Djokovic to face a faceless qualifier at Australian Open

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January 10, 2019

One of the top tennis players of the world Novak Djokovic will start his bid to win a record for the seventh Australian Open title next week against a qualifier following Thursday’s draw. The Serb had a magnificent 2018 which makes it an astonishing climb back from outside the world’s top 20 in June to winning Wimbledon and the US Open on the way to reclaiming the number one ranking in November, 2018.

He will start his drive to make history against a yet to be decided qualifier and this could meet France’s Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Champion Roger Federer, seeded three and also gunning for a seventh Melbourne title which starts his title defense against the world number 99 Denis Istomin and could meet Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

He (Djokovic) continues to challenge me. I played with him in his prime time when he was virtually unbeatable. It was important not to get frustrated by it. I always enjoy my matches against him, 20-time Grand Slam winner Federer said at the draw. He further added that we are both natural attacking players. We are aggressive. He is up there with Nadal and Hewitt they make me rethink my game. I like to play attacking tennis, so I have come full circle.

Second seeded Nadal begins against Australian James Duckworth, fourth seed Alexander Zverev faces Slovenian Aljaz Bedene while last year’s runner-up Marin Cilic has a tricky encounter with Australian Bernard Tomic.

A highlight of first round clash will see Australia’s unseeded Nick Kyrgios up against Canada’s big-serving 16th seed Milos Raonic, with the winner facing either Stan Wawrinka or Ernest Gulbis while three time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has a tough clash with 22nd-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut who is returning from a hip injury.

Double exemption in GST: Small businesses relaxed

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January 10, 2019

The GST council doubled the exemption limit and raised the threshold for availing the composition scheme in a bid to give relief to small businesses on Thursday. The GST Council doubled the GST exemption limit to Rs 20 lakh for north eastern states and Rs 40 lakh for the rest of the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

The scope of the GST Composition Scheme under which the small traders and the businesses pay a small tax based on the turnover rather than the value addition which was raised to 1.5 crore from 1 crore. The twin move would give relief to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he said.

The council also allowed Kerala to levy 1 per cent calamity cess on intra-state sales for a period of up to two years. On including real estate and lottery under the Goods and Services Tax, the council decided for form a seven-member group of ministers after differences of opinion emerged at the meeting, he said.

Congress likely to appoint Sheila Dikshit to head Delhi Congress

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January 10, 2019

Days after incumbent Ajay Maken resigned from the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) President, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is likely to take over as the Congress’ Delhi state unit chief. The 80-year-old leader is likely to be assisted by two Working Presidents, the sources added.

Dikshit served as Delhi Chief Minister for three consecutive terms till 2013 when the Congress lost power.

Maken, a 54-year-old former minister in Dikshit’s Cabinet, stepped down on January 4 citing health reasons. He served as the party unit head for about four years.

The change of guard in Delhi Congress assumes significance as the party is gearing up to brighten its fortunes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, considering that the BJP had bagged all the seven seats at stake in the capital in the last general elections.

Heavy snowfall in North Sikkim: Army rescues 150 stranded tourists

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January 10, 2019

The Indian Army has rescued 150 tourists stranded in north Sikkim due to heavy snowfall, an official said on Thursday.

The tourists, including 11 children and 34 women, were stuck at Lachung valley, a popular destination in North Sikkim district following heavy snowfall on Wednesday.

Troops of Trishakti Corps launched quick reaction teams, including medical staff, to locate the tourists who were stranded in their vehicles.

Following search and rescue, the tourists were given medical care by the soldiers and brought to the nearest Army camps, the official said.

All the tourists were rescued by the soldiers in just four hours, bringing a sigh of relief among the anxious travellers.

The rescued tourists were provided with medical care, food and shelter at the Army camps in view of the unabated snowfall and temperatures dipping to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The tourists were in 43 vehicles, of which 23 were recovered, the official said.

