![JNU bags 'Visitor's Award' for best varsity]()
*New Delhi*: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which has been at the centre of controversies for over a year, has bagged the annual 'Visitor's Award' for the best varsity in the country.
JNU has been hogging limelight for all the wrong reasons since last February when three of its students were arrested on sedition charges in connection with an event on campus during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
The varsity administration and students have been at loggerheads since then over various issues including curbs on protests, amendments in admission policy and massive seat cut in MPhil and PhD courses.
Despite all the negative limelight, the varsity has been recognised by the Visitor.
"The winners of Visitor's Award for 'Innovation' and 'Research' will receive a citation and cash award of Rs one lakh. The awards will be presented during a function as part of the 'Festival of Innovations'," the statement said.
JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar will receive the award including a citation and a trophy from President Pranab Mukherjee at an event at the Rasthrapati Bhavan on March 6.
"Deepak Pant from Central University of Himachal Pradesh has won the Visitor's Award for 'Innovation' while the Visitor's Award for 'Research' has been jointly won by Shyam Sunder from Banaras Hindu University and Niranjan Karak from Tezpur University," a Rashtrapati Bhawvan statement said. Last year, Rakesh Bhatnagar and the Molecular Parasitology Group of JNU had won the Visitor's Awards for "Research" and "Innovation" respectively.
Mukherjee had announced institution of these awards in 2014 with the aim of promoting healthy competition among Central Universities and motivating them to adopt the best practices from around the world in pursuit of excellence.
While Pant has bagged the award for development of a reactor for direct conversion of waste plastic to LPG in small scale, Sunder will be awarded for his work in the area of diagnosis and treatment of Indian Kala-azar.
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Local RSS leader Kundan Chandrawat on Thursday announced rewarding anyone with Rs 1 crore for bringing the severed head of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"The Leftist government of Kerala is murdering democracy. Those participating in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh camps are being murdered," the RSS leader told media persons in the Madhya Pradesh city.
Watch video here
#WATCH RSS Mahanagar Prachar Pramukh of Ujjain Kundan Chandrawat says, he'll reward the person who brings him Kerala CM P.Vijayan's head pic.twitter.com/yiBwWs6ftF
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 2, 2017
During a protest event held here on Wednesday, Chandrawat said, "The Hindus no more have the zeal of Shivaji Maharaj. I announce Rs 1 crore from my pocket to anyone who brings me the severed head of the Kerala Chief Minister."
"... such traitors don't have the right to live in this country," he added.
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Bangur Nagar police have booked a 32-year-old former employee of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) for allegedly stealing cash from the counter at its InOrbit Mall outlet on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Amit Rajnikaant Ajugaya, is a resident of Motilal Nagar, Goregaon (West).
According to a Bangur Nagar police officer, "Ajugaya stole around R31,650 from the cash counter on February 27, around 11.30 pm and fled. The next morning, the outlet manager found the drawer open, with all the cash missing. He tried to find the CCTV footage only to discover that the power supply had been switched off before the theft took place. He immediately informed us and registered a complaint."
During the course of investigation, cops detained six CCD employees. The officer said, “While probing the case, we learnt about this employee who had been fired 6 months ago over financial embezzlement. Ajugaya had visited the shop on the day of the crime. We went to his Motilal Nagar residence and, during questioning, he confessed to having committed the theft.”
The officer said that Ajugaya had been working at a different shop in the Mall for last few months, after being fired from CCD.
“He confessed that he reached CCD around 11.30 pm and immediately turned off the power supply to ensure no proof of his crime was captured on the CCTV installed inside the shop,” the officer added.
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After a fortnight of turmoil and panic, villagers of Mohitewadi, Brahmanwadi and Sategaon of Maval in Vadgaon, Pune, can finally sleep in peace. The villagers had turned vigilantes for two weeks after a rumour spread through WhatsApp audio clips spooked them into believing that a gang of child abductors was active in the district. The rumour was dispelled only after the Vadgaon police of Pune Rural combed the villages and found no trace of any such kidnapper.
