The Dailysamachar

Face penalty of 200% above 2.5 lakh

2016-11-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

The government on Wednesday warned that cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh threshold under the 50-day window could attract tax plus a 200 per cent penalty in case of income mismatch.

"We would be getting reports of all cash deposited during the period of November 10 to December 30, 2016, above a threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh in every account." The (tax) department would do matching of this with income returns filed by the depositors. And suitable action may follow," revenue secretary Hashmukh Adhia said tonight.

Any mismatch with income declared by the account holder will be treated as a case of tax evasion. "This would be treated as a case of tax evasion and the tax amount plus a penalty of 200 per cent of the tax payable would be levied as per the Section 270(A) of the Income Tax Act," he said.

The government has allowed citizens to deposit in their bank accounts old currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations, which had been declared invalid in the nation's biggest crackdown on blackmoney, corruption and counterfeit notes, between November 10 and December 30.

Adhia said small businessmen, housewives, artisans and workers who had some cash lying as their savings at home should not be worried about any tax department scrutiny. "Such group of people... need not worry about such small amount of deposits up to Rs 1.5 or 2 lakh since it would be below the taxable income. There will be no harassment by the Income Tax Department for such small deposits made," he said.

On people resorting to buying of jewelery, he said persons buying jewelery has to provide the PAN number. "We are issuing instructions to the field authorities to check with all the jewellers to ensure this requirement is not compromised.

"Action will be taken against those jewellers who fail to take PAN numbers from such buyers. When the cash deposits of the jewellers would be scrutinised against the sales made, whether they have taken the PAN number of the buyer or not will also be checked," he added.

Source: HindustanTimes

Jio Welcome Offer ends on Dec 3

2016-10-22T11:40:00.001-07:00

Threre are a lot of discussions going on regarding Jio Welcome offer to end on Dec 3. Please don’t misunderstand and panic about it. If you have already subscribed to Jio welcome offer then you can continue using welcome offer until December 31.

New subscription to Jio welcome offer will stop after December 3.The Jio welcome offer was to be promoted for 90 days only as per TRAI rules and regulations. So, you’ll not be able to subscribe to Jio welcome offer after 3 December.

If you want to enjoy Jio welcome offer then generate Jio welcome offer code and get your Jio sim before Dec 3.If you have already taken a Jio SIM and subscribed to Jio welcome offer then you needn’t worry, your free subscription will end on December 31. After 31 you have to subscribe to Jio tariff plan to continue using Jio services.es, with JIo 4G you needn’t pay for Voice call ever.

If you subscribe to any Jio tariff plan then you can make outgoing calls (local, STD & Roaming) and send SMS completely free.TRAI observed that other operators are violating the rules for interconnectivity, TRAI has asked the telecom department to impose Rs. 3050 Cr. fine on Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone for violating the rules.

They will start offering sufficient point of interconnect (POIs) to handle Jio outgoing call traffic on their network soon.

Jio Fiber Broadband, upcoming product of Jio

Mukesh Ambani said during the Jio launch event that Jio will offer Fiber to home Broadband (FTTH) in coming months. Jio Fiber broadband is being tested in few regions of Mumbai and Pune. Jio will launch fiber broadband with the free welcome offer for 90 days.

Know more about Jio GigaFiber broadband which promises to give speed up to 1 GBPs through the optical fiber. Jio Fiber broadband tariff plans were also released which starts from Rs. 500 which gives 50 MBPs speed.

Reliance Jio fight: Trai wants Rs 3,050 crore fine on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea

2016-10-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

The recommendation to levy fines comes after Trai had issued show-cause notices to the three operators towards end-September after finding high levels of congestion in their network leading to call failures made to and from the Jio network beyond the permissible limits.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday recommended a fine of R50 crore per circle against the top three incumbent operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular — for denying sufficient points of interconnect to Reliance Jio Infocomm resulting in inconvenience to RJio’s consumers as a large number of call attempts resulted in failure.

While a fine of R50 crore each for 21 circles has been recommended for Bharti and Vodafone, for Idea the same is for 19 circles. Since Trai does not have powers to levy fines, it has recommended the department of telecommunications to levy the same in its capacity as the licensor since these companies have violated their licence conditions. It has said that though the licensor has the powers to revoke the licences for defying directions, it has not suggested such a harsh measure as it would inconvenience a large number of consumers.

