Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said that his party was willing to join hands with like-minded parties who are against corruption and focused on making Tamil Nadu a progressive state.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is ready to join hands with those parties, who dream to make Tamil Nadu a progressive State and also corruption-free, Haasan told reporters at nearby Pollachi after inaugurating the party office there.
When asked about him contesting the Lok Sabha elections, he said that it would be decided by the party. The party would discuss all these issues in detail since it was formed for the benefit of Tamil Nadu and not individuals, the MNM chief added
There is no facility for a passenger to file an FIR online. If somebody is travelling by train and something happens in-between then, he need to visit Government Railway Police (GRP) station to get an FIR registered. Then it goes to the state, to the district and eventually to the concerned police station. There is no guarantee that he would get the desired justice at the end. Asserting that the jurisdiction issues at times, cause harassment to the people, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday and asked the railway ministry to start a facility by which passengers can file FIRs online.
There has to be a provision for the passengers to file the FIR electronically. You (Railway Ministry official) need to discuss and decide on this (online FIR). We will provide all possible support from the Ministry of Home Affairs, he added, citing the ‘crime and criminal tracking network and system or CCTNS’ for the integration of state police work implemented by his ministry.
Singh also said that he would look into whether the online filing of FIRs by railway passengers can be integrated into the CCTNS system that allows citizens to lodge FIRs electronically. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who was present at the event, said that he would look into the home minister’s suggestion of online filing of the FIR.
According to an official data, about 24,000 cases of theft are registered by railway passengers annually. In a veiled remark, Rajnath Singh asked the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel to be sensitive and friendly with people. The railway has a huge network. Trains passes through Naxal-(affected) areas. There may be a fear of terrorist attack. There should be theatre-specific SOPs to guide police personnel on how to act in a specific situation. It is expected from all police personnel. Be it central or state police force, all police force personnel behavior with common people should be friendly. We have been telling these to them and we also need to change the way people’s luggage are frisked at railway stations or inside moving trains. There is a provision for frisking of passenger luggage at railway stations. Their luggage is also frisked inside moving trains. Passengers feel humiliated by this. So, how can this be improved? That needs to be discussed.
The home minister said that there was a need to make the presence of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel felt in the railway network. There has to be regular patrolling in trains. At times, it has been observed that it does not take place, so how to make RPF’s presence felt? You need to discuss it too.
Astronomers have long estimated that the Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way galaxy around 8 billion years from now.
Now, they believe that another collision may happen even sooner, a CNN report cited.
According to a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Large Magellanic Cloud will catastrophically collide with the Milky Way in 2 billion years.
The impact, they say, has a chance of sending the Milky Way “hurtling through space.”
Speaking about it, Marius Cautun, study author and postdoctoral fellow at Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology, said in a statement, “The destruction of the Large Magellanic Cloud, as it is devoured by the Milky Way, will wreak havoc with our galaxy, waking up the black hole that lives at its centre and turning our galaxy into an ‘active galactic nucleus’ or quasar.”
Cautun went on to add, “This phenomenon will generate powerful jets of high energy radiation emanating from just outside the black hole.”
He further said. “While this will not affect our Solar System, there is a small chance that we might not escape unscathed from the collision between the two galaxies which could knock us out of the Milky Way and into interstellar space.”
While 2 billion years may sound like a long time for us, it is much less than the age of the universe at 13.8 billion years. The Milky Way galaxy itself is about 13.5 billion years old.
Alis Deason, co-author of the study and royal society university research fellow at the Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology, said in a statement that they think that up to now the galaxy has had only a few mergers with very low mass galaxies.
A new technique for understanding the star-forming history of the Milky Way is unprecedented detail has now made it possible to determine the ages of stars at least two times more precisely.
The study was presented by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at the January 10 meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting.
According to Embry-Riddle Physics and Astronomy Professor Dr. Ted von Hippel, current star-dating techniques, based on assessments of stars in the prime or main sequence of their lives that have begun to die after exhausting their hydrogen, offer a 20-percent, or at best a 10-percent margin of error. Embry-Riddle’s approach, leveraging burnt-out remnants called white dwarf stars, reduces the margin of error to 5 percent or even 3 percent, he added.
Dr. Ted von Hippel went on to say that for the method to work, his team must measure the star’s surface temperature, whether it has a hydrogen or helium atmosphere, and it’s mass.
Dr. von Hippel said, “The star’s mass matters because objects with greater mass have more energy and take longer to cool,” adding, “Surface temperature, like spent coals in a campfire that’s gone out, offer clues to how long ago the fire died. Finally, knowing whether there is hydrogen or helium at the surface is important because helium radiates heat away from the star more readily than hydrogen.”