Over 15 days ago, audio clips began doing the rounds, alleging that 3,000 members of a tribal community from Madhya Pradesh and Gadchiroli who target 3-year-olds had fanned out across the state, especially villages in Vadgaon. They asked people to turn vigilantes, and take precautions like keeping their phones charged at night and arming themselves with lathis.
*Mass hysteria*
Anil Mohite, former sarpanch of Sate gram panchayat and resident of Mohitewadi, said the clips caused a panic. "Rumours of kidnappers having been caught in neighbouring villages and of people spotting suspicious-looking men began to do the rounds. There was no end to such rumours. So, villagers began undertaking patrols at night. The police told us that they were all rumours, but no one believed them."
Pasharat Agalame (36), a resident of Sategaon, said residents, armed with torches, lathis and knives, patrolled the boundaries of villages. “It was a tough period. Any suspicious-looking man was under the lens. A member from each family was required to be part of the patrols.”*The team of vigilantes with police personnel after the combing operation*
Umesh Shinde (34) of Brahmanwadi said the panic was palpable across all villages.
*Cops step in*
The mayhem ended on February 26 after senior Vadgaon police inspector Pradeep Kale, 10 policemen and 20 villagers combed villages from Dongarwadi to Mohitewadi. “The operation started at 4 pm and ended at 8 pm. We covered a stretch of over 7 km of mountainous areas,” said Kale.
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Barely 12 hours after filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt registered a complaint of extortion and death threats to his family, the Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh police swung into action, detaining a man named Sandeep Sahu, a Bollywood aspirant. Bhatt had approached the Mumbai police's anti-extortion cell last night, after he received calls from an unknown person demanding Rs 50 lakh as extortion money.
If Bhatt failed to cough up the amount, the caller had threatened to harm his actress daughter Alia and wife, Soni Razdan.
In his complaint, the filmmaker claimed that he had received calls, SMSes and WhatsApp messages since February 18. The caller, who posed as Bablu Srivastava, a local gang member currently lodged in Bareilly Central Jail, asked Bhatt to deposit Rs 50 lakh in a Lucknow-based nationalised bank account.*Alia Bhatt*
Thanking the police for their prompt action, Bhatt tweeted at 9 am this morning: "A bolt from the blue in the form of an extortion call and threat to my family was nipped in the bud by the MH & UP police in tandem. Gratitude!"
A bolt from the blue in the form of an extortion call & threat to my family was nipped in the bud by the MH & UP police in tandem.Gratitude!
— Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt) March 2, 2017
For now, the police have provided security at Bhatt's office and home. Alia, who is currently promoting her upcoming film across the country, has also been given additional security. "She has been given protection, but her work isn't affected," a source said.
Bhatt's producer brother Mukesh Bhatt also applauded the police. "No sooner did we file a complaint, the police took quick action and traced the caller," he said.*Mahesh Bhatt*
When contacted, Ashok Dudhe, spokesperson for Mumbai police, said, "As of now, no arrest has been made, but investigations are on."
A senior official, however, confirmed that the special task force of the UP police, which was investigating the case simultaneously, had detained a person early this morning. He has been identified as Sandeep Sahu. Sahu, who is a Bollywood aspirant, told the STF that he got Bhatt's number from the Internet, and that he made the extortion calls because he was in debt.
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*New Delhi:* Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists on Thursday held a "protest march" in Delhi University (DU) campus here, demanding action against the anti-national activities.
The students wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said that the protest march near the university's North Campus' Art Faculty was organised to save the DU from "anti-national activities".
Students in the march were demanding strict action against all those elements who support "anarchism and anti-India propaganda".
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*Varanasi:* Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday claimed a groundswell of support in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said the people of Uttar Pradesh were in the "mood of rebellion" against the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Addressing a press conference in the city, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Minister said the people were fed up with the "caste-driven and biased politics" of these two parties and the Congress. Citing the large number of candidates fielded by these parties in the sixth and the seventh phase of assembly elections, Jaitley said there were "diminishing returns to this brand of politics".