The Army had on December 28 rescued 3,000 tourists stranded at Nathula area in the biggest ever rescue operation carried out in Sikkim.

10% Quota Bill for poor in general category challenged in Supreme Court

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January 10, 2019

A plea challenging the bill to provide 10 per cent reservation to general category poor in jobs and education was on Thursday filed in the Supreme Court.

The petition, filed by Youth For Equality organisation and Kaushal Kant Mishra, sought the quashing of the bill saying that the economic criterion cannot be the sole basis for reservation.

The plea said the bill violates basic feature of the Constitution as reservation on economic grounds cannot be limited to the general categories and the 50 per cent ceiling limit cannot be breached.

The Rajya Sabha passed it with 165 voting in its favour and 7 against on Wednesday, a day after the Lok Sabha had approved The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The Bill was approved after the House rejected five amendments moved by Opposition members.

The quota will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation to SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

NCW issues notice to Rahul, Anand Sharma calls it politically motivated

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January 10, 2019

Congress leader Anand Sharma on Thursday called the report notice issued by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to Congress President Rahul Gandhi a ‘politically motivated move’ and accused that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself “dragged the Indian political discourse to a gutter level”.

While addressing the media in New Delhi, Sharma expressed, “It (NCW notice) is politically motivated. There should have been a number of notices sent for the Prime Minister and (BJP president) Amit Shah. Does Shushma Swaraj have the guts to criticise the Prime Minister for lowering the dignity of his own office repeatedly? It is the Prime Minister who has lowered the political discourse to a gutter level.”

“It is not true that Rahul Gandhi ji has downgraded the standard of political debates, the reality is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as a shield. If he really has the courage and stands for the truth, he should have come to the Parliament himself,” added Sharma.

While saying that the Prime Minister was himself responsible for lowering the standard of political debate in the country, the former Union Minister of Commerce said, “Ever since he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and even today, the kind of language he has used, he has had no regard for his position, neither has he any decency. During the rallies for the recently concluded elections, what kind of words did he use against Sonia Gandhi ji”.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi also echoed similar comments, saying that the BJP was responsible for lowering the standards of political debates.

“If there is a political party that has lowered the standards of the political discourse, it is the BJP, and it started with Narendra Modi ji. He has used words like ‘the Congress widow’, the ‘Rs 50 crore girlfriend’, ‘Itlaian cow’, etc, I think Sushma Swaraj ji should criticise him (PM Modi) for using words like these,” Chaturvedi said.

She further led a scathing attack on NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma. “I want to ask one thing from the NCW chairperson, the responsibility she has been given is not a political responsibility, it is a responsibility towards the women of the country, so why was she quiet when female journalists were being called prostitutes? Why was she quiet when cases like Kathua and Unnao were coming? This notice shows that she is fulfilling her political responsibility rather than fulfilling constitutional responsibility,” Chaturvedi added.

Earlier today, the NCW issued a notice against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly making sexist remarks against Sitharaman in Parliament. The Gandhi scion had ridiculed the Prime Minister, saying that he could not “even come to Parliament for a minute to respond to questions posed on the Rafale deal and asked a lady (Nirmala Sitharaman) to save him.

PM likely to lay foundation of projects worth Rs 80k cr in UP on Jan 20

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January 10, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay the foundation of industrial projects in Uttar Pradesh totalling up to Rs 80,000 crore at a groundbreaking ceremony here on January 20.

These projects, mostly related to IT and electronics sector, are part of the Rs 4.68 lakh crore worth Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the Yogi Adityanath government with public and private sector companies during the UP Investors’ Summit held here in February last year.

“We are planning to lay the foundation stones of projects worth nearly Rs 1 lakh crore this month. We are confident that projects worth Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore would be launched at the groundbreaking ceremony,” UP Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana told PTI.

The state government is, however, awaiting official confirmation from the PMO about the prime minister’s visit next Sunday, an official said.