Now, astronomers have a new method to determine white dwarf masses and takes advantage of data captured by the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite.
Von Hippel, with recent Embry-Riddle graduate Adam Moss, current students Isabelle Kloc, Jimmy Sargent and Natalie Moticksa, and instructor Elliot Robinson, used highly precise Gaia measurements of the distance of stars.
The Gaia measurements, based on the geometry of two different lines of site or “parallaxes” to objects, helped Embry-Riddle researchers determine the radius of stars based on their brightness.
Wearing sunscreen and cosmetics to the beach might seem like a good idea for your skin and beauty, but it is certainly not good for the corals, a recent study has revealed.
According to several research studies, up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen end up in the world’s oceans every year.
To protect coral reefs, the state of Hawaii recently banned sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, two chemicals known to harm coral, with the law set to take effect in January 2021.
Another substance, OC, can be found in cosmetics such as hair sprays and conditioners, as well as sunscreens. Although OC is toxic to coral at high concentrations, Didier Stien, Philippe Lebaron and colleagues wondered how it would affect coral at levels more likely to be encountered in the environment.
To study this phenomenon further, the researchers exposed coral to OC at various concentrations for a week. They found that the coral was sensitive to the compound at concentrations of 50 micrograms per litre and greater, which is about 10 times higher than levels measured in the ocean.
The study was published in the Journal of Analytical Chemistry.
OC accumulated in the coral as fatty acid conjugates, which may interfere with the organism’s metabolism. The team also detected increased levels of acylcarnitines in the exposed corals, which are produced under conditions of abnormal fatty acid metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction. The researchers say that levels of OC in the ocean might have been underestimated previously because these measurements did not take into account OC fatty acid esters.
Although sunscreen is critical for preventing sunburns and skin cancer, some of its ingredients are not so beneficial to ocean-dwelling creatures.
In particular, sunscreen chemicals shed by swimmers are thought to contribute to coral reef decline.
At least four people were killed and some others injured when a state transport bus collided with a truck in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday morning, police said.
The accident took place around 8.30 am when the truck and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus collided near Gurupalli village in Gadchiroli, located around 170 km from here, Deputy Superintendent of Police Shashikant Bhosle told agencies.
Four people, including a student, died in the mishap, he said.
The number of injured was not yet clear.
Bhosle said the victims were rushed to a local hospital for treatment.
The Congress on Wednesday slammed the BJP for its “brazen attempt” to destabilise the party’s coalition government with JD(S) in Karnataka.
A political crisis is brewing in the state, where two Independent MLAs Tuesday withdrew support to the seven-month-old ministry amid trading of poaching charges by the ruling coalition and BJP.
The BJP’s Karnataka MLAs have been camping at a resort in Haryana in an “effort to thwart any poaching attempt” by the ruling JDS-Congress coalition.
“The entire confusion has been created by the BJP. Was that really required? They did it brazenly throwing morality and ethics to the wind. It is shameful and disgusting,” Karnataka Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao told agencies.
Blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah for the current political crisis is Karnataka, Rao said the party under their aegis has become “anti-constitutional.”
“The topic for discussion should not be the stability of our government but what BJP has reduced to under Modi and Amit Shah. The BJP today has become an anti-constitutional party.
“It is misusing the government machinery to threaten the MLAs and their rivals,” he alleged.
Allaying fears over the stability of the Congress-JDS dispensation, Rao said, “All our MLAs are intact and nobody is going anywhere. They are all with us together.”
The party has taken measures to address whatever grievances some people have but all the MLAs are very much in the party and nobody is going away, he added.
After two MLAs– R Shankar and H Nagesh– withdrew their support to the government Tuesday, rumour mill has been agog that the government’s fall was imminent as many other Congress MLAs may follow suit and resign from their respective constituencies.
Despite claims that all the MLAs were with the party, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Umesh Jadhav remained incommunicado.
Congress spokesperson Subhash Agarwal said these two MLAs may not be in touch at this moment but they were very much in the party.
“Our party is stable. Those two MLAs withdrawing support is of no consequence. Numbers are in our favour and there is no threat to the government,” he said.
Former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Wednesday said that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should give priority to his health and retire, instead of continuing to occupy the top post.
He also said that the Goa BJP once felt that a “dynamic” leader like Parrikar should become the prime minister of the country.
Velingkar, who was once a strong supporter of Parrikar, had fallen out with him after the BJP-led state government decided to give grants to English medium schools. In 2016, he formed his own political outfit Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM).
“If I was with him (under current circumstances), I would make him retire. Health comes first,” 70-year-old Velingkar told agencies.
Parrikar, 63, who is suffering from a pancreatic ailment, has been recuperating at his private residence near here. He had undergone treatment at hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi and the USA last year.