The recommendation to levy fines comes after Trai had issued show-cause notices to the three operators towards end-September after finding high levels of congestion in their network leading to call failures made to and from the Jio network beyond the permissible limits.

Since September 30, Trai has been monitoring congestion levels on a daily basis and found that the situation has not improved. The basic defence of the three companies was that there’s a 90-day period since the commercial launch of services for providing the demanded points of interconnect and that it was not fair for Trai to monitor the congestion level on a daily basis as it should be seen on a monthly basis.

However, Trai has rejected their defence, stating that the operators were trying to stifle competition and arguing that if on a daily basis there’s congestion, how can it be different during a month.

Trai chairman RS Sharma had earlier told FE that based on the data that the regulator had asked from all the operators between September 15 and 19, it found that the congestion level was as high as 96% in some of the circles against the permissible limit of 0.5%.

The Quality of Service norms prescribe that congestion level should not exceed 0.5%, which means that out of 1,000 calls not more than 5 should fail. However, in the present case almost 960 calls are failing, he had said.

Congestion level is different from call drop. In the former, a call does not get connected whereas in the latter a call drops after it is connected. For call drops, the failure should not be more than 2%.

The regulator has no powers to levy penalty on the operators who do not follow its directive. The maximum it can do is to charge them in a civil court.

32 Lakh Debit Card Details Hacked

2016-10-21T10:22:00.001-07:00

Over 32 Lakh debit card details were compromised in the latest data breach. This breach happened through a malware that was introduced in the Hitachi Payment Services systems. Hitachi Payment Services is the largest provider of ATMs Point of Sale (PoS) and other financial transactions.

The banks who hit this massive data breach includes State Bank of India, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. Customers are advised to change ATM PIN immediately.

26 Lakh of affected debit cards were on Visa and MasterCard. And about 6 lakh were on RuPay Card.

There is no official report about who is behind this data breach, but few customers have observed the unauthorized usage of their card in various locations in China. Payment council of India has ordered an investigation to find out the origin of the Cyber breach. Bengaluru-based payment and security specialist SISA will conduct the investigation.

Please co-operate with the Bank. Safety for each and every customer is their primary concern. All 32 Lakh compromised debit card holders are not yet identified.

Bank request you all to change your ATM PIN immediately. If you see any unauthorized transaction or receive any transaction SMS which was not done by you then please report it to to the Bank immediately.

United Nations appoints Portugal's Guterres as next U.N. chief

2016-10-13T09:24:00.002-07:00

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly unanimously appointed former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on Thursday as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years beginning Jan. 1, 2017.

Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two terms. Guterres was Portugal's prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.

"He is perhaps best known where it counts most: on the front lines of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering," Ban told the General Assembly after Guterres was appointed. "I have long valued his advice, and long admired his spirit of service."

"His political instincts are those of the United Nations: cooperation for the common good, and shared responsibility for people and the planet," he said. "He recognizes the crucial importance of women's empowerment, from peace tables to the halls of this house."

The 15-member U.N. Security Council last week unanimously recommended that the General Assembly appoint Guterres. He beat out 12 other candidates, seven of whom were women, amid a push for the first woman to be elected.

Diplomats were watching to see who Guterres appoints to senior U.N. positions amid speculation by diplomats and U.N. officials that China would like one of its nationals to head peacekeeping and that Russia is keen to lead political affairs.

Currently, a French man runs peacekeeping, an American man leads political affairs and a British man is in charge of humanitarian affairs. A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several people had insisted that Guterres did not do any deals to win Russia and China's votes.

"(Guterres is) the sort of person who will pick a strong team around him, appointment on merit," said the diplomat, adding that, while he had not heard it directly from any Chinese diplomats "it is clear (China is) making a significant challenge for the Department of Peacekeeping."

When asked earlier this month if Russia had an interest in one of the senior U.N. positions, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: "We do believe that Russia should be properly represented in the Secretariat."

He did not specify which post, but added: "We are not the only ones who are expressing the interest in various positions."

Source: Reuters

Bob Dylan is winner of 2016 Nobel prize for literature

2016-10-13T09:22:00.002-07:00

American writer-singer Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy cited the musician for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” The prize is worth 8 million Swedish crown ($927,740).

Literature was the last of this year’s Nobel prizes to be awarded. The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will. The six awards will be handed out on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.

