NEW DELHI : The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is set to announce new fares on Monday, an official said.
“The Board of Directors is meeting to decide on the hike in fares of Delhi metro,” an official told IANS. “The announcement on the fare hike will be made in the evening,” he said. He termed as “speculation” reports in the media about the quantum of hike in fares.
(With Inputs from IANS)
NEW DELHI : IndiaÂs two most prestigious institutions, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and CSIR joined hands to form a ÂMake in India Technology Development and Deployment VentureÂ.
The MoU was exchanged in the presence of Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology and vice-president CSIR, Dr. Girish Sahni, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, S&T Minister expressed immense happiness on CSIR and CII joining hands. He said that CSIR and industry should have synergistic partnership for developing and deploying technologies addressed at unmet needs within a defined time frame. CSIR has a large number of technologies which could be commercialised in partnership with industry. However, CSIR does not have the necessary wherewithal for deployment of these technologies. He emphasized that there should be joint national level programmes in CSIR-Industry partnership mode addressing national priorities.
Dr. Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR expressing joy of joining hands with CII, explained the mechanism that CSIR is putting in place to leverage its partnership with industry. For each R&D / Commercialization project, CSIR, through its chain of R&D labs will provide scientific and technological support in the form of scientific infrastructure and high quality manpower resources in the form of scientists & technical persons whereas the industry will identify the technology need and will invest in the projects. Respective line ministries will be explored to co-invest in these projects to bear the risk.
The CSIR Innovation Fund which would be made operational soon will help handhold the start-ups and would also support the partnership necessary with the industry to take the developments forward in fast track mode once proof of concept is established. He further said that CSIR is also setting up Incubation Centres in CSIR laboratories which would provide the necessary facilities for industry to incubate and work with CSIR laboratories in real time and space.
Indian industryÂs R&D spend has been around 0.3% of GDP as against global average of 1.5% of GDP. CII has been working to stimulate industryÂs investment through multiple ways while CSIR has been striving to bring technologies in the forefront through industrial research. CII is also instrumental in attracting industryÂs R&D investment through its unique PPP Joint Venture Company, Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) where 50:50: investment model has been showing success with DST, MeitY, DHI as the partners.
This joint initiative ÂMake in India Technology Venture will focus on priority sectors aligning to IndiaÂs key aspirations under Make in India, Digital India, Start-up India, Skill India, Clean India etc. It will lead to development and deployment of critical platform technologies with many product technologies resulting into IndiaÂs technology value addition in manufacturing which will contribute significantly to growth of GDP and high-tech exports. The scope would expand to synergise the efforts with line ministries. The proposal is to have consortium of industries with CSIR through its constituent laboratory (s) working on a single development project with line ministries and industries sharing the risk of financial investment.
A high-level Apex body named ÂTechnology Development & Deployment Advisory Council (TDDAC) will also be formed under this MoU. It will provide policy directions and monitor the activities of the program, and the members of the TDDAC will be invited from participating line ministries, experts from academic and R&D institutions, industry associations, participating PE/VC companies.
As a next step, CII and CSIR and respective line ministries will constitute an Apex Body and sectoral project management cells to finalise the priority technology areas and models of partnerships for each case of technology development.
NEW DELHI : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced a 15-member squad led by Virat Kohli for the ICC Champions Trophy, starting June 1 in England.
The team has no surprises, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pacer Mohammed Shami making it back to the team, after their respective injury lay offs. Team for ICC Champions Trophy
Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, M.S. Dhoni (WK), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane
(With Inputs from IANS)
NEW DELHI : Stepping up his attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, sacked Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra on Monday claimed that Health Minister Satyendar Jain had told him that he had settled a Rs 50 crore land deal in favour of Kejriwal’s brother-in-law. The party trashed the allegations accusing Mishra of being hand in glove with BJP and the central government.
Two days after he was sacked, Mishra went to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) and claimed to have evidence in support of his allegations that two people close to Kejriwal tried to influence the probe in the water tanker scam.
He also dared Kejriwal and Jain to undergo a lie detector test and offered to subject himself to such a test.
Denying Mishra’s allegations, Jain said that “no such land deal took place” and said he would file a defamation case against Mishra.
“There is a limit to lying. I wasn’t present at CM’s residence on May 5 (Friday) and I can prove it in many ways,” Jain said. “Show us papers (of land deal) or proof if its true?” he said.
