No more Valentine’s Day in Indonesia this year

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February 14, 2019

Valentine’s Day wasn’t getting much love in the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation on Thursday as the Indonesian authorities urged amorous couples to call it quits and carried out raids to quash any wayward gift-giving. About 100 students in the second-biggest city, Surabaya, demonstrated against the chocolates-and-flowers celebration, saying that it promoted Western decadence and casual sex.

“Say no to Valentine’s now!” chanted the high schoolers, most of them teenaged girls in hijab head coverings. Some held placards with phrases like “Sorry Valentine’s Day, I am Muslim”.

School principal Arief Himawan warned that the couples giving each other chocolates or other treats can quickly lead to sin. We want to remind our young generation not to be caught up in Western culture.

Authorities conducted raids in Surabaya, and Makassar city on Sulawesi island to snuff out any celebrations. In conservative Aceh province, the only place in Indonesia that imposes Islamic law, a fresh Valentine’s prohibition was issued, citing religious norms.

People are publicly whipped in the region for a wide range of offenses including selling alcohol and gay sex and similar bans have been ordered in previous years. While Valentine’s was off the cards for some, many Indonesians practise a moderate form of Islam and celebrate the day with chocolates and flowers for their loved ones.

VA Tech WABAG bags Rs 520 crore order from Jajmau Tannery

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February 14, 2019

Water treatment company VA Tech WABAG Ltd has bagged Rs 520 crore order from Jajmau Tannery Effluent Treatment Association for setting up a common effluent treatment plant in Uttar Pradesh, the company said on Thursday.

The scope of project includes engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance of a 20 MLD common effluent treatment plant along with treated sewage dilution facility for Jajmau leather cluster, Uttar Pradesh, city-based company said in a statement.

The construction of the plant would be funded under the Namami Gange Scheme and the operation and maintenance would be self-financed by the Jajmau Tannery Effluent Treatment Association.

The scope of the project is over a period of 24 months and the CETP scheme includes pre-treatment, sulphide removal, de-nitrification, two stage extended aeration and tertiary treatment consisting of clarification, quartz filtration and ultra-filtration.

The order reinforces WABAG’s position in the industrial segment and vision to create a healthier and cleaner environment, it added.

Idea to take MNS on board received positively in NCP: Ajit

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February 14, 2019

The idea to bring Raj Thackeray-led MNS on board the grand alliance against the BJP-Shiv Sena combine has been received positively by his party. The issue would be discussed with the Congress as well before the nitty gritty of the alliance is worked out, NCP leader Ajit Pawar said on Thursday.

Sources in the NCP said that the issue of taking along the MNS, perceived as being anti-North Indian, was being considered at the level of central leadership of the Congress. However, Ajit Pawar and two other senior leaders of the party Praful Patel and Jayant Patil said that the Parliamentary board of the NCP also pressed for its chief Sharad Pawar to throw hat in the election ring again from Madha Lok Sabha seat.

Party leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who currently represents the seat, said that he himself urged Pawar to contest from the seat. The leader, however, said that it is the NCP who would take a final call in this regard.

“I had met (MNS chief) Raj Thackeray yesterday. I apprised party leaders about it today. We will now discuss the issue with the Congress. The general mood within our party is positive towards taking forward discussion with the MNS,” Pawar told reporters.

The meeting between Pawar and the MNS chief, who have in the past engaged in verbal sparring, took place in Dadar in central Mumbai on Wednesday. It lasted for about one-and-a-half hours.

Patel said the final list of the candidates is likely to be announced in the next five to six days. The Congress and the NCP are talking to alliance partners and would finalise things in two-three days. Patel exuded confidence that the grand alliance will be able to secure 35 seats in Maharashtra.

CPI(M) to take action against MLA for “no brain” remark

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February 14, 2019

The ruling CPI(M) on Thursday said that it would initiate disciplinary action against party MLA S Rajendran for his controversial remarks against the Devikulam sub-collector, after the young woman IAS officer tried to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex in Munnar.

Party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that the MLA’s action was “immature” and action would be taken against him after examining the issue. “Rajendran’s action was immature. The party will take disciplinary action against him,” he told reporters when asked his reaction over the issue.