Source: TheIndianExpress

Michael Jackson still making money

2016-10-13T03:15:00.004-07:00

He passed away seven years ago but Michael Jackson is still making money - and lots of it.

In 2016 the late King Of Pop earned a staggering $825 million, making him far and away the biggest dead celebrity earner of the year.

A long way back in second place in the Forbes list released on Wednesday is Peanuts creator Charles Schulz who earned $48 million. He died in 2009.

Forbes explained that one reason Jackson has generated so much revenue is his estate's decision to sell his half-share of the Beatles catalogue to Sony for $750 million.

The Thriller star had purchased the rights to the Fab Four's music back in 1984 for $47.5 million and then sold 50 percent of it to Sony in 1995 for $115 million.

His remaining share was sold to Sony in March this year.

Source: DailyMail

Pampore encounter ends as 2 militants killed

2016-10-12T10:16:00.003-07:00

Security forces killed the second militant hiding in a government building in Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Wednesday, bringing to an end an encounter that lasted three days to avoid “collateral damage”.

Lt General Ashok Narula, GOC (Victor Force), said two militants were killed in the operation and two weapons were recovered. He said combing operations were still on. “It was a tricky operation as it is a big building and we did not want to have any collateral damage.”

The standoff between security forces and the militants holed-up inside the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) complex in Pampore entered the third day on Wednesday. The building, in which the militants were holed up since Monday morning, has around 60 rooms and the forces had decided to wait for the gunmen to exhaust their ammunition. Local residents said they heard heavy blasts intermittently throughout the night.

Eyewitnesses said that security forces fired many rounds in the morning targeting the seven-storey hostel building of the complex.The security forces were exercising utmost caution as three special forces personnel, two CRPF men and a civilian lost their lives during the 50-hour standoff at the institute in February. Then, the attackers had captured the main office block, close to the highway.

After the February attack, tenders were floated to build bunkers around the complex. But the work is yet to begin. A tin-fence, erected on the front, was all that the authrotieis did to secure the complex after the incident.

The Jhelum flows behind the complex. The riverside is not properly fenced giving easy access to anybody coming by boat to enter the institute. The militants apparently did precisely that.

Source: HindustanTimes

Google to roll-out wifi hotspots in India

2016-10-12T06:45:00.001-07:00

Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc , said on Tuesday it launched Google Station in India, a service that aims to deepen its reach across the country, as the search giant seeks to bring more people on to its Google platform.

Under the service, Google will roll-out Wi-Fi hot spots in places frequented by a large number of people, such as malls and transit stations, and in social hangout locations such as cafes and universities, the company said on Tuesday.

China sets up $3 bn internet investment fund

2016-10-12T06:42:00.002-07:00

China's Baidu Inc said on Wednesday it has established a 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) investment fund, Baidu Capital, focusing on mid- and late-stage deals in the internet sector.

Investments can be in both Chinese yuan and US dollars, with investment projects ranging from $50 million to $100 million, China's dominant internet search company said on its official WeChat mobile messaging account.

Source: TheHindu

Investors demand answers, new phone from Samsung after Note 7 fire fiasco

2016-10-12T03:16:00.001-07:00

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd needs to quickly find the cause of the fires that led to it pulling its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and get a new model to market, investors said on Wednesday, as shares in the company slipped to a one-month low.

The world’s top smartphone maker on Tuesday scrapped the $882 flagship smartphone in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history.

Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in early September following reports of the phones catching fire. The firm appeared to have the situation under control as it issued replacement devices with different batteries, until the new phones also began to smoke and combust.

Investors and analysts agreed that the damage to Samsung’s brand and future earnings would deepen the longer the market was left in the dark about the origin of the fault, with some already predicting lost revenue in the region of $17 billion.

“It’s good that Samsung made a firm decision on the Note 7, but people are concerned about the situation because people don’t know what the problem is,” said Kim Hyun-su, a fund manager at IBK Asset Management, which owns shares in Samsung.

“There needs to be explanation from Samsung in order for consumers to understand that problems won’t occur in the next models ... Samsung needs to clearly explain and admit what went wrong.”

Samsung would likely push ahead to get the latest version of its premium S-series smartphones to market as soon as possible, fund managers said. Typically, the South Korean company unveils a new Galaxy S phone on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress trade show in the first quarter as it battles Apple Inc to stay at the top of the smartphone market.

