GENERAL UPDATES 14.03.2019

CORPORATION BANK HAS COME OUT OF RBI'S PCA FRAMEWORK: P V BHARATI

Concerted efforts to pare down non-performing assets has yielded positive results and has enabled Corporation Bank to come out of RBI’s prompt corrective action (PCA) framework, P V Bharathi, said. While mounting NPAs did slow down bank’s growth trajectory, efforts by all stakeholders in general and bank staff at various level has helped the bank meet the PCA norms and come out of it, she said. Bharati said bank has met all regulatory norms laid down by RBI under PCA and has finally come out of the same. We will now once again focus on business growth, she said, adding the bank that has achieved business of Rs 2.85-lakh crore as on date is looking forward to crossing the coveted Rs 3-lakh crore mark and will achieve the same shortly. Reiterating the bank’s commitment to customers, Bharathi said the bank will constantly roll out customer friendly products including those to cater to needs of gennext customers. The launch of Corp Ease – the mobile banking app of the bank that hitherto was available in one language has now been rolled out in 10 regional languages; she said and urged the customers to feel the power of banking at their fingertips with use of this revamped app.

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PVT MANUFACTURING FIRMS POSTED 24.9 PC GROWTH IN NET PROFIT IN Q3: RBI

The private companies in manufacturing sector posted a 24.9 per cent growth in net profit in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal on annual basis, benefitting from lower tax provisions, the RBI said Wednesday. The analysis is based on the performance of private corporate sector during the third quarter of 2018-19 drawn from abridged financial results of 2,703 listed non-government non-financial (NGNF) companies, it said. The manufacturing sector continued to record strong growth in net profits, benefitting from the lower tax provisions in Q3:2018-19, the RBI said while releasing the latest data on performance of the private corporate business. The companies posted a net profit of Rs 77,500 crore in the third quarter of the fiscal compared to Rs 57,800 crore in the year-ago period. Their profit was Rs 71,900 crore in the July-September quarter of 2018-19. However on the sales front, demand conditions in the manufacturing sector weakened on year-on-year basis. This moderation was observed mainly in textiles, iron and steel, motor vehicles and other transport equipments industries whereas sales growth improved for consumer-driven sectors such as food product and beverages, and pharmaceutical, the central bank said. The interest expenses incurred by manufacturing sector also witnessed a dip from a year ago level, reflecting ongoing deleveraging in the corporate sector.bIn IT sector, RBI said, sales growth remained broadly unchanged in relation to the previous quarter, while the services (non-IT) sector maintained the pace of sales growth, riding on the improvement recorded by the transport and storage services industries. The telecommunication sector continued to experience contraction in sales. As per the RBI, pricing power in terms of operating profit and net profit margins remained flat in manufacturing sector. Net profit margin of the IT sector declined marginally.

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SMALL FINANCE BANKS START ON A STRONG WICKET: ICRA

Rating agency ICRA expects small finance banks (SFBs) to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 25% to 30% led by diversified loan growth, deposit mobilisation, improving asset quality and better return on equity. The rating agency estimates that SFBs would require external capital of Rs. 4,000-6,000 crore till FY2023 for meeting the growth requirements, part of which will come through IPOs. ICRA estimates that SFBs have reported an annualised growth of 33% in the assets under management (AUM) in 9M FY2019 to Rs. 64,325 crore. These banks have been able to diversify their product mix and reduce the share of microfinance loans to their total loans to 44% till December 2018 from 60% in March 2017. Asset quality indicators of SFBs have also improved with gross NPA declining to 5.8% as on December 31, 2018 from 9.0% as on March 31, 2018. However, though diversification into relatively lower risk products and write offs for legacy loans will help in keeping asset quality in check, the quality of newer segments is yet to be tested and will vary depending on the robustness of credit underwriting, monitoring and collection frameworks of individual SFBs. Portfolio yields of SFBs continue to be higher than scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) and cost of funds have reduced, though their deposits rates are still higher than their commercial banking counterparts. Also, most of the deposits are bulk deposits/certificates of deposit as the retail deposit franchise will take time to build. Although SFBs are eligible for additional liquidity support including interbank limits and have access to the call money markets like other SCBs, these factors at best support the near-term liquidity position of SFBs. Therefore, enhancement of retail deposit franchise would be a key success factor from a long-term perspective, ICRA said. Supreeta Nijjar, said the rating agency expects SFBs to report a return on equity of 10-13% in fiscal 2020, supported by some reduction in the cost of funds as well as the operating expense ratios. Focus on product diversification would enable the SFBs to deepen their relationship with existing customers and manage product concentration risks better. ICRA expects the SFBs’ loan portfolio to grow at 25-30% with the share of microfinance declining to around 40% by March 2020, Nijjar said.