"Such politics does not go too far, and in these elections these parties will bear the brunt of peoples' ire for such way of politics" he said, adding that the BJP was so far coursing ahead of its opponents comfortably in the five phases of polling held so far. "The base of the BJP is expanding because of our policies and also against the policies pursued by the BSP, SP and Congress," he added.
There is a large section of society which has so far been kept away from benefits of governance and they are now rising against such parties, he said, while pointing out how recently the BJP did exceedingly well in local body polls in Maharashtra and Odisha. "We have done extremely well in tribal areas of Odisha," he said, and claimed that the opposition to demonetization was hurting the opposition parties in a big way.
"We have won is slum areas where we had not won elections in the past, a large section of the marginalized and poor people are steadfastly behind the BJP now," the Finance Minister claimed.
"Various indices on economic growth have also been pointing at our righteousness in policies," the minister added. "It should be a matter of pride and satisfaction for countrymen that India remains the fastest growing economy in the world, despite the negative propaganda by opposition parties," Jaitley said.
"I have said this in the past also based on revenue figures that we are a robust economy which is growing at a good pace and that the misgivings being spread by the opposition parties are grossly misplaced," the senior BJP leader said while referring to the growth rate in November, December and January months, when demonetization was announced.
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Reaching a milestone in enhancing its sub-surface warfare capability, the Indian Navy on Thursday successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile from the first of indigenously-built Kalvari class submarines in the Arabian sea.
"The missile successfully hit a surface target at extended ranges during the maiden firing this morning," an official statement said.
"This missile launch is a significant milestone, not only for the Kalvari, which is the first in a series of Scorpene-class submarines being built in India, but also in enhancing the Navy's sub-surface warfare capability," the statement added.
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The state board's new rule allowing students to apply for the exams as late as on the day of the first exam is causing all sorts of problems for the Mumbai division of the board. While the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination commenced on February 28, the Mumbai division received more than 600 applications from students applying under the latecomers' category.
Even though the penalty fee is high, students continued to apply late. Board officials are worried that this will give rise to malpractices, as there is not enough time for the office to verify eligibility of these candidates.
*December deadline*
Traditionally, application for the State Board examination ends in December, two months before the exams begin. However, under the new system, introduced three years ago, a candidate can submit an application as late as a day before the first exam.
While the regular fee for the exam application is Rs 350 per student, latecomers have to pay a penalty at the rate of R50 to Rs 100 a day depending on the delay. Candidates applying one day prior to the examination, end up paying almost Rs 5,000 as application fee.
“The system was introduced so that candidates do not lose an entire academic year because they could not submit their application on time due to unforeseen circumstances. But, how are we supposed to verify the authenticity of the candidate if the application comes to us just a day before the examination?” asked a senior level official from the Mumbai division.
This year, on February 25, 622 candidates submitted their applications. One candidate was even allowed to apply on the day of the examination and he appeared at a centre close to the board office where he began his paper half-an-hour late. "These last minute additions also add to difficulties in accommodating them at examination centres. Seating arrangements are finalised depending on the final count after the deadline of the application process. Students coming in at the last moment are bound to cause chaos," said another official.
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*New Delhi:* Some banks, including HDFC Bank, have begun charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month. The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular.
The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective today, the circular added. In case of several banks, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, these charges came into effect early in January and are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others, including HDFC Bank, today onwards.
These charges are for cash transactions in the branches, and not through ATMs. The move was seen in some quarters as aimed at discouraging cash transactions and furthering the digital payment drive. For the basic no-frills accounts, maximum four cash withdrawals would continue to remain free and there would be no fees for cash deposits.
According to details on ICICI Bank website, there will be no charge for first four transactions a month at branches in home city while Rs 5 per thousand rupees would be charged thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150 in the same month. The third party limit would be Rs 50,000 per day. For non-home branches, ICICI Bank would not charge anything for first cash withdrawal of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand rupees thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150.
For anywhere cash deposit, ICICI Bank would charge Rs 5 per thousand rupees (subject to a minimum of 150) at branches, while deposit at Cash Acceptance Machine would be free of charge for first cash deposit of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand thereafter.