“We’ll have to see what the future plans are but I suspect Samsung will move quickly to get the Galaxy S8 ready; they have the manufacturing and production capabilities,” IBK’s Kim said.

Experts are baffled by what could be causing the overheating in the replacement phones, if not the batteries, and Samsung has not commented.

An official at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, which is investigating the problem alongside Samsung, said the fault in the replacement devices might not be the same as the problem in the original product. The official asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak publicly.

Aviation authorities and airlines around the world are telling passengers to switch off their Note 7s and keep them out of checked baggage, amid fears they could bring down a plane.

Samsung shares were down 1.6 percent as of 0436 GMT after touching a one-month low of 1.494 million won ($1,340), reflecting concerns about fourth-quarter earnings as well as the potential long-term impact on its smartphone business.

The stock is down 11 percent so far this week, on track for worst weekly percentage fall since December 2008.

A permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion, according to calculations based on analysts’ projected sales of the phone.

Source: HindustanTimes

ISRO launched a new satellite for Ocean and Weather studies

2016-09-25T22:18:00.001-07:00

ISRO on Monday launched PSLV’s longest flight SCATSAT-1 at 9:12 am for ocean and weather studies. The 320-tonne rocket, carrying eight satellites, blasted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This launch is said to be ISRO’s longest mission spread over two hours and fifteen minutes.

The rocket’s main cargo will be the 371 kg SCATSAT-1 for ocean and weather related studies. This will be placed into a 730-km polar sun synchronous orbit around 17 minutes into the flight. PSLV C-35 took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 110 km from Chennai at 9.12 AM. SCATSAT-1, the primary satellite, is meant for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking.

ISRO said in a statement the SCATSAT-1 is a continuity mission for Oceansat-2 scatterometer to provide wind vector data products for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking services to the users. The satellite carries Ku-band scatterometer which is similar to the one put onboard the Oceansat-2. The mission life of the satellite is five years, said ISRO.

The rocket is carrying five foreign and three Indian satellites. Among the five foreign satellites, three are from Algeria namely Alsat-1B 103kg, Alsat-2B 117kg, Alsat-1N 7kg, and one each from Canada (NLS-19, 8kg) and the US (Pathfinder-44kg). The two other Indian satellites are: Pratham (10kg) built by Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay (IIT-Bombay) and Pisat (5.25 kg) from PES University, Bengaluru and its consortium.

While PRATHAM’s objective is to estimate Total Electron Count, PISAT’s mission is to design and develop a nanosatellite for remote sensing applications.

These eight satellites will be placed in a 689-km polar orbit. This is the first mission of PSLV where it will be launching its payloads into two different orbits. According to ISRO after putting into orbit SCATSAT-1, the rocket’s fourth stage or the engine will be shut down.

The fourth stage will be restarted and cut off one hour 22 minutes after the blast off twice. Two hours and 11 minutes into the flight the fourth stage will be restarted. Four minutes later all the seven satellites would be put into their intended orbit. The switching off and switching on of the rocket’s fourth stage is called multiple burn technology which was first tested by ISRO while flying its PSLV rocket on December 16, 2015.

Source: TheIndianExpress

New Jaguar XF Launched In India: Price starts from 49.50 Lakh

2016-09-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

2016 Jaguar XF, the new updated version of the British carmker's popular luxury sedan has finally gone on sale in India. Launched at a starting price of Rs. 49.50 Lakh, the top-of-the-line variant is priced at Rs. 62.10 lakh (all ex-showroom, Delhi).

The company has announced that the deliveries for the newJaguar XF will commence from the end of September 2016 and customers can now book the car right now for a token amount of Rs. 5 lakh. Interestingly, the 2016 Jaguar XF now also comes with JLR's all-new Ingenium Diesel engine, which makes the car the first Jaguar model in India to get one.

The new Jaguar XF will be available in India in a total of three variants - Pure, Prestige, and Portfolio, in both petrol and diesel guises. The petrol trim continues to use the same 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged gasoline motor that churns out 237bhp and develops a peak torque of 340Nm.

On the other hand, the all-new 2.0-litre diesel engine, from the Ingenium family, makes 177bhp and develops a peak torque of 430Nm. Both the engines come mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox as standard.

