The Hague : The International Court of Justice will announce its verdict on Thursday on India’s appeal against the death sentence awarded by a Pakistani court to alleged spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

 The verdict is set to be announced at 3.30 p.m. IST. The verdict comes after India and Pakistan clashed on Monday at the ICJ over Jadhav with New Delhi invoking the court’s jurisdiction to see that the death sentence against him is annulled immediately.   Pakistan has said that India had no right to invoke the jurisdiction of the court because the Vienna Convention does not provide for matters relating to spies, terrorists and those who indulge in espionage.

NEW DELHI : In a major decision to fast-track Indias domestic nuclear power programme, the union cabinet on Wednesday approved construction of 10 units of indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR).

“The cabinet has approved installation of 10 indigenously built PWHRs of 700 MW each,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal said at a media briefing after meeting of the Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Goyal, who is union Minister for Power and Coal, said the decision will result in significant augmentation of the country’s nuclear power generation capacity. 

He said India’s installed nuclear power capacity is 6,780 MW from 22 operational plants, and another 6,700 MW is expected to to be generated by 2021-22 through projects under construction. 

The government had in July 2014 set a target of taking nuclear power capacity to over 14,000 MW by 2024. 

The decision on construction 10 PHWRs comes days before the Modi government completes three years in office. 

Goyal said the move will give manufacturing orders to domestic industry to the tune of nearly Rs 70,000 crore and is expected to generate more than 33,400 jobs in direct and indirect employment. 

“As the government marks three years of its people centric-governance, in a first of its kind project for India’s nuclear power sector, the 10 new units will come up as a fully homegrown initiative,” Goyal said.

He said it would be one of the flagship “Make in India” projects in the nuclear power sector. 

The Minister said the project will help transform the Indian nuclear industry by linking the goal of a strong nuclear power sector with the country’s indigenous industrial capacities in high-end technologies.

“With manufacturing orders to domestic industry, it will be a major step towards strengthening India’s credentials as a major nuclear manufacturing powerhouse,” Goyal said.

He also linked the decision to the government’s clean energy goals and low-carbon growth strategy.

“It supports India’s commitment to sustainable development, energy self-sufficiency and bolsters global efforts to combat climate change,” he said. 

An official release later said that the project will bring about substantial economies of scale and maximise cost and time efficiencies by adopting fleet mode for execution. 

It said the 10 reactors will be part of India’s latest design of 700 MW PHWR fleet and will have state-of-art technology that will meet the highest standards of safety. 

The release said the approval marks a statement of strong belief in the capability of “India’s scientific community to build our technological capacities”. 

“It underscores the mastery our nuclear scientists have attained over all aspects of indigenous PHWR technology. India’s record of building and operating PHWR reactors over the last nearly 40 years is globally acclaimed,” the release said.

(With Inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the new coal linkage policy — Shakti — for the power sector.
 The CCEA said that Shakti — Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating of Koyala (coal) Transparently in India — has been envisaged to make optimal allocation of coal across power units.  According to CCEA, under the new policy, coal will be made available to all power plants in “transparent and objective” manner through the auction route.  The new policy mandates that coal supply auction be made on the basis of “linkage allocations to IPPs (independent power producers)”, which will result in “cheaper and affordable” power.  The earlier New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP), 2007, had introduced a system of issuance of LoA (Letter of Assurance) wherein requests for linkage were forwarded to the Ministry of Power for its recommendations.   “Allocation of linkages for power sector shall be based on auction of linkages or through Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) based on competitive bidding of tariffs, except for the state and the central power generating companies and the exceptions provided in Tariff Policy, 2016,” an official statement said.  “Approved framework ensures that all projects with linkages are supplied coal as per their entitlement; ensures rights of coal supplies for FSA holders and signing of FSA with LoA holders.” 

(With Inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board if it was possible to give the woman the option, before she gives her consent to nikaah, that the marriage she was entering into would not be dissolved through instant triple talaq.
  The top court constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar suggested that a clause can be added on the Nikaah Nama to say that the marriage can’t be dissolved by the husband by pronouncing instant triple talaq.   The bench asked whether it was possible for the AIMPLB to do that and whether their advisory would be followed by the Qazis at the ground. You can incorporate this option in the Nikaah Nama before she gives consent to Nikaah to say no to triple talaq, Chief Justice Khehar asked the AIMPLB.   Responding to the suggestion, Senior counsel Yusuf Hatim Muchchala said that the advisory of the AIMPLB is not binding on the Qazis to follow on the ground.   However, Muchchala, who is also a member of the Executive Committee of the AIMPLB, referred to the recent resolution passed by the AIMPLB conclave at Lucknow wherein the Board has asked the community to boycott the men who take recourse to instant triple talaq to dissolved their marriages. The conclave took place on April 14, 2017.   He told the bench that they would consider the suggestion in all humility and would look at it. The suggestion to AIMPLB by the court came in the course of the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq.   AIMPLB, has in the course of its submissions while saying that triple talaq was permissible, described it as a “sin” and “undesirable”. The AIMPLB has said that the community needed time to change and reform itself on its own without any outside interference or dictate.