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The NCP in Maharashtra on Thursday said it will maintain a distance from the Shiv Sena and BJP-- who are locked in a power struggle to install their Mayor in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)--unlike the Congress which had aligned with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in Osmanabad and Raigad Zilla Parishads ahead of the state civic polls.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, State NCP President Sunil Tatkare said his party was clear from the start of the campaign (for the just concluded Municipal Corporation and Zilla Parishad polls in Maharashtra) that it will not have any understanding or friendly fight with the Shiv Sena and BJP.
"We kept our word while Congress which had also assured the same, tied up with the Sena in Osmanabad and Raigad Zilla Parishads. While in many seats elsewhere, they were in a friendly fight," he alleged. Tatkare said the party is yet to take a call on Mumbai
Mayor elections and will wait to see how the situation unfolds.
"(However) Under no circumstances, will our party support the Sena or BJP (in the BMC). We feel the two saffron parties are likely to come together for power. Shiv Sena has no guts to withdraw support to the state government," Tatkare claimed.
Taking a dig on Sena, Tatkare also said, "only they (Sena) know where is the notice period for the BJP led government in the state and whether the resignation letter carried by its ministers in their pockets is still there or torn."
"What is the use of only criticising the government through 'Saamana' (the Sena mouthpiece). Shiv Sena should act on the criticism and withdraw support," he added.
To a question regarding speculations that NCP may support a Shiv Sena government, Tatkare said, "I don't foresee a mid-term election since Shiv Sena will not pull out of the government. To install its own CM, Sena will have to withdraw support to the present government. If it does pull out and think about forming a government, we will see what to do."
When asked about the prospect of a no-trust motion against the Devendra Fadnavis government, he said the Congress has not discussed the proposal with his party.
Meanwhile, nine NCP corporators from Mumbai met party chief Sharad Pawar where he discussed the political situation in the city, post the Mumbai civic poll results where BJP finished just two seats behind Shiv Sena (which won 84 seats).
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*New Delhi:* The Congress party on Thursday slammed the "fudged figures" on India's GDP growth, saying that trotting out "jumlas and misinformation" has become the "hallmark" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The party said the Modi government was citing higher tax collections as part of the growth story and also hit out at the government for the hike in prices of non-subsidized gas cylinders and for failure to create jobs.
"Blatant lies, jumlas and misinformation has become the hallmark of India's PM Narendra Modi. The truth is that Modi ji doesn't speak the truth," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.
"By giving fudged figures on India's growth he is attacking the economists, who have spoken the truth on account of demon of demonetisation. But does he forget that to fake figures can never cover the real truth," said Surjewala.
"The real truth is that the best indicator for a economy's growth is creation of jobs. Modiji promised two crore jobs a year but labour department figures show that only one lakh 35 thousand jobs have been created. This reflects failure of the economy post demonetisation," Surjewala added.
The Congress leader said Gross Value Addition is the best indicator for an economy's growth. "That according to CSO figures is 6.6 per cert. All that Modiji and Jaitleyji (Finance Minister Arun Jaitley) have done is that they have added the indirect tax collection figures collected from petro tax, excise and service tax of nearly Rs 2 lakh 50 thousand crore."
"They are showing collection from ordinary people by increasing their tax as India's growth story. This is the most myopic vision of economy," he added.
India's GDP for the third quarter ending December 31 stood at Rs 30.28 lakh crore, recording a growth of seven per cent, compared with 7.3 per cent in the second quarter, official data released on Tuesday said.
Modi had mocked critics of demonetisation, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, saying on Wednesday: "Hard work is more powerful than Harvard. India is among the world's fastest growing economies."
"The GDP figures came out yesterday (Tuesday), and it is proved that despite demonetisation, honest and hardworking people of India -- villagers, farmers and the youths -- did not allow the country's development to get hampered," the Prime Minister said.
The Congress further attacked the Prime Minister for the hike in prices of non-subsidized gas cylinders by Rs 86.