Jaguar XF's new lightweight aluminium architecture contributes towards a weight saving of up to 190 kg over the previous generation XF. As far as dimensions are concerned, the new-gen XF is 7mm shorter and 3mm lower than its predecessor but the wheelbase has increased by 51mm, thanks to the new platform.

There is also an increase in the legroom and the knee room by 15mm and 24mm respectively. The headroom too goes up by 27mm at the rear. Thanks to the redesign and a lower height, the drag coefficient to goes down from 0.29 to 0.26. The weight distribution too is 50:50, which Jaguar says, has the ideal balance between ride and handling.

Source: Carandbike.com

All flights suspended after MiG 21 overshoots runway, pilot safe:Shrinagar

2016-09-20T04:19:00.001-07:00

All flight operations at the Srinagar airport came to a halt on Tuesday afternoon after a MiG 21 aircraft overshot the runway while landing, causing damage to it. The pilot of the aircraft evacuated unhurt.

The Srinagar airport handles 560 flights a week and operations have been running smoothly over the week owing to Eid celebrations in the state. The airport is located at a distance of about 12 km from the city.

Source: TheIndianExpress

Moto E3 power launched in India for Rs 7,999/-

2016-09-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

The E range of smartphones from Motorola have always been focused on budget conscious consumers. The latest in the series is the Moto E3 Power i.e Rs 10,000 phone with focus on battery.

As battery is one of the main concern for smartphone users, Moto has included a large 3,500mAh battery on the Moto E3 Power. In terms of specifications, the phone has a quad core Mediatek MT6735 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and a microSD slot for expansion (up to 32 -FB supported).

It has a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 X 720 pixels and dual cameras - 8MP rear and 5MP front facing. There is a water repellent nani-coating for protection against accidental splashes. Other features include dual Sim slot, 4G, VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth and FM Radio. In terms of software, the Moto E3 Power comes out of the box with Android 6.0.

The phone will go on sale exclusively onFlipkart from today. Price includes a fast charger and the phone is compatible with the Reliance Jio Welcome offer. The phone comes with various offers including exchange up to Rs 7000 off and no cost EMI. Users who purchase the phone on first day will get a 32GB memory card for free. Moto e pulse headset will be available for Rs 499 if purchased along with the phone.

Source: Economic Times

Google, yahoo, Microsoft to block information on "sex determination"

2016-09-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have enabled a system to block information on sex determination online, the government told the Supreme Court today. A system called auto block will stop any information including ads on sex determination tests.

Companies identified 22 key words including "sex determination" and anyone searching those key words will get no information online.

Source: IndiaLiveToday

The iphone 7plus beats the sale of iphone 7

2016-09-17T10:49:00.003-07:00

As data starts to trickle in for the iPhone 7’s launch, the iPhone 7 Plus and its dual-camera system seem to be swaying buyers away from its smaller counterpart. If true, this would be the first time the larger, phablet-sized phone outsold the smaller version.

If, it’s true. For now, all of the data comes from market research firms, and Apple has been rather tight-lipped about its initial sales numbers. Data from Slice Intelligence, however, seems to suggest that after a 65 percent/35 percent split during the iPhone 6 launch, the gap narrowed after Apple released the iPhone 6s/6s Plus last year (59/41, respectively).

The iPhone 7 seems to reversed the gap. Based on data of units sold during the first 48 hours of pre-orders, Slice reports the larger Plus model has outsold the smaller version 55 percent to 45 percent.

Unsurprisingly, the same data shows the two most popular color choices have been black and jet black, replacing the now-dead space grey. Nearly 56 percent of those that preordered the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus were previous Apple device owners. For the specifications of iphone 7 & iphone 7 plus click here

For what it’s worth, it could be the most accurate information we’ll get. Apple, historically, hasn’t disclosed sales between iPhone models when revealing overall sales numbers.

Source: Thenextweb.com

3,750 kg cake for PM modi's 66th birthday

2016-09-17T06:36:00.001-07:00

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is celebrating his 66th birthday today and he started his day by meeting his mother Hiraba in Gujarat. He plans to spend the day in the state where he’ll be attending various events.

People across the country are celebrating the PM’s birthday. A cake weighing 3,750 kg mas been made in an attempt to break the world record which will be cut by girls coming from tribal areas of India.

Ministers have travelled to parts of the country to participate in cleanliness drives and to spend time with the underprivileged as PM’s birthday is reportedly being observed as Sewa Diwas.