(With Inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI : Owing to the lack of pioneering innovation and stalled funding, more than 90 per cent startups in India fail in the first five years, a study by software major IBM revealed on Wednesday.
 The startups in the country are facing funding roadblocks both at entry and exit stages while successful global startup ecosystems are well supported by active investor communities.  “We believe that startups need to focus on societal problems like healthcare, sanitation, education, transportation, alternate energy management and others, which would help deal with the issues that India and the world face,” said Nipun Mehrotra, Chief Digital Officer, IBM India/South Asia, in a statement.   More than 76 per cent of Indian executives pointed to the country’s economic openness as a major business advantage, while 60 per cent identified skilled workforce and 57 per cent of the executives said that a large domestic market provides significant advantages.  Seventy three per cent of Indian business leaders surveyed believe that ecosystems can help accelerate innovation and almost 80 per cent of the executives from established companies say collaboration with startups accelerates new ideas.   Seventy per cent of the venture capitalists believe that talent acquisition is one of the biggest challenges faced by Indian startups, and limited availability of necessary skills impedes growth.   “Stakeholders’ (established businesses, startups, VCs, Government, higher education) involvement and contribution is key to creating a conducive environment for the success of the startup economy,” the study noted.   The IBM study titled “Entrepreneurial India” was based on interviews with more than 1,300 Indian executives, including 600 startup entrepreneurs, 100 venture capitalists, 100 government leaders, 500 leaders of established companies and 22 educational institution leaders.

(With Inputs from IANS)

Over a million adolescents die globally every year due to preventable causes. This accounts for 3,000 young deaths each day, according to a latest report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Road traffic injuries, lower respiratory infections and suicides – attributed to mental health – are the biggest causes of death among adolescents.  In 2015, more than two-thirds of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and South-East Asia, the report says, adding most of these deaths can be prevented with good health services, education and social support. But in many cases, adolescents who suffer from mental health disorders, substance use, or poor nutrition cannot obtain critical prevention and care services – either because the services do not exist, or because they do not know about them.

Also, many behaviours that impact health later in life, such as physical inactivity, poor diet, and risky sexual health behaviours, begin in adolescence.

Data in the report, Global accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!): Guidance to support country implementation, suggests huge differences in causes of death when separating the adolescent group by age (younger adolescents aged 10–14 years and older ones aged 15–19 years) and by sex.

In 2015, road injuries were the leading cause of adolescent death among 10–19-year-olds, resulting in approximately 115 000 adolescent deaths. Older adolescent boys aged 15–19 years experienced the greatest burden. Most young people killed in road crashes are vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

However, differences between regions are also stark. Looking only at low- and middle-income countries in Africa, communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory infections, meningitis, and diarrhoeal diseases are bigger causes of death among adolescents than road injuries, according to the report.

The picture for girls differs greatly. The leading cause of death for younger adolescent girls aged 10–14 years are lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia – often a result of indoor air pollution from cooking with dirty fuels. Pregnancy complications, such as haemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labour, and complications from unsafe abortions, are the top cause of death among 15–19-year-old girls, the report says.

“Adolescents have been entirely absent from national health plans for decades,” says Dr Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director-General, WHO. “Relatively small investments focused on adolescents now will not only result in healthy and empowered adults who thrive and contribute positively to their communities, but it will also result in healthier future generations, yielding enourmous returns.”

Suicide and accidental death from self-harm, the report says, were the third cause of adolescent mortality in 2015, resulting in an estimated 67 000 deaths. Self-harm largely occurs among older adolescents, and globally it is the second leading cause of death for older adolescent girls. It is the leading or second cause of adolescent death in Europe and South-East Asia.