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GOVERNMENT AGAIN EXTENDS TELECOM EQUIPMENT, MOBILE PHONE TESTING DEADLINE TO AUGUST 1

The government has once again extended the deadline for mandatory testing and certification of mobile phones and telecom equipment to August 1, 2019. Department of Telecom (DoT) had in 2012 for the first time fixed April 1, 2013 as the deadline for mandatory testing and certification of telecom equipment (MCTE), and has deferred it many times since then. It has now been decided that certification of all telecom equipment under MCTE shall be mandatory with effect from August 1, 2019, Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), technical arm of DoT, said in a notice dated March 12.

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AUTO INDUSTRY, ORGANISATIONS CAN BUY BULK VEHICLE DATA FROM FY20: POLICY

To 'support' the automobile industry, the government has come out with a policy where organisations and researchers can buy bulk data pertaining to vehicle registrations on an annual basis Eligible bodies can purchase the data for Rs 3 crore from the next fiscal and would be required to ensure strict security steps to prevent its theft or transfer, according to the policy approved by the government. Violation of data, the policy warns, will result in action under the IT Act and other applicable laws besides debarring the agency from access to this data for a period of three years. As per the 'Bulk Data Sharing Policy & Procedure' issued earlier this month, sharing of vehicle registration data in a controlled manner, can support the transport and automobile industry. The sharing of data will also help in service improvements and wider benefits to citizens & Government, the policy said. The prime focus is on delivering simpler, better and safer services to citizens and sharing of data will also benefit the country economy the policy said. There have been continuous advances in technology and the range of purposes for which individuals and organizations want access to the DL&RC data. There has been growing demand to share the data for wider benefits. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways collects and holds data as part of issuance of Vehicle Registration Certificates (RC) and Driver Licence (DL). The ministry currently shares complete data with specified agencies such as enforcement agencies. The data is also shared with automobile industries, banks, finance companies etc at specified rates for each data set. Under the new norms notified by the ministry, states would have an option to issue the two documents in the form of cards, which would be either made of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or of Poly Carbonate. A QR code has been prescribed on the cards. This would enable easy linking and access and validation of the information on the cards with the SARATHI or VAHAN database, the Ministry has said. The policy said that free access to the vehicle's basic data available to all the registered users through mParivahan App or through the web portal of the Ministry shall be restricted to the basic details regarding statutory compliances and the owner's name. On the eligibility for accessing Bulk Data, it said such organizations requesting for data should be registered in India with at least 50 per cent ownership by an Indian resident or an Indian company. It said all sensitive data should be in encrypted format while stored in disk and only to be decrypted while accessed through proper mechanism.

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SCHEDULE FOR BYE-ELECTIONS TO FILL CASUAL VACANCIES

The Election Commission of India has decided to hold bye-elections to fill casual vacancies from 64 – Dhrangadhra AC and 85 – Manavadar AC in the State Legislative. Assembly of Gujarat. After taking into consideration various factors like, festivals, electoral rolls, etc., the Commission has decided to hold the bye-elections to these 2 Assembly Constituencies following the same schedule as for the relevant Parliamentary Constituency as per the programme.

ELECTORAL ROLL

The electoral rolls of the Assembly Constituencies where bye-elections are being held have been revised with reference to 01.01.2019 as the qualifying date.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVMs) & VVPATs

The Commission has decided to use EVMs & VVPATs in the bye-elections in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.