As soon as the clock struck 12, people across the world started wishing him. From politicians to business tycoons and sportsmen, everyone took to Twitter to share their best wishes.

Members of the BJPand other ministers like Sushma Swaraj, Amit Shah, Vijay Rupani, Smriti Irani, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, M Venkaiah Naidu, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi among others extended their greetings, in words and pictures.

The list also includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CEO of Biocon, TV Mohandas Pai.

But his millions of followers are also wishing him on the micro-blogging site in thier own way and some of them are absolutely worth reading because they’re too funny to be true.

Sample these...

Source: TheIndianExpress

India is fastest growing importer of scotch whisky

2016-09-17T00:29:00.002-07:00

India has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing Scotch whisky import markets with value up by 28% to 43 million pounds, a trade body said.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) on Friday said the amount of Scotch whisky sold overseas increased for the first time since 2013, largely thanks to India for registering a massive jump in shipment value.

India has established itself as the third-biggest export market for Scotch at 41 million bottles, marking a 41% increase in sales volumes, after France (90.9 million bottles) and the US (53.1 million bottles).

“The growth of exports to India stood out, with value up 28% to 43 million pounds,” the SWA said.

However, India also registered a marked rise, by more than half, in the amount of single malt whisky shipped to India, adding up to more than 700,000 bottles.

Scotch, a patent of the Scotland, overall had the equivalent of 533 million bottles shipped from the UK in the first six months of 2016, marking a 3.1% increase.

Source: Hindustan Times

Centre clears way for loan of Rs 6,325 crore: Pune metro

2016-09-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

The loan will be directly taken by the Special Purpose Vehicle for Pune metro with sovereign guarantee being provided by the union government.

The much-delayed Pune metro rail project is all set to get a loan of Rs 6,325.50 crore from World Bank (WB) and China-based Asian Infrastructure Investments Bank (AIIB), with the union government approving the state government proposal for multilateral assistance for the project.

In a communication, the department of economic affairs of the union finance ministry conveyed to the state government that the screening committee had approved its proposal for multilateral assistance of Rs 6,325.50 crore for the first phase of Pune metro rail project on certain conditions.

As per the conditions, the loan will be directly taken by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for Pune metro with sovereign guarantee being provided by the union government. The loan would be co-financed by Word Bank and AIIB, which would be split in two-three smaller tranches.

The union government would contribute Rs 2,118 crore, the state government Rs 2,430.40 crore while PMC and PMC would together contribute Rs 1,278.40 crore.

“The process for completing the formalities for the loan would be completed in next few months. It also includes final approval of the union government,” Kumar said, adding the work on the project would be started immediately after the union government’s approval as the loan funds would be available.

Source: TheindianExpress

Four drown during immersions,three bodies recovered: Ganesh Immersion

2016-09-16T11:38:00.001-07:00

Four persons drowned in separate incidents in Pune district during the annual Ganesh idol immersions on Thursday and Friday. The bodies of three of them have been found while the search for the fourth was on till late on Friday.

In Khadki Cantonment area, a 20-year-old youth, a conservancy staff member at the house of a military officer in Khadki, drowned when he had come to a Ghat on Mula river near Ammunition Factory on Thursday evening to see the visarajan procession. Fire Brigade officials have identified the deceased as Swapnil Mandare, who according to eyewitnesses, fell into the river after he slipped around 6.30 pm.

His body was taken out of water in the morning on Friday around 10.30 am. In another incident near Dhayari Bridge, a 22-year-old youth who had entered the waters to immerse the idol drowned around 6 pm.

In Chakan, a 28-year-old man working with a private company in the same area and who had come to a Ghat in Chakan for Ganesh Visarjan with his brother drowned while immersing the idol.

In the fourth incident early Friday, a 52-year-old man who was pulling out of water a raft used for immersing an idol drowned while trying to rescue the person accompanying him. The incident took place around 1.30 am at Pimple Saudagar. Fire brigade personnel have identified the deceased as Shankar Lokhande (52).

Source: TheindianExpress

Aman vihar, New Delhi: two teens gangraped in front of friends

2016-09-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

Two teenage girls, including a minor, were allegedly gangraped by five youths in outer Delhi’s Aman Vihar area Wednesday, said police. The girls, 18 and 17 years old, had gone to a government park in the area with two friends when the accused targeted them around 6 pm, police added.