"He (Modi) talks about the poor on one hand, and on the other hand proceeds to increase the price of LPG cylinders by Rs 86 per cylinder in one stoke, which is unprecedented in India's history," said Surjewala.
"In September 2016, a non-subsidized gas cylinder cost Rs 466, it now costs Rs 737. There is an increase six times by Modi government of Rs 271 or nearly 58 per cent. Is this the way you are going to treat india's poor?" asked Surjewala.
"For the first time PM who talks about cashless and digital economy, in 2015, they permitted banks to impose a Rs 20 transaction tax after five ATM transactions," he added.
Surjewala also attacked the government for increasing tax on using ATM cards. "Last night (Wednesday) the government permitted if one uses their ATM card more than four times, then there will be a tax of Rs 150 that banks can charge.
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A helpline launched after the alleged rape and murder of Esther Anuhya has been shut by the Mumbai Police. The helpline -- 9969777888 -- was launched on Women's Day in 2014. The helpline facilitated the tracking of the mobile phone after registering the number through SMS.
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Was it a selfish decision to shut down the city's first ever selfie point? Days after locals failed to vote his wife and party to power in Shivaji Park, erstwhile corporator Sandeep Deshpande (MNS) announced that he was shutting down the selfie point.
*First of its kind*
Deshpande had created the first-of-its-kind photo spot in June 2015 by painting and carving dead trees in the area. Inaugurated by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the selfie point had an umbrella and butterfly theme and proved a huge hit among citizens, particularly the youth, as close to 500 people visited the spot daily. After that, several other corporators followed the trend and created similar photo points in their respective areas.
The party would change the theme of the selfie point every three months, spending about Rs 2 lakh on its maintenance. This was covered by CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds, but MNS leaders claim the funds have dried up, prompting him to close it.
*Selfie-serving move?*
"It is very painful to close down Selfie Point," tweeted Deshpande yesterday.
However, sources said Deshpande may have decided to shut down the attraction because he was upset about the result of the BMC elections.
While Deshpande was the former corporator from Shivaji Park, he could not contest this year as the area had been reserved for women candidates after the delimitation of wards. His wife Swapna entered the fray instead, but she lost to Vishakha Raut, former mayor and Sena candidate. While Raut won 10,660 votes, his wife got merely 8,287 votes.
But the bigger injury lay in the fact that even the BJP candidate had scored more votes (8,297) than his wife, even though Shivaji Park is a Marathi vote bank.
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Even as school vans have been banned, parents across the city continue to patronise them for their building gate-to-school gate service. Unlike school buses that drop students off on the main road as they are unable to fit into narrow lanes, these vans ensure the child is dropped right at their respective gates. Taking cognisance of the requirement, School Bus Owners' Association (SBOA) is planning to bring in smaller buses from the next academic year.
In a recent development, any vehicle with the capacity of less than 13 seats cannot ply schoolchildren. However, contradictory to the order, parents continue to send their children in school vans.
Anil Garg, president of SBOA, said, “Despite the central government order in September 2016 about vehicles with fewer than 13 seats not being allowed to ply as school buses, we see many of them still running in the city. The RTO takes no action and they also have the support of parents. That's why we have planned to introduce smaller buses.”
“Our plan is good news for parents as not only will the smaller size ensure that children reach the doorstep, we will also ensure other safety precautions exactly like there are in school buses,” he added.
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The much-needed elevated Kurla-Wadala goods line is still grounded. If it existed, it could have prevented the 15-hour shutdown of the suburban railway system, due to the derailment at Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar station on Monday. The 5.6km long elevated rail flyover meant for goods trains, was to be built at a cost of Rs 107 crore, but has been pending despite getting a go-ahead in mid-2015, due to slums on the route.
The line was to start at Wadala, and the elevated portion was to be taken from the north of Chunabhatti station to the south of Tilak Nagar station. But prior to this, the Central Railway had prepared a Rs 5.3 crore revamp plan for GTB Nagar, that would create a new line for the goods and freight trains.
At present goods trains use the suburban system on which local trains ply. The incident where three wagons and a brake van derailed, happened on the Down slow line, where local trains head towards Panvel. Central Railway officials said that if the third line had come up by now, the derailment would have not affected the suburban system at all.