“He has lost mental balance and making baseless allegations as he did not even spare Kejriwal’s deceased brother-in-law,” he said.
Jain said that Mishra was making allegations against Kejriwal’s brother-in-law (Surendra Bansal) who is “no more”.
The former Water Minister said he will meet Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Tuesday, give all evidence in support of the allegations and file an FIR.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded its senior leader Sanjay Singh to trash the allegations leveled by Mishra.
Singh accused the BJP and the central government of being behind Mishra in his campaign against Kejriwal, saying this is part of a larger conspiracy to “finish off” the party and to “silence” the opposition.
Singh told the media that the kind of allegations Mishra had made made it clear that he was being used to harass Kejriwal and other ministers in the Delhi government.
“Mishra is now speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. He is saying the same thing the two parties had been saying for months. This makes it clear who is behind all this,” he said.
Singh said Mishra was making all sorts of allegation like that he witnessed Kejriwal taking Rs 2 crore from Jain.
“Party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) will sit today (Monday) and discuss about the action against Kapil Mishra,” he said in response to a question about possible action against the sacked Delhi minister.
“Making such serious allegations, Mishra did not even feel it important to clarify when the deal was conducted and which relative of Kejriwal was involved,” Singh said.
On Monday, Mishra filed a complaint regarding what is known as the water tanker scam with the ACB, saying Kejriwal delayed action in the case.
“The ACB is under the central government which is ruled by the BJP. It is the BJP which is behind all this,” Singh said.
The AAP leader said that at a time when the country was facing serious internal and external security threats, the only priority for the BJP and the central government was to finish off the AAP.
Rejecting the BJP’s demand for Kejriwal’s resignation, Singh said that “severe” allegations of corruption were made against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by suspended BJP member Kirti Azad, but nothing happened.
“Despite serious allegations of corruption against Jaitley, he is still holding the post of Finance Minister. So, we do not need to learn the lessons of morality and principles from the BJP and the Congress,” Singh said.
Countering Singh, Mishra met the media again in the evening to claim that Jain had told him that he managed a Rs 50 crore land deal in Chhattarpur (south Delhi) for Kejriwal’s brother-in-law.
“The deal was finalised for the Bansal family,” he said.
Rebutting Singh’s charge that he spoke BJP’s language, Mishra said he had always spoken stridently against the BJP’s policies and the government and decried the way the AAP brands people who speak against the leadership.
“I would never join the BJP,” he said and dared his detractors to provide even a shred of evidence that he was in league with the BJP.
Singh rejected Mishra’s allegations about the land deal, saying “these are all wild allegations and without any proof”, a view echoed by Jain.
He also said it was a conspiracy to arrest AAP ministers and dismiss the government.
Meanwhile, ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena said Mishra did not give any complaint regarding Kejriwal accepting money from Jain.
He said that Mishra came to the ACB office to make a statement in water tanker scam case.
“We will take a detailed statement and then we will start our probe,” Meena said.
(With Inputs from IANS)
KOLKATA : Giving a fresh twist to his three and a half month stand-off with the Supreme Court, Calcutta High Court Justice C.S. Karnan on Monday “sentenced” Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar and seven other apex court judges to five year rigorous imprisonment.
Justice Karnan, who is facing contempt charges for degrading the judiciary and making allegations of corruption against several Supreme Court judges, held the eight judges guilty of harassing a “Dalit Judge” (him), with a “common intention”.
The 12-page “order” said the accused have “committed” an offence “punishable under the SC/ST Atrocities Act of 1989 and amended Act of 2015”.
However, the Supreme Court has already restrained Justice Karnan from discharging any judicial and administrative functions and directed all authorities and tribunals not to take cognisance of any “purported” order passed by him.
The other judges named in the “order” are Justice Dipak Misra, Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice R. Banumathi.
While seven of the judges were members of the bench that initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Justice Karnan, Justice Banumathi along with the Chief Justice Khehar had restrained him from discharging any judicial and administrative functions.
Justice Karnan also imposed fines of Rs 1 lakh on three counts under three-sub-sections of section 3 of the SC/ST Atrocities Act on all the eight judges.
The sentences would run concurrently, he said, and asked Delhi’s Commissioner of Police to execute the order.
SC judges have to pay the amount, within a week of receiving the order, to the National Commission, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.