“The girls and their friends (both boys) were chatting when the accused arrived and misbehaved with the girls. When the boys with them objected, the accused assaulted and overpowered them.

Then they raped the girls in front of them,” said a police officer. “The incident happened in an open agricultural field beside the park,” the officer added. The girls fainted due to the sexual assault and the five accused fled from the spot, said police. Their friends called up the police and informed them about the crime, police added. In the meantime, people from the locality also gathered at the spot.

DCP (outer) Vikramjit Singh said four youths had been apprehended in the case so far. “Their identities cannot be disclosed at this point as their ages are being verified,” Singh added.

Police are scrutinising relevant documents of the four persons held to establish if they are juveniles. Sources said search is on for another person allegedly involved in the crime.

Police said based on the statement of the two girls, a case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and medical examination confirmed sexual the assault. Both girls work in a factory, said police.

Source: TheIndianExpress

Jio says Airtel and Vodafone not letting their customers to port out

2016-09-16T01:20:00.000-07:00

The battle between Reliance Jio Infocomm and Indian telecom's big three incumbents over carrying traffic across networks may appear to be subsiding, but differences over number portability and public WiFi keep the tensions still simmering in the industry.

Jio has accused Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular of rejecting almost all requests by customers to port their numbers to the Jio network, and urged the sector regulator to impose financial disincentives on them.

Calling the purported action of the incumbents a "blatant disregard" to licence conditions, it sought revocation of their licences if they continue to deny mobile number portability.

The regulator "must direct the dominant incumbent operators to comply with the licence terms and obligations", Jio said in a letter dated September 14 and addressed to Trai Chairman RS Sharma.

The two warring sides have also taken strongly conflicting positions on Trai's discussion paper on boosting broadband penetration through low-cost WiFi in public places.

Jio and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have differed on a host of issues, including the core objectives of the WiFi technology and the need to de-licence more spectrum for WiFi services.

The regulator last week nudged the two sides to resolve issues around points of interconnect, one of the major reasons for the tension between the two sides.

Following their meeting, Bharti, Vodafone and Idea have said they would provide more points of interconnect to Jio — these are required to take calls made on one network to another.

WiFi and MNP are now emerging as the next major issues that promise to keep the battle between the new entrant and the incumbents to outdo each other on.

Delaying MNP

Jio, in its latest letter to Trai, said Bharti received 83 requests, Vodafone 56 and Idea Cellular 62 for porting out to Jio. None of these has been completed yet, it alleged. Jio said the three incumbents had cited "violation of contractual obligations" for the delay in completing the shift.

Other requests were rejected citing technical reasons. In its letter to Trai, Jio said according to MNP regulations, the clause of contractual obligation could be used to reject a request in only two cases.

First, when a subscriber has not met with an exit clause in the case of certain specified contractual obligations of a post-paid connection bundled with a device.

Second, if it's a corporate connection with contractual obligation having an exit clause and the subscriber has not complied with it.

On the WiFi discussion paper, Jio has backed the regulator's call for citywide Wi-Fi networks to boost broadband penetration while COAI has rubbished the suggestion, saying the WiFi technology can at best be used to provision hotspots for Internet access.

" WiFi technology was conceived to provide short-range communications over an unlicensed band, which cannot be extended for providing commercial, ubiquitous citywide networks," said COAI in its submission to Trai.

Telcos have historically viewed public WiFi as a threat to their data revenue, although they agree that it would allow them to add much-needed data capacity without buying expensive spectrum since the technology offering Internet connectivity is delivered over unlicensed, free airwaves.

Since COAI's majority members, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, do not run VoLTE networks, the industry body has said there is "no need for any regulatory intervention" and interoperability between cellular and WiFi networks must be left to market forces.

Question of interoperability

Jio, which too is a member of COAI, has urged Trai to promote interoperability between cellular/LTE and WiFi networks. Further, it has urged Trai to identify additional low-frequency WiFi bands to cover larger areas in a cost-efficient manner, while COAI feels there is no immediate need to delicense any additional spectrum for WiFi services.

Jio's aggressive backing of public WiFi stems from the technology being integral to its overall 4G data strategy.