*The revamp*
The revamp includes construction of a new platform and extention of the island platform. It will also include dismantling and re-construction of the foot over-bridges on both ends of the station. The added platform will take care of the passenger load too, but shall be mainly used for transporting goods trains.
The third line is a major part of the government's plan to augment the capacity of coal-based power plants apart from ferrying cement, grains and pulses from MbPT to Kurla, and then onto Panvel and beyond. After this third line at GTB, it will take an elevated route from Chunabhatti all the way to Tilak Nagar, and an elevated structure shall be created at Kurla. Currently, Harbour line trains wait for 15-20 minutes when goods trains with 45-60 wagons cross the lines. The elevated line is a joint project between Mumbai Port Trust, CR and MMRDA for freight trains between Wadala and Kurla.
*Slums delaying it*
"We have a stretch of land around 500 metres to lay the line. Rehabilitation of slums is pending on the remaining stretch," said Narendra Patil, Chief PRO, Central Railway.
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A new study led by scientists from Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, Centre for Wildlife Studies (Bangalore), and University of Florida, USA, presents the first home-range size estimate of Asiatic wild dogs or ‘dholes’ based on camera trap surveys.
The study, based on intensive camera-trap surveys conducted in Nagarahole and Wayanad wildlife reserves in the Western Ghats India, was part of a long-term project on tiger population dynamics in the region.
Lead author of the study Arjun Srivathsa, who is a doctoral student at the University of Florida says that, "Typically, radio-telemetry is used to obtain information on home-range sizes of large carnivores such as dhole. This is expensive and requires careful handling of animals. In contrast, our estimates are generated through innovative use of non-invasive and relatively inexpensive camera-trap pictures."
*Pic/Shekar Dattatri*
From November 2014 to January 2015 (45 days), the researchers set-up and monitored camera traps which yielded incidental photographic captures of dholes. Unlike tigers or leopards, individual dholes cannot be uniquely identified from camera-trap photographs because they do not have pelage patterns or natural body markings. Yet the researchers were able to identify two individuals in a pack of five animals, based on distinct markings on their pelage, enabling them to map locations of the pack during the survey period.
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The Bombay High Court, on Wednesday, hit out at the state government for delaying compensation to rape survivors. The court has summoned the collector (Mumbai suburbs) to be present on Women's Day, March 8.
"Should we collect donations from the general public if they (government) don't have money for this,” the judges questioned after the public prosecutor stated about some practical difficulties for delay in compensation. "When you claim to be a welfare state, try to be a welfare state," the judges added.
According to a report in *The Times of India*, the court was hearing a PIL over delay in the setting up of a fund for the rehabilitation of rape survivors as envisioned by the Supreme Court. The HC was also hearing a petition by a minor rape survivor. The judges were unhappy over the delay in compensation to the girl. The FIR in the case was filed in 2014.
The report informed that, in 2013, the SC had ordered all state governments to pay Rs 1 lakh to a rape survivor within 15 days of an FIR's registration. "There cannot be such insensitive approach after specific direction by the Supreme Court and repeated orders of this court," the HC judges said.
In the case of the minor, the district board had concluded that only Rs 2 lakh should be paid to the survivor. When the court asked why the maximum compensation of Rs 3 lakh should not be given, the state's shocking reply was that the incident apparently occurred with consent by the girl. "She was hardly 14 and you came to the conclusion that she gave consent. Even a 25-year-old may not be able to decide in these matters,” an enraged court said.
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Three clerks at the Nagpur army recruitment office had leaked the question paper to an academy owner, who had struck a deal of Rs 1.35 crore with them for it, Thane police's investigation into the scam has revealed.
It was also found that the racket was active during the March 2016 exams as well, wherein 50 students had got the paper beforehand and 48 of them had passed. The clerks had been paid Rs 50 lakh then.