IDENTIFICATION OF VOTERS

In consonance with the past practice, the Commission has decided that the voter’s identification shall be mandatory in the aforementioned bye- elections at the time of poll. Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, if his/her name figures in the Electoral Rolls, separate instructions will be issued to allow additional documents for identification of voters at the time of poll in the said bye-elections.

MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

The Model Code of Conduct shall come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Assembly Constituencies going for bye-elections is included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’s instruction No. 437/6/INST/2016/CCS, dated 29th June, 2017 (available on the Commission’s website). The Model Code of Conduct shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State Government concerned. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government for the State concerned.

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FEBRUARY WPI INFLATION RISES TO 2.93% ON JUMP IN FOOD, FUEL PRICES

India's annual wholesale price inflation in February accelerated to 2.93 percent, government data showed on Thursday, pushed by a jump in the prices of food and fuel products, after falling to a 10-month low of 2.76 percent in January. The wholesale price inflation last month was higher than a 2.88 percent increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

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LOW RETAIL INFLATION GIVES RBI ROOM TO SUPPORT ECONOMIC GROWTH: BIMAL JALAN

Softer inflation in India puts the central bank in a position to support economic growth, said former governor Bimal Jalan. We are in a very good situation so far as inflation is concerned, Jalan, said. There is some uncertainty about the rate of growth That needs to be strengthened. New RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das surprised economists by easing monetary policy in February, and data since then suggests Asia’s third-largest economy could do with some more stimulus. Economic growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the three months through December as political uncertainty ahead of a general election compounded challenges posed by weak domestic demand and a global slowdown. At the same time inflation remains benign and well below the RBI’s medium-term target of 4 percent, stoking expectations for back-to-back rate cuts at the April 4 policy meeting. Jalan said the RBI should decide how much it can do to facilitate credit flow and investment in the economy, given global risks and elections at home.

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EXPECT $28-BN FDI IN FOOD PROCESSING THIS YEAR: HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL

Harsimrat Kaur Badal expects more than $28 billion worth of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the food processing sector in 2019. The ministry is eyeing the next edition of its flagship investment show World Food India, set to take place in November, 2019, to reach that level. At the first edition of World Food India last year, we had investment proposals of more than $14 billion of which ground has been broken for projects worth $11 billion. So, next year, we are targeting to at least double the figure, as investments, Badal said. Of the 11 companies that had signed agreements, eight have started on-ground investments. These are set to open a couple of hundred outlets shortly, Badal said. When I took over in 2014, FDI in the sector was $500 million, which we brought up to $905 million till the last financial year, Badal said. The greater part of the investment was a $500-million investment by US e-commerce major Amazon in retailing of food products in the country. At present, 100 per cent FDI in food processing sector is allowed through automatic route. In 2016, the Centre allowed 100 per cent FDI through approval route for retail trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and produced in India. We have increased the number of mega food parks from the two to 22 since 2014. If the earlier two created 5,000 jobs, the number is now close to 300,000, Badal said. Badal said the upswing of violence at the international border will not affect talks on the Kartarpur corridor in Punjab. Senior officials from the Ministry of Home and External Affairs will be meeting on Thursday at the Attari-Wagah border to discuss early operationalisation of the Gurudwara as an international religious destination. Pakistan has said the entry will be only for Sikhs. But our party’s position has been that entry should not be restricted for anyone since Guru Nanak ji belonged to all of humanity, Badal said. India has acquired a 50-acre plot to build a state-of-the-art passenger terminal to transport at least 5,000 pilgrims each day from Dera Baba Nanak, Punjab, to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan.

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ONLY 9% INDIAN KIDS GET PROPER NUTRITION, 1/3RD GROW UP STUNTED: NITI AAYOG

NITI Aayog Adviser Alok Kumar on Wednesday said only nine per cent of children in the age group 6 to 24 months receive adequate nutrition in India One-third of the children in India are growing up stunted and tackling malnutrition is a key challenge for India. The main reason is lack of awareness around nutrition issues. This requires introducing behavioural changes in a campaign mode to reach every household, Kumar said while speaking at an event organised by the Unicef. The private sector should take up experimental projects and come up with packages and solutions for nutritious food, he added. Private companies like Tata Trusts, Sight and Life, CSRBOX, CII and WeCan joined hands with Unicef and Nasscom Foundation and launched a programme Impact4Nutrition which targets to eradicate malnutrition and stunting and positively impact the nutritional and health status of India.