The first groundbreaking ceremony, held in July last year, was attended by the prime minister who laid the foundation stones of 80 projects worth Rs 60,000 crore.

The Adityanath government is also pushing its other mega infrastructure projects, including the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor, Bundelkhand Expressway and Jewar International Airport.

While, the defence corridor is expected to attract an investment of almost Rs 50,000 crore, the 289-km Bundelkhand Expressway is estimated to garner investments worth Rs 10,000 crore.

Lord Crocodile dies, planning to build a temple: Villagers

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January 10, 2019

Villager in Chattisgarh gathered together to say a final and emotional goodbye to crocodile, whom they used to worship as their protector, after the animal died. The 130 years old crocodile was next to God for the residents of Bawa Mohtara village in Bemetara district, whom they had fondly named as “Gangaram”.

Knowing about the death of the crocodile in the pond, the grief stricken villagers didn’t cook for the day and took out a proper funeral procession of the dead crocodile. They also decided to set up a memorial on the banks of the pond where it was buried, the village head: Mohan Sahu told PTI, adding that they were also planning to construct a temple in the memory of the crocodile.

The 3.4 metre long crocodile was found dead on Tuesday in the village pond, located around 80 km from here, following which locals informed the forest department and the carcass was taken out of water. Around 500 villagers took out its funeral procession and performed the last rites. They touched the carcass to seek its blessings, he said. He further added that the villagers had so much affection for the reptile that many of them did not even cook food the day it died.

The villagers, including children, used to bathe everyday in the pond but the reptile never harmed them even when they swam close to it. In the past, the crocodile had crawled over to some nearby villagesa couple of times and we had to bring it back to the pond,” the sarpanch said.

Praising the villagers’ affection for the crocodile, Bemetara’s sub-divisional officerof forest R K Sinha said they have set a good example of “human-animal coexistence”, when people generally maintain a distance from carnivores.

The villagers used to worship it as a deity and the protector of the village. He also claimed that Gangaramlived in the village’s main pond for over 100 years as even his late grandfather had seen it there since his childhood. After getting information about its death, the forest personnel went there and a post-mortem was conducted by veterinarians. The animal, estimated to be around 130 years old and weighing about 250 kg, died of natural causes. After the autopsy, the carcass was handed over to the villagers as they wanted to perform it final rites.

Fodder scam: Jharkhand HC rejects Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bail plea

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January 10, 2019

The bail petition of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav in three cases of the multi-crore fodder scam got rejected by the Jharkhand High Court on Thursday.

Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh turned down the bail plea of Yadav, CBI lawyer Rajeev Sinha said.

The same court had on January 4 reserved its order on the RJD supremo’s bail plea after hearing arguments of his counsel Kapil Sibal and that of the CBI.

Yadav is currently lodged in a paying ward of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

The fodder scam is related to fraudulent withdrawal of government funds from the treasuries of various districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power and Yadav the chief minister.

Yadav was lodged in Ranchi jail in December 2017 in these cases.

HJS calls for day long protests for Ram Mandir in Mumbai today

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January 10, 2019

The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and various other Hindu outfits have announced a day long protests, Maha Aarti , rallies and processions with Ram slogans today across Mumbai.

The protests are held for a demand to build lord Ram Mandir at Ayodhya . The Hindu Janajagran Samiti has released a press note which states that Ayodhya is the birthplace of Prabhu Rama & though the case hearing is pending in Supreme court , Allahabad High court verdict confirms Ayodhya as Rama’s birthplace and existence of Ram Mandir built at the site .’ Considering the religious sentiments of the Hindus, the Parliament should bring an ordinance to build Ram Temple without any further delay. Also permanent permission should be given to Hindus to worship lord Rama at the site’ , read the release.

The day long programme includes Naam Dindi (Rally) starting from Nallasopara (W) at 5.30 pm, A protest near Sanpada railway station at 6 pm, another protest at Santa Cruz (West) at 6.pm. and Procession with Rama slogans at Malad (West).