“His health is important for Goa. Parrikar is a dynamic leader, he is a good leader. He is good in decision making, but for the lapses,” Velingkar said.
“His lapses are there and they are getting more serious after 2012. It was not before that. We (BJP in Goa) wanted him to become the prime minister of the country,” he added.
“We used to feel that he should be in the Centre. Goa is a small place for him. We wanted him to go in the Parliament. It is the proper place for him. That was our opinion. But he was not interested…This was in 2006-08,” Velingkar said.
He alleged that Parrikar never believed in collective decision. “If he wanted to take rest (now), he would have done that. To continue in the chair is his wish. But he should understand what his priority should be. He requires lot of rest.
“The current drama (of continuing in the chair) is pitiable. Look at the pictures (released by his office). He need not drag on with this,” he added.
Velingkar, who was removed from the key post by the RSS in 2016, said he anyway wanted to retire from the organisation at the age of 70 in order to focus on writing.
“I wanted to retire from Sangh at the age of 70 and then go for research and writing. I have a collection of around 1,000 articles in Marathi and Konkani. I wanted to publish them,” he said.
Commenting on the RSS and its role in politics, Velingkar said, “RSS should decide what it wants to do.”
“The RSS in its original form was never subjugated to politics. It was playing a role of a guide in politics. It had an upper hand. But the situation is no more the same,” he added.
“Now in Goa, BJP is running the RSS. Those in the BJP are running the RSS. And this is an unfortunate situation,” he said.
Union minister and BJP Lok Sabha election in-charge for Uttar Pradesh JP Nadda exuded confidence on Wednesday that the saffron party will win 74 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in the state and downplayed the new alliance between the SP and the BSP for the general elections.
On his first visit to the state capital after being appointed as the party’s election in-charge for UP, Nadda held a meeting with senior party office bearers and said that, we shall increase our tally of Lok Saba seats from the state by winning 74 seats, one more than last time,” he told reporters.
The BJP will register a handsome win in the Lok Sabha elections and all records will be broken. The reason for this is the work done by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people’s affection towards the prime minister will also prove instrumental in BJP’s win, he said at the party headquarters here.
Asked whether there is any threat from the newly-formed SP-BSP alliance, Nadda said that we knew that this (alliance) is going to happen. We had anticipated this. Our strategy will be to bag at least 50 per cent vote share (in the Lok Sabha polls).
On allegations levelled by rival political parties that the BJP has been unable to fulfil its poll promises.They are telling their own records and their political culture has been of commission, corruption and division. The BJP believes in Sabkaa Saath, Sabkaa Vikaas , Nadda said.
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) workers’ union on Wednesday agreed to withdraw its ongoing nine-day-old strike after they accepted the ’10-step’ pay hike to be granted to them by way of an interim measure by the civic transport undertaking’s management.
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) workers, its management and other parties concerned will now go for mediation to resolve their dispute.
Around 32,000 BEST workers have been on strike since January 8 over their various demands, including pay hike, revision of pay scale of junior level employees and merger of BEST’s budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
A state-appointed high-powered committee had earlier this week suggested that the BEST employees’ salary be hiked in 10 steps as an interim measure.
The BEST workers’ union’s counsel Neeta Karnik Wednesday said this was agreeable to employees but they want an independent mediator to resolve the issues.
“We cannot sit with BEST. We want an independent mediator who has knowledge of labour laws… we want a retired high court judge to be appointed as mediator,” Karnik said.
A division bench of Chief Justice N H Patil and Justice N M Jamdar agreed to this and directed the parties to suggest names.
“The mediator shall within a period of three months discuss demands put forth by the employees, like 20-step pay hike, the merger of BEST and BMC budgets, and so on,” the court said in its order.
The BEST union and its management agreed to have retired high court justice F I Rebello as the mediator.
After the court dictated its order, Karnik made a statement before the bench that the strike will be called off by Wednesday afternoon.
The court noted that the first step was to ensure the strike was called off.
“The strike should not have happened at all. The situation should not have been brought to this extent. The BEST and BMC should show more consideration towards the BEST workers. It is not easy for families to survive with low salaries,” Chief Justice Patil said.
To the workers, he said, “No employee will ever say he or she is satisfied with their job and salary. But we are all part of a system that needs to continue functioning.”
The court was hearing a petition filed last week by advocate Datta Mane, seeking that the strike be declared illegal and called-off.
BEST’s counsel M P Rao told the bench that the management was ready to implement the “10-step increment” for its employees with effect from January this year.
The increase, however, will be implemented subject to the fact that the strike is called off, Rao told the bench.
As per the BEST workers’ union and BMC’s previous submissions in court, a ‘one-step’ increase in pay for BEST workers amounts to around Rs 330 per month.