For instance, all Jio tariff plans offer generous doses of data over a local WiFi hotspot. And to encourage folks even without a 4G phone to latch on Jio's 4G network, the company unveiled the 'JioFi' pocket-sized WiFi router.

Priced at Rs 1,999, the device acts as a bridge between Jio's 4G network and the local WiFi network it creates so that even a non-4G device can connect to it.

Source: Economic Times

Petrol price increased by 58 paisa and diesel price cut by 31 paisa per litre

2016-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

As of today petrol price in Delhi stood at Rs 63.47 a litre while diesel costs Rs 52.94 a litre. Meanwhile, international Oil prices were trading at .18 per barrel. (Reuters) Oil Companies on Thursday increased by a steep retail selling price of petrol by Rs 58 paisa a litre and for diesel by price cut by 31 paisa second such hike in a fortnight.

The prices will vary from state to state and will be effective from midnight. As of today petrol price in Delhi stood at Rs 63.47 a litre while diesel costs Rs 52.94 a litre. Meanwhile, international Oil prices were trading at $46.18 per barrel.

Earlier, on August 31, public sector oil marketing companies announced an increase in retail selling price of petrol by Rs. 3.38 a litre and for diesel by Rs. 2.67 a litre, reversing a two-month declining trend. Back then, defending the quantum of increase, the company said that retail selling prices of petrol and diesel have been reduced on four occasions in the last two months on the back of decreasing international oil prices.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 15th of every month based on the average oil price and the foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. In 2014 diesel prices were deregulated, giving oil marketing companies the liberty to hike or cut prices according to global price movement.

On September 1, the price of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) was hiked by about Rs 2 per cylinder, third increase since July, while the jet fuel price was cut by 3.8 per cent. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder is now cost Rs 425.06 in Delhi as against Rs 423.09 previously, according to state-owned oil firms.

This was the third straight increase in subsidised cooking gas since July when the government decided to go in for a small hike in rates every month to cut down subsidies.

Source: TheFinancialExpress

Pluto Paints Its Largest Moon Red: NASA

2016-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

The reddish polar region on Pluto's largest moon, Charon, is an effect of methane gas escaping from the icy dwarf planet's atmosphere, say scientists who solved the mystery behind the coloured region first spotted by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft last year.

Methane gas escapes from Pluto's atmosphere, becomes "trapped" by the moon's gravity and freezes to the cold, icy surface at Charon's pole, researchers said. This is followed by chemical processing by ultraviolet light from the Sun that transforms the methane into heavier hydrocarbons and eventually into reddish organic materials called tholins, they said.

"Who would have thought that Pluto is a graffiti artist, spray-painting its companion with a reddish stain that covers an area the size of New Mexico?" said Will Grundy, a New Horizons co-investigator from Lowell Observatory in the US.

"Nature is amazingly inventive in using the basic laws of physics and chemistry to create spectacular landscapes," Grundy said. The team combined analyses from detailed Charon images obtained by New Horizons with computer models of how ice evolves on Charon's poles.

Mission scientists had previously speculated that methane from Pluto's atmosphere was trapped in Charon's north pole and slowly converted into the reddish material, but had no models to support that theory.

Researchers dug into the data to determine whether conditions on the moon (with a diameter of 1,212 km) could allow the capture and processing of methane gas. The models using Pluto and Charon's 248-year orbit around the Sun show some extreme weather at Charon's poles, where 100 years of continuous sunlight alternate with another century of continuous darkness.

Surface temperatures during these long winters dip to minus 257 degrees Celsius, cold enough to freeze methane gas into a solid. "The methane molecules bounce around on Charon's surface until they either escape back into space or land on the cold pole, where they freeze solid, forming a thin coating of methane ice that lasts until sunlight comes back in the spring," Grundy said.

But while the methane ice quickly sublimates away, the heavier hydrocarbons created from it remain on the surface. The models also suggested that in Charon's springtime the returning sunlight triggers conversion of the frozen methane back into gas.

However, while the methane ice quickly sublimates away, the heavier hydrocarbons created from this evaporative process remain on the surface. Sunlight further irradiates those leftovers into reddish material - called tholins - that has slowly accumulated on Charon's poles over millions of years.

New Horizons' observations of Charon's other pole, currently in winter darkness - and seen by New Horizons only by light reflecting from Pluto, or "Pluto-shine" - confirmed that the same activity was occurring at both poles.

Source: ndtv.com