In case they fail to pay, they would undergo further six months imprisonment.
Justice Karnan also ordered Justice Banumathi to pay him a Rs 2 crore compensation, and directed the Supreme Court Registrar General to recover the amount from her and remit it to his account.
He also refereed to his April 13 order asking the judges (except Justice Banumathi against whom he had not passed any order that day) to pay Rs 14 crore to him as compensation and decreed that the order stood “declared and suitable for execution” as it has not been challenged.
He directed the Supreme Court Registrar General to recover the amount from the salary of the seven judges and remit it to his account.
“If the accused are aggrieved by this order, they are at liberty to approach parliament.
“Until such time the accused 1-8 shall not hold office and not be permitted to deal in any cases on the file of the Supreme Court besides any administrative orders,” Karnan said, pronouncing the order from the ‘make-shift court’ at his residence Rosedale Tower in New Town in Kolkata’s North Eastern fringes.
Karnan directed the union and state governments not to avail the services of the eight judges “since they are functioning out of law for their personal gain”.
He also ordered the government to pay him Rs 2.85 lakh in relief and directed the “District Magistrate of Kolkata” to make necessary administrative arrangements to provide the relief in cash or kind.
In January, Karnan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi naming 20 “corrupt judges”, and seeking probe against them to curb “high corruption” in the Indian judiciary.
The Supreme Court then issued him a contempt notice, an unprecedented step against a sitting judge. After he failed to appear, it on March 10, in another first time move, issued a bailable warrant against him.
But the judge escalated the row by ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against the seven judges.
Karnan appeared before the seven-judge bench on March 31, but renewed the confrontation on April 13, passing a “judicial order” against them for “violating” the SC/ST Act and also asked them to appear before him.
Later, he directed the Air Control Authority in New Delhi not to allow the CJI and other six judges to travel abroad.
The Supreme Court asked him to undergo a medical test on May 4, but Karnan not only refused to comply, but also hit back by directing Delhi Police to conduct a psychiatric test of the seven judges.
NEW DELHi : The Indian government’s demonetisation measures did not impede future black money flows in new denominations, a UN report said on Monday.
According to UN Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2017, complementary measures to demonetisation would be required to target all forms of undeclared wealth and assets.
“Broader structural reforms which could also contribute to enhanced transparency include: the implementation of a goods and services tax; voluntary disclosure of income scheme; and tracking of high-value transactions through taxpayer identification numbers,” it said.
“Other measures, such as reforming the real estate registration process to ensure transparency, are being discussed.”
As per the report, the disruption caused by demonetisation had “greater and longer-lasting” impacts for lower-income individuals, households and businesses that had difficulty insulating themselves against the shock.
“Rural incomes and consumption were affected due to a decline in prices for agricultural products (although again, this was not reflected in the national accounts data which measure agriculture in terms of quantity),” the report said.
“In the medium-term, the currency initiative is expected to bring more economic activities into the formal sector and spur digitisation of financial transactions, helping to broaden the tax base and secure the fiscal space needed for public social and infrastructure expenditures.”
The report pointed out that “one-off” currency measure in effect transferred lost black money to the central government through unclaimed or unexchanged notes.
“Preliminary estimates suggested a 97 per cent recovery of notes, which would imply a 3.16 per cent increase in fiscal revenues for the government,” the report read.
On November 8, 2016, exactly six-months ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would withdraw India’s two largest currency denominations — Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 — from circulation.
The two bank note denominations which were withdrawn represented more than 86 per cent of the cash in circulation.
(With Inputs from IANS)
NEW DELHI : The AAP on Monday blamed the BJP and the central government for the charges hurled by sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying this is part of a larger conspiracy to “finish off” the party and to “silence” the opposition.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to either resign or go to jail after a sacked minister hurled corruption charges at him.
Tiwari referred to the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s May 10, 2013 tweet: “Should people just resign for corruption or should they be sent to jail for corruption?”