*Modus operandi*
The three clerks have been identified as Ravindra Kumar, Dharamveer Singh and Nigamkunar Pandey. "We found that Kumar himself used to approach the aspirants, giving the lure of question papers in advance for a price. Santosh Shinde, who runs Raje Chatrapati Academy in Satara, had come to know about Kumar doing this and found him during the Bhandara recruitment. He had approached Kumar and got papers in 2016 as well as this year," said Thane police commissioner Parambir Singh.
When the papers would go for printing, the clerks would prepare a CD, take printouts and send them to Shinde. "It's been confirmed during investigation that Shinde had given the clerks Rs 50 lakh in March 2016 and that Kumar is the main accused. Fifty students were given the paper last year and 48 of them entered the army by cheating. This year, Shinde had assured the clerks Rs 1.35 crore, which he admitted to during interrogation," added Singh.
Singh also said they are in touch with army officers and exchanging vital information about the racket. "They have given us the green signal to take the clerks' custody. We are waiting for the court order. As soon as we do, assistant commissioner of police, Thane crime branch, Mukund Hatote and senior inspector Nitin Thakre will go to Nagpur to take them in custody," he said.
*Blown open*
The Thane police found that 17 to 18 army recruitment academies were involved in the racket and were in touch with Shinde and Kumar. "We are also checking past cases. We have asked army authorities to share details about the 48 aspirants who passed by cheating; we will ensure their service is terminated," said Singh.
Dakhlu Patil, a constable with Assam Rifles, is also involved and was in touch with Shinde. He used to bring aspirants interested in getting the question paper to Shinde. "During investigation, it was found that Patil also runs Shaurya army recruitment academy in Sangli. We are in constant touch with senior army officers in Delhi, who are co-operating in the investigation. It was found that the entire racket was run from Phaltan and Nagpur with the kingpin Shinde being approached by different academies for getting the papers for their students," said Singh.
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Mumbai recorded a temperature of 38.3 degree Celsius, and came in second to Surat, which had a temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. According to *The Indian Express*, only four other places, namely, Mahuva, Amreli, Ratnagiri and Kurnool recorded temperatures over 38 degrees Celsius.
A minimum of 18.7 degrees Celsius and a maximum of of 38.3 degrees Celsius was recorded in Santacruz. Colaba recorded a minimum of 23 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 37 degrees Celsius.
Weather department experts say 2016 was the hottest year in a over a century since 1901. The IMD warns that this summer is going to be hotter than usual.
However, IMD officials clarified that Mumbai is not particularly in the heat wave zone, which is usually declared when the temperatures tops 45 °C.
http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/mar/srinivasu-with-wife-s.jpg
*Hyderabad:* Sunayana, the widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla killed in the US in an apparent hate crime, yesterday urged the leaders of global tech industry to keep defending human rights as they too employ a large number of immigrants.
She also expressed her desire to go back to the USA and continue to work for Intouch Solutions where she is currently employed.
"Thanks to people like Satya Nadella (CEO-Microsoft) and Kamala Harris for supporting through your tweets. It means a lot to us. My sincere request to Mark Zuckerberg (Founder-Facebook), Sundar Pichai (CEO-Google), Satya Nadella, and many others to keep advocating your support for human rights," she said in a Facebook post.
"We need to spread love and stop this hatred. Today, it's an employee of Garmin, tomorrow, it could be one of your employees, and I don't want anyone to go through what my family and household went through," she added.
She also thanked the Telangana government for extending support to bring the body of Srinivas back home from the USA. "I will now ask same question, on what basis we decide a person is good or bad, and of course, it's not based on the colour of your skin. So what decides that? Many times, these issues are talked about for a few weeks and people tend to forget about them after-ward, but the fight must go on towards eradicating hatred from the minds of people. So what is the government going to do to stop hate crime?
"Lastly, to answer the question that is in every immigrant's mind, Do we belong here. Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?" she wondered.
Srinivas Kuchibhotla (32), working at the Garmin headquarters in Olathe, was killed in the shooting at a restaurant in Kansas on Wednesday night. Another Indian and his colleague Alok Madasani was injured in the incident.
Read Sunayana's complete Facebook post *here*
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