for the scale of the problem. The prevalence of stroke is becoming more common and funding is limited, so it is vital that we are able to assess the current working practices and outline the most cost-effective ways of providing high-quality care to stroke patients. “This grant is fundamental for future research in the faculty and will help us inform stroke care across the world.’’

The George Institute for Global Health is working across a broad health landscape by conducting clinical, population and health system research aimed at changing health practice and policy worldwide. The Institute has been ranked among the top 10 global institutes for impact for the last several years. 

The George Institute India partners with over sixty national and international institutions such as the Public Health Foundation of India, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, University of Hyderabad; and affiliations with University of Sydney, Oxford and Peking.

NEW DELHI : Taking the technical glitches in filing the returns into account, the Government has extended the date for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for 5 days up to August 5, 2017. 

After getting a lot of complaints from various part of the country, the Government today said that in order to facilitate the e-filing of the returns, it has decided to give extension of five days for e-filing of the returns. 

Similarly, for the purpose of e-filing return, it would be sufficient as of now to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement number for having applied for Aadhaar in e-filing website.

The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before 31st August, 2017. 

However, the returns will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done. 

In a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, it is said that there are some complaints that the taxpayers are not being able to log on to the e-filing website of Income Tax Department or not being able to link Aadhaar with PAN because of different names reflected in PAN and Aadhaar database.

While technical snags have been removed already, the main reason for failure of people to log in is because of last minute rush and panic in which those who have already logged in want to continue for the entire period for fear of losing it. 

NEW DELHI: Little did she know that her daily grind of going to her school nearly three kilometers from her non-descript village in a district in Uttar Pradesh would one day turn into her love for studies and make her dream of getting higher education. 
Exactly 12 years after the sprightly girl passed her intermediate examination, she can now easily boast of realizing her dream because by the sheer dint of her hard work, she obtained her doctorate in sociology from Lucknow University. 
Meet Dr. Supriya Singh who earlier this year topped in the Higher Education Commission examination held by the UP Higher Education Commission. It will make her eligible for direct appointment as an Assistant Professor in aided degree colleges of U.P., India’s most populous State where girls like Supriya may be few but are writing new success stories and making their families, clan and village proud.
It seems like yesterday when Supriya who was lovingly called Renu by everyone would return from her middle school in Dhanikhera, about three kilometers from her village Gahrenda. She found time to play with her younger brother and also visit neighbouring homes and play with children of her age. Whenever we visited our village during winter breaks, Renu would come and talk to us about her school, how she was doing in her studies and also play around with my daughter Apoorva who was couple of years younger to her. She would very keenly ask about schools  in metropolitan cities like Delhi.
As years rolled, we again met Renu who was now cycling daily to her new school – RRB Inter College in Bhagwantnagar, a town area and an assembly segment which is about four kilometers from Gahrenda village. Bhagwantnagar is represented in U.P. Assembly by BJP leader Hriydanarain Dikshit who also happens to be a veteran columnist in several leading Hindi dailies. 
“It was in 2004 that Renu shifted to Lucknow to study at Mahila Degree College. She did her graduation and then post-graduation. She wanted to go for M.Phil and Ph.D. and seeing her dedication and love for higher studies, we never stopped her and she never looked back. It was her courage, determination and single-minded devotion that made her sail through all tests,’’ recalls her father Anil Kumar Singh who takes care of the family’s agricultural land in the village and has pumped all his financial resources for his daughter’s education. 
The icing on the cake was that Supriya’s research work was chosen for publication by the prestigious Cambridge Scholar Publishing, U.K. in June this year in the form of a book titled “Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of Class, Caste and Gender in Rural India.’’  
Asked if he has seen Supriya’s research work, her father said that she had brought some copies home. “It looked very impressive, we were all very happy over her achievement,’’ he said. Supriya recalled her that her research work made her undertake field visits and she had to spend hours waiting for authentic official data and figures and then collate and analyze it. Obviously, the rare honour of Cambridge Scholar publishing her work has made her proud.  
All major English and Hindi newspapers of Lucknow have highlighted Supriya’s achievements. After topping higher education exam, she told journalists that she was hopeful of making it among top 25 students. “But securing number one rank in this examination came as a bit of surprise,” the 29-year-old said. She had also scored highest marks in sociology during BA final year and was conferred a merit certificate and medal by the college.
She completed her M.Phil in 2010 and also qualified UGC-JRF and NET in Sociology in 2009 itself. She is now working as academic counsellor in Indira Gandhi National Open University at its Lucknow University centre. She has to her credit nine research papers and two book reviews. Supriya also presented papers in 18 national and international conferences and seminars and has attended two “Young Sociologists Workshops” at Cuttack and and IIT Delhi. 
In her spare time, she loves to click photographs as it gives her pleasure to capture natural beauty and freeze the special moments. “Penning everyday life experiences in my diary helps me to look back at my strenuous journey from a remote village of Unnao to a metropolis life in pursuit of my goal,’’ says Supriya. 
The young scholar has written about poverty, suicides among students, naxalism, problems of elderly and widows, honor killings, environmental issues, problems in higher education and issues relating to women. For Supriya the journey has just begun. She has set her sight on higher goals of spreading education and creating awareness on vital social issues, particularly among women.

Nitish Kumar makes a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the BJP which is now part of the government in Bihar. Nitish Kumar will have to bid adieu to his ambitions of becoming Prime Minister for some time.

With Nitish Kumar making a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the delight of the BJP making a mockery of the ‘mahagatbandhan’ formed by the JD (U), RJD and the Congress in 2015, he has dashed the hopes of a combined opposition taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Lotus party in the 2019 general elections. 

While retaining the chief ministership of the battle ground state in the Hindi heartland after comfortably winning the vote of confidence in the Bihar assembly yesterday on Friday (July 28), he may have been compelled to bid adieu to his ambitions of occupying the Prime Minister’s “kursi” at least in the forseeable future. He has, however, maintained time and again in the past that he was not in the race for that office in the imposing South Block on the majestic Raisina Hill. 

There were ample indications of Lalu Prasd Yadav’s RJD being dumped in the wake of investigations against the members of the family allegedly involved in corruption scandals. Credit must be given to the strategists in the Lotus party for keeping the goings on close to their chest and regaining power in Patna in tandem with the Janata Dal (United). 

The inevitable has a happened. Lalu Prasad’s dynastic ambitions of reportedly feathering the family’s nest by being in power either in Bihar or at the Centre has suffered a severe setback. The raids by the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate on the Lalu Prasad family including his wife Rabri Devi and the preliminarly findings point to grave financial irregularities led to the breakup. 

With the wily Nitish Kumar back as chief minister in tandem with the BJP led NDA, he is enjoying the best of both the worlds. Lalu brought upon himself the parting of ways with Nitish as he remained adamant asserting Tejaswi will not resign. For Nitish Kumar his pursuit of being clean and a person of integrity would have tarnished his image if he had associated himself with Tejaswi, who was no less than the Deputy chief minister in his government. 

However, if Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi knew three-four months back that something was cooking between Nitish Kumar and the saffron brigade, he cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for the breakup of the ‘mahagatbandhan’. He lacked the political acumen to intervene effectively rather than allowing matters to come to such a pass. It does not solve problems by observing “in this country leaders are only interested in protecting and preserving their ministerial births”. 

In the prevailing circumstances the reduced 17-party opposition is in no position to stop Modi and the BJP winning a second consecutive term in office because of their reverses in assembly elections and the skeletons tumbling out of the cupboards. 

At the same time Modi must realise the problems connected with the demands of the Sangh Parivar and his agenda of development was adversely affecting the credibility of his regime.