The BJP leader asked Kejriwal to decide his fate. “Either (go to) jail or resign. Please decide Arvind Kejriwalji as being (the) CM of Delhi you can decide for people of Delhi. Only you said it.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh told the media that the kind of allegations Mishra had made made it clear that he was being used to harass Kejriwal and other ministers in the Delhi government. “Mishra is now speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. He is saying the same thing the two parties had been saying for months. This makes it clear who is behind all this,” Sanjay Singh said. A day after he was sacked, Mishra alleged that he saw Kejriwal taking Rs 2 crore from Health Minister Satyendar Jain. Mocking the claim, Sanjay Singh wondered if Kejriwal invited Mishra to witness the so-called bribe-taking or to count the currency notes. “Party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) will sit today (Monday) and discuss about the action against Kapil Mishra,” Singh said responding to a question about possible action against the sacked Delhi minister. Mishra also alleged that Jain had facilitated a land deal worth Rs 50 crore for a Kejriwal relative. “Making such serious allegations, Mishra did not even feel it important to clarify when the deal was conducted and which relative of Kejriwal was involved,” Singh said. On Monday, Mishra filed a complaint regarding what is known as the Water Tanker Scam with the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), saying Kejriwal delayed action in the case. Sanjay Singh said it was Mishra who had repeatedly said that Kejriwal “had nothing to do with the scam” and the ACB was under pressure to “frame him by any possible means”. “The ACB is under the central government which is ruled by the BJP. It is the BJP which is behind all this.” Sanjay Singh said that at a time when the country was facing serious internal and external security threats, the only priority for the BJP and the central government was to finish off the AAP. “Our only fault is that we are fighting for the rights of the poor and the marginalised and are raising our voice against the politics of hate. They want to silence our voice.” Kejriwal had “zero tolerance for corruption”, the AAP leader added. “Corruption allegations were levelled against Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal and Kumar Vishwas during the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, but nothing came of it,” Singh said. Rejecting the BJP’s demand for Kejriwal’s resignation, Singh said that “severe” allegations of corruption were made against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by suspended BJP member Kirti Azad, but nothing happened. “Despite serious allegations of corruption against Jaitley, he is still holding the post of Finance Minister. So, we do not need to learn the lessons of morality and principles from the BJP and the Congress,” Singh said.
(With Inputs from IANS)
New Delhi: Stressing upon the need for choking of the financial resources of the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) cadres and groups, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday preferred the use of modern technology like UAVs, GPS tracking, thermal imaging, radar and satellite images to counter the Naxal violence.
Rooting for a specific action plan for each theatre with clearly defined short term, medium term and long term strategies to tackle LWE violence, Mr. Singh said: “Today, we need to consider whether to react only after the occurrence of any incident or we should be more proactive. LWE cadres are constantly trying to inflict losses on security forces to boost the morale of their cadres.ÂÂ
Presiding over a review meeting in the wake of the recent killing of 25 CRPF jawans in Sukma in Chhattisgarh, he said the martyrdom of the security forces will not go in vain. “The day is not far when this mindless violence will end,ÂÂ he said.
The meeting was called to work out an integrated strategy of security and by giving impetus to development in the 35 worst affected districts so that the LWE influence can be eliminated. Accusing the LWE of weakening the democracy in the country, Mr. Singh reminded them that India is the largest democracy in the world and efforts to suppress democracy through the influence of the gun will never succeed.
The Home Minister said that Unified Coordination and Command was needed on the LWE front. Smart leadership full of self-confidence with a solid vision should prepare the teams in a mission mode, he said.
Mr. Singh offered the idea of SAMADHAN or solution to counter the LWE menace which means S- Smart Leadership, A- Aggressive Strategy, M- Motivation and Training, A- Actionable Intelligence, D – Dashboard Based Key Performance Indicators and Key Result Areas, H- Harnessing Technology, A- Action plan for each Theatre, N- No access to Financing.
In what seemed like a forward-looking, tech-based mutli-pronged strategy, Mr. Singh argued in favour of pressing technologies pertaining to space, IT and communication on a greater scale to counter LWE problem. At the same time, he said, shadow intelligence officers should also be deputed to track prominent targets associated with LWE.
Pointing out that security forces must adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Mr. Singh said their residential camps should be well equipped with power and water supply and have better connectivity.
“The forces on the ground level should not lack leadership. Unity of purpose and unity of action are essential for the success of operations. We must ensure that States take the ownership of LWE operations with the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) actively cooperating with them,ÂÂ he said. The Home Minister, however, also said only ”silver bullets” were not a solution to the issue. “We have to work on imaginative thinking on the whole situation so that we can “Out Think” and “Out Manoeuvre” the LWE,ÂÂ he added.