Devikulam legislator Rajendran had made the controversial remarks on February 8 after Renu Raj had attempted to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex in the tourist town of Munnar in Idukki district. However, television channels had aired visuals showing the legislator making the disparaging comments that the sub-collector lacked brains and had no powers to intervene in the construction as building rules comes under the panchayat.

“She doesn’t have brains. She studied only to become a collector. Such people will have only so much brains. Should she not study the sketch, plans. A collector cannot intervene in a panchayat construction,” the MLA had reportedly said.

Subsequently, the Kerala Women’s Commission had registered a case against the MLA over the remarks. The Kerala High Court had in a 2010 judgement said for any new construction in Munnar, a no-objection certificate had to be obtained.

Rahul slams Modi over Rafale jet deal

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February 14, 2019

Taking the Rafale row to Narendra Modi’s home state, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that the prime minister conducted “parallel negotiations” with Dassault Aviation on the French fighter jet deal.

Addressing a public rally in Valsad district of Gujarat, Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government refused to waive farmers’ loans but wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore debt of “15 top industrialists”.

Attacking the prime minister over the Rafale jet deal, Gandhi said, “The slogan ‘chowkidar chor hai’ (the sentry is the thief) is also famous in France and even former French president also says ‘chowkidar chor hai’. The Defence Ministry and the Air Force said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault Aviation on Rafale deal.

Criticising the government’s incentives announced in the interim budget, he promised that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it will give more than just Rs 17 per day in the income guarantee scheme directly in the accounts of the poor.

The Congress chief has been relentlessly targeting the government over the Rafale jet deal. He had on Tuesday accused Modi of acting as a middleman of industrialist Anil Ambani in the fighter jet agreement with France. However, the government and Ambani have been strongly rejecting allegations of any wrongdoing in the fighter jet deal.

Vodafone launches smart digital solutions for Kumbh

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February 14, 2019

Vodafone has launched a slew of initiatives for ongoing Kumbh Mela, including Milaap service aimed at ensuring safety of children and senior citizens, as well as location alerts and other digital solutions, Vodafone Idea said on Thursday.

The Milaap services involves providing RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to children and senior citizens along with the details of parents or guardians.

“These RFID tags – enabled with a simple identification process will allow local authorities or police to take any child or senior citizen found unaccompanied or under a panic situation to visit the nearest Vodafone Milaap or Khoya Paya booth. On flashing these RFID tags on the RFID reader, the concerned parent’s contact details will be accessed,” Vodafone Idea, that owns the Vodafone brand of mobile services, said in a statement.

The family member will receive the details of the concerned booth from where they can reunite with their child, the statement explained.

The Kumbh Mela commenced on Kumbh Mela,anuary 15 on Makar Sankranti and Mahashivratri on March 4 will mark its culmination.

The statement further said another service will allow the customers to share their location details absolutely free.

Vodafone is also offering Kumbh Darshan Service, as a live update app, for people to be abreast with major events at Kumbh, it said.

Transport sector can become all electric-driven by 2030: EV expert

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February 14, 2019

Electric vehicles are the future and with the help of innovative approaches, India’s transport sector can become all electric-driven by the year 2030, an EV expert and professor of IIT Madras has said.

Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala at a lecture in the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta on Tuesday suggested innovative alternative solutions for electric vehicle technology adoption and called for the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) to get the maximum out of batteries.

He also suggested a reduction of battery sizes, weights, and costs and splitting battery into smaller sizes for the switch-over and said with more focus on R&D and with the right steps, India’s transport can become all electric by 2030.

He said the ‘One size fits all’ strategy does not hold good in the case of electric vehicles as the vehicle composition is different in India owing to the preponderance of public transport and low-cost vehicles.

Jhunjhunwala, who had quit as a key government adviser associated with Indias ambitious electric vehicle programme sometimes back, said there should innovative alternative solutions for EV (electric vehicle) technology adoption.

Jhunjhunwala, who has worked closely with industry to create innovative affordable products in sectors like telecom, banking, energy, and electric vehicles, also said the usage of battery should be optimised as it dominates the cost of electric vehicles.

The IIT Madras professor who is also a Padma Shri recipient said the country’s economy would grow much faster if dependence on oil is reduced.