Adolescent health needs intensify in humanitarian and fragile settings, the report recommends. Young people often take on adult responsibilities, including caring for siblings or working, and may be compelled to drop out of school, marry early, or engage in transactional sex to meet their basic survival needs. As a result, they suffer malnutrition, unintentional injuries, pregnancies, diarrhoeal diseases, sexual violence, sexually-transmitted diseases, and mental health issues.

NEW DELHI : The government has installed necessary security in batches to protect its key networks from the cyber attack by ransomware virus ‘WannaCrypt’, Information Technology Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said on Tuesday.

“On ransomware, since March, the government of India has been on high alert. We have already installed the necessary security in batches as far as the government key networks are concerned,” said Sundararajan at the inaugural session here of Broadband India Forum.

“We have not got any reports of widespread infection. There have been very few isolated instances and we continue to be on watch,” she added.

Sundararajan said that apart from five or six isolated instances, there are no reports of any significant damage in the country.

“CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) which is the national agency which monitors and tracks this activity, has affirmed that in India, there were five or six isolated instances, one of about 18 computers of the police in Andhra, as well as about five odd instances, one in Kerala where one of the Panchayat computers were affected,” she told reporters here.

“Apart from that, there have been very small fragmented, isolated machines, standalone machines which have been affected. Overall, there was no report on any kind of substansive scale to indicate that Indian systems have actually been affected.”

The IT Secretary added that a multi-agency monitoring team is already continously monitoring and assessing the situation on a round-the-clock basis.

Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday had said the cyber attack by ransomware virus ‘WannaCrypt’ had nearly zero impact in India.

“We are strengthening our cyber security. After talking to Microsoft, we had asked people to install patch system in March. This ongoing attack not only had minimum, but nearly zero per cent impact, in India. We are strengthening our areas,” the Minister had said.

Speaking about the IT sector, Sundararajan said: “It (the IT sector) is continuing to grow at 7-8 per cent, it is forecast to grow at that rate. It has created five lakh jobs in the last two years.”

“There may be some changes in the profile of work or the profile of verticles within the IT sector because that is a dynamic sector. But we have it on categoric record from the industry that large scale job losses have not hampered at all. There is nothing unusual in the pattern of the employment scenario as far as the IT sector is concerned,” she said.

(With Inputs from IANS)

PATNA : The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted raids at over 22 places in Delhi and Haryana in connection with alleged Rs 1,000 crore benami land deals involving RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Besides the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo, the IT raids were also carried out on the premises of party MP P.C. Gupta’s residence as well as several businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi and Haryana’s Gurugram and Rewari.

The raids started around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, in which over 100 officials were involved. 

Income Tax officials also searched over 10 premises of some government officials.

The IT Department’s action comes in the wake of the allegations made by former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Modi has accused Lalu Prasad and his children – Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav and Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian Misa Bharti – of being involved in corrupt land deals. 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said if there was documentary proof or solid evidence against the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his family then the central government should take legal action.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had demanded a CBI probe into the “shady” land deals.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has alleged that RJD chief’s daughter Misa Bharti has not disclosed these alleged assets in her election affidavit and has demanded that the Election Commission take action against her. 

The BJP leader also alleged that the land deals were done during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Union Railway Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. 

Following the IT raids, Sushil Kumar Modi, who has been repeatedly accusing Lalu Prasad and his family in the “benami” properties case, told the media in Patna that his stand was “vindicated”.

(With Inputs from IANS)

CHENNAI : The CBI on Tuesday raided the residences of former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram here in connection with the grant of FIPB approvals when he was the Finance Minister. Chidambaram has termed it vendetta politics and declared the raids will not stop him from being critical of the government.

A team of 11 CBI officials entered the Haddows Road residence of Chidambaram on Tuesday morning and carried out searches.

According to sources, 17 other locations in Chennai, Karaikudi, Delhi and Noida were also searched by CBI sleuths in this connection.

The early morning raids at the former Finance and Home Minister’s residence were conducted in connection with Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearances given to INX Media (now called 9X Media) when it was run by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, and Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.

Separate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams conducted searches at more than 17 locations in Chennai, Karaikudi, Delhi and Noida besides Mumbai and Gurugram.

The CBI raids come close on the heels of an Enforcement Directorate probe into the affairs of Karti Chidambaram who they allege was involved in FEMA violations and money laundering.

According to the investigating agency allegations, Karti was linked to a firm, Advantage Strategic Ltd, whose name cropped up in various cases.

Chidambaram has said there are no allegations against him or his son.