”There was need of coordination and command at all levels to tackle the Naxal violence,” Mr Singh said while chairing a meeting of Chief Ministers of 10 LWE-affected states. He said the presence of forces should instil fear in the Left Wing Extremists and a sense of confidence among the local people and tribals  ÂLet your action speak for itselfÂÂ.
He said that 12000 citizens have lost their lives in violent activities of the Left Wing Extremists over the past two decades and out of these 2700 are jawans of the security forces and the remaining 9300 are innocent and common people.
Dubbing LWE as “anti-developmentÂÂ, he said their cadres not only target the security forces but also public property like roads, culverts, railway tracks, electricity and telephone towers, hospitals, schools, anganwadi and panchayat bhawans.
“It is evident from the destruction caused by the Left Wing Extremists that they do not want people to get facilities and access to the development, in the remote and inaccessible areas, because these facilities provide the path of economic and social progress, to the local people. It also joins them to the mainstream of the nation. The cancer of LWE flourishes in poverty or backwardness. Therefore, the LWE strategy is to ensure that the people of this area stay without electricity, without road, without education, so that the vested interest of the LWE continues unabated,ÂÂ he told the high-level meeting. Top officials from various Central ministries, NSA and Director of theIntelligence Bureau, Chief Secretaries and Police Chiefs also attended the review meeting. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal were invited to attend the meeting.
NEW DELHI : Refusing to compare her case with the Nirbhaya gang-rape case where the apex court upheld death penalty for the convicts, Gujarat gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano on Monday said she was content with the Bombay High Court rejecting the death penalty plea in her case.
In one of the most horrifying incidents during the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bano, then 19 and pregnant, was brutalised by a gang of men and many of her family members killed in front of her eyes. While upholding a trial court sentence of life term to 11 convicts, the Bombay High Court on May 4 rejected a CBI plea which sought death sentence for three of the convicts. Interacting with media persons in the national capital, Bano said she was happy with the court’s verdict in her case. “I am very happy with the court’s verdict. The horrors I suffered deserve the maximum punishment, but at the same time I do not want any one else to die in my name. I want justice, not revenge,” said Bano. She said the five policemen whose acquittal has been set aside by the high court, deserve harsher punishment. Charged with tampering of evidence by fudging documents, the men had been acquitted by a trial court in 2008. While setting aside their acquittal, the high court had observed: “The omissions on the part of the police accused are so grave and so obvious that their malafides and intentions are very apparent. The investigation is not only faulty but it is downright tainted.” While welcoming the court’s verdict against the policemen, National Award-winning filmmaker Shonali Bose demanded punishment for the “masterminds of the cover up” in the Gujarat riots. “These five policemen were mere foot soldiers in the cover up. Their indictment by the court is indeed a message but justice will be done when the masterminds of the cover up of the 2002 riots are brought to justice,” she said. Speaking on the occasion, former bureaucrat N.C. Saxena said police have prejudices against the minority community in cases of communal violence. “Police almost always functions with strong prejudices against minorities during riots,” he said, citing several administrative and judicial reports where policemen have been indicted for their role in communal violence. On May 5, a Supreme Court bench upheld the death sentences of all four convicts in the Nirbhaya case in which a 23-year-old paramedical student was gang-raped inside a moving bus on December 16, 2012 in Delhi. The savage assault led to her death due to internal injuries 13 days later in a Singapore hospital.
(With Inputs from IANS)
NEW DELHI : Delhi Metro on Monday hiked its fare by up to 66 per cent, with the maximum fare going up to Rs 50 from the earlier Rs 30.
Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) spokesperson Anuj Dayal told the media that the minimum fare – applicable for a distance of up to two kilometres – had been raised from Rs 8 to Rs 10.The new fare structure has been divided into six slabs:
Rs 10 (0-2 km), Rs 15 (2-5 km), Rs 20 (5-12 km), Rs 30 (12-21 km), Rs 40 (21-32 km) and Rs 50 (beyond 32 km). “This is the first phase of fare hike to be implemented from May 10,” Dayal said. “The second phase will be implemented from October.” DMRC Director K.K. Saberwal said the revision was necessary on account of increase in the input cost – staff salaries, cost of energy, repair and maintenance. Dayal added that special discounts would be given to commuters on Sundays and national holidays. Apart from that, 10 percent discount during non-peak hours would also be given. “This is to ensure that load during peak hours and non-peak hours is even.”