Jhunjhunwala, who has been chairman and member of various government committees, said start-ups and industries who are working towards the cause of electric vehicles need to be encouraged and there needs to be handholding among MSMEs of India’s auto sector.

Welfare measures to continue in India post general election: Singapore bank

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February 14, 2019

Some of the new welfare measures in India will continue to take shape, regardless of the outcome of the general election, a top Singapore bank said on Thursday.

Despite a change in the government in 2014, the impetus for Goods and Services Tax (GST), financial inclusion, and fuel subsidy reduction did not waver, said Indian-origin economist with DBS Research Group Radhika Rao.

General elections are likely to take place in April and May in India.

“We expect some of the new welfare measures to take shape independent of the election outcome,” she said.

India’s political economy is attaining modern welfare dimensions with direct cash transfer, universal basic income, and jobs provisions, Rao said.

With a mixed result in the recent parliamentary by-polls and state legislature elections, risks of a hung Parliament cannot be discounted, she said.

Four recent opinion polls point to an average of 220-230 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, falling short of a majority, Rao said.

The Indian National Congress and its alliance members under the United Progressive Alliance are expected to fare better than 2014, but ‘others’ will tellingly enjoy stronger bargaining power, Rao added.

NMDC’s April-January iron ore production at 25 MT

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February 14, 2019

State-run miner NMDC on Thursday said it has produced 25.09 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore in the April-January period of this financial year.

The company produced 17.12 MT of iron ore from its mines in Chhattisgarh, while its production from Karnataka stood at 7.97 MT, in the first 10 months of this fiscal, NDMC said in a BSE filing.

The PSU sold 25.25 MT of iron ore during April-January period, the filing said adding that production and sales figure of iron ore are provisional.

For the month of January this year, iron ore production fell by 11.53 per cent to 3.22 MT over the year-ago period when the company’s production stood at 3.64 MT, according to the filing.

The iron ore sales figure for January this year stood at 3.11 MT, down from 3.25 MT in the same period a year ago.

Iron ore is the main ingredient used in making steel.

According to its website, NMDC is India’s single largest iron ore producer, presently producing about 30 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore from three fully mechanised mines.

The operations at its Donimalai iron ore mine in Karnataka are suspended at the moment.

The company is involved in the exploration of wide range of minerals, including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, beach sands etc.

Australia ODIs: Choice between Khaleel and Unadkat for ODIs

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February 14, 2019

Zeroing in on players for a couple of available World Cup spots, including a toss-up between left-arm pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Khaleel Ahmed, will be the selection committee’s primary focus on Friday when it picks the India squad for the limited-overs series against Australia.

India will play two T20 Internationals and five ODIs, starting February 24, in what will be their last international assignment before the World Cup, which begins in England on May 30.

The series against Australia will also be an indicator as to who among Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik will board the Heathrow-bound flight as a specialist-batsman-cum-second-wicketkeeper.

KL Rahul is back in the mix as the third opener after a couple of good innings for India A against England Lions in the two unofficial Tests.

While the two T20 matches will be a pre-cursor to the ODI series, vice captain Rohit Sharma is likely to be given a short break to rejuvenate and come back fresh for the ODIs.

The selectors have already identified 13 certainties for the World Cup and they are Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Skipper Kohli and pace spearhead Bumrah will be back in action for the final dress rehearsal and the selectors are unlikely look beyond 16 to 17 players, who are now in the scheme of things for the World Cup.

There are at least four contenders for the last two slots depending on the combination the team management would want.

While Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvneshwar are certainties in the pace department, the bone of contention is a left-arm seamer who will add variation to the line-up.

Khaleel, the young Rajasthan speedster, played in Australia and New Zealand but he looked like a work in progress who could be all at sea in a mega-event like the World Cup.

Unadkat, who has only sporadically played for India since his debut in 2010, is suddenly back in contention after a good Ranji Trophy season where he led Saurashtra to the final.

Unadkat is a matured bowler now with more variations and an increase in pace. He is also more experienced courtesy his IPL stints.

A shoot-out is expected between Pant and Karthik, who are both finishers in their own right.

Pant could also double up as the third opener although Rahul is also in contention as he has the team management’s backing.