“The government, using CBI and other agencies, is targeting my son and his friends. The government’s aim is to silence my voice and stop me from writing, as it has tried to do in the cases of leaders of opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs and civil society organizations. All I will say is, I shall continue to speak and write.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday, a little after the raids began, Chidambaram said “FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five Secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials. There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against me.”

Terming it vendetta politics, the former Finance Minister said, “every case was processed according to law and approval was granted or refused in accordance with the recommendations of the FIBP consisting of five Secretaries to the Government of India.”

Karti Chidambaram has maintained that he will come out clean as there was nothing to hide. He said he had cooperated with probe agencies and has paid all his taxes.

“The case against me has been foisted purely out of political reasons and vendetta. Nothing can be proven against me and I have not done any crime. It has been done mainly to muzzle my father’s voice against the government,” he said.

Congress legislative leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Karaikudi Ramaswamy visited Chidambaram’s residence and later told media persons that there was nothing in the case that was being made out.

“It is just a ploy to discredit and destroy the reputation and image of the Congress party,” he said.

The agency’s move comes a day after it filed an FIR against Karti Chidambaram and Indrani Mukherjea in the case.

The case — registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in 2010 — involves foreign investment by three Mauritius-based companies in INX Media.

The ED had earlier issued a show-cause notice to Karti Chidambaram and INX Media for alleged FEMA violations of over Rs 40 crore.

The ED also issued a similar notice to a Chennai-based firm, Vasan Health Care Private Limited, for alleged forex violations of over Rs 2,000 crore.

“The total amount of contravention identified on different counts and found to have been committed by Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited in the sale transaction of shares of Vasan Health Care to overseas investors is around Rs 45 crore,” the ED notice said.

“Show-cause notice has been issued to Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, its directors and also to Karti Chidambaram who appears to be the controller and ultimate beneficiary in these transactions,” it added.

(With Inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI : Making it clear that it was unwavering in its support on the Palestine issue, India on Tuesday strongly backed a political solution to the problem through sustained dialogue and expressed the hope for an early resumption of talks between Palestine and Israel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed India’s stand after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who had on Monday sought India’s help to solve the Palestine issue with Israel.

After the talks, India and Palestine signed five agreements including on cooperation in agriculture, IT and electronics, health and youth affairs and sports.

“We had extensive exchange of views on the situation in West Asia and the Middle East peace process,” he said while jointly addressing the media with Abbas following delegation-level talks here.

“We agreed that the challenges in West Asia must be addressed through sustained political dialogue and peaceful means,” he said.

“India hopes for early resumption of talks between Palestinian and Israeli sides to move towards finding a comprehensive resolution.”

On Monday, addressing a gathering at the India Islamic Cultural Centre here, Abbas said that he would seek the help of Modi’s good offices in reaching a solution to the Palestinian issue which would help in the fight against terrorism in that part of the world.

Modi said on Tuesday that India has been “unwavering in its support of the Palestinian cause”.

“And, we hope to see the realisation of a sovereign, independent, united and viable Palestine, co-existing peacefully with Israel,” he said, ahead of his visit to Israel scheduled for July this year.

He also said that India would continue to extend cooperation in building infrastructure in Palestine and contribute to improving the lives of its people.

“We will continue to support the development and capacity-building efforts of Palestine,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the five agreements signed following Tuesday’s talks “are reaffirmation of our intent to strengthen cooperation in this direction”.

Modi also referred to a flagship techno-park project India was undertaking in Ramallah and said particular emphasis was being laid on the areas of information technology, youth and skills development.

He also called for enhancing cultural exchanges between the two sides and sought the participation of the Palestinian people in the International Yoga Day to be observed next month.

On his part, Abbas expressed his appreciation for India’s continued support and solidarity for the Palestinian cause on international forums and said he would work to deepen the bilateral relationship.

He said he updated Modi on his meeting with US President Donald Trump regarding the Middle East peace process and his talks with his German and Russian counterparts Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Vladimir Putin, respectively, on the issue.

Abbas also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and voiced support for all regional and international efforts to fight this menace.

Earlier in the day, Abbas was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan here following which he paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on the visiting dignitary and discussed issues of bilateral interest.

Abbas arrived here on Sunday on a four-day visit to India. This is his fifth visit to India and the third state visit after his visits in 2008 and 2012.

He is being accompanied by a delegation comprising Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amr, Foreign Minister Riad Malki, Diplomatic Advisor Majdi Khaldi, Presidency Spokesperson Nabil Aburdeineh and Palestine’s Chief Judge Mahmoud Habbash.

(With Inputs from IANS)