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MILLIONS TO DIE PREMATURELY BY 2050 DUE TO POLLUTION: UN

Flagging the deadly impact of air and water pollution that annually claims at least nine million lives globally a new UN report on Wednesday called for urgent action to save humanity from the disastrous consequences of environmental degradation. It warned that cities and regions in Asia, middle-east and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by mid-century if the nations fail to drastically scale up environmental protection measures and noted that water pollution alone will become the number one cause of death in the world by 2050. It highlighted that the fresh water system will see anti-microbial resistance due to pollutants, saying it will not only cause human deaths but also disrupt endocrine, impacting male and female fertility, as well as child neuro-development. At present, one-third of global edible food is wasted and 56% of such waste happens in industrialised countries, said the report, noting that reducing food waste in both developed and developing countries, would reduce the need to increase food production by 50% to feed the projected 9-10 billion people on the planet in 2050. Highlighting how meat production currently uses 77% of farm land for feed and consumes lot of fresh water, the UN report advised less meat intensive diets. Noting that the world is, at present, not on track to meet the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 or 2050, it said, Urgent action is required now as any delay in climate action increases the cost of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement (keeping global average temperature rise within 2 degree celsius by 2100), or reversing our progress and at some point, will make them impossible.

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PSUS CONTINUE RE-EMPLOYING RETIRED OFFICIALS

Many public sector undertakings (PSUs) are still re-employing retired officials in state public sector undertakings and statutory boards despite the government directing them not to do so and formulate a succession plan to train available manpower. It is learnt that Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has appointed L Narasim Prasad, who retired on January 31, 2019, as chief advisor and director, systems and operations. This has been done after CMRL has rejected earlier extensions. Chennai Metro Employees Union has also questioned the appointment of Narasim Prasad and it is learnt letters were addressed to the Chief Minister’s Cell and also to the Industries Minister. A top Chennai Metro Rail official told that they have already selected the director of systems and operations. Since the new person has asked for some time to join Chennai Metro Rail because of formalities to be followed in the parent department, he will be in charge, the official said. On his continuation as chief advisor, the official said that it depends on requirement and necessity after the new person joins. The State finance department has directed the PSUs and statutory boards repeatedly to formulate a succession plan to train available manpower while taking into account the retirement date of officers holding key positions to ensure smooth flow of work by successors. But this has not been done and CMRL has violated the directive of the state government by re-employing officers beyond their age of superannuation. The finance department in its letter has stated that re-employment of retired personnel deprives the benefit of promotion to persons awaiting in the feeder post as well as chokes employment opportunity at entry level.

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BSNL, MTNL GET RS 1,000 CRORE TO CLEAR FEBRUARY WAGES

The government on Tuesday granted Rs 1,000 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to help them clear their February wage bills. A senior official of the Department of Telecom (DoT) said BSNL will clear about Rs 850 crore dues of its employees before Holi (March 21). MTNL was given Rs 171 crore on Monday and instructed to pay salaries by Wednesday. Manoj Sinha's meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to seek over Rs 1,000 crore for the two telecom PSUs. Due to stiff competition in a low-tariff market and crippled by lack of services due to no 4G spectrum, a huge work force of 1.76 lakh and without Delhi and Mumbai as operational bases, BSNL's profitability has suffered heavily in recent years. It's losses widened to Rs 7,992 crore in 2017-18. The DoT is preparing a revival plan for both the state-run telcos. Both have sought permissions to monetise their land assets as well as implement the Gujarat model of voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for employees. Under the Gujarat model, an amount equivalent to 35-day salary for each completed year of service and 25-day salary for each year of service left till retirement is offered.

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FACING REVENUE SHORTFALL, GOVT PUSHES IOC, ONGC TO PAY 2ND INTERIM DIVIDEND

Grappling a shortfall in tax revenues, the government has pressed cash-rich PSUs like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to pay a second interim dividend for the current fiscal after seeking regulatory nods. While IOC has called a board meeting on March 19 to consider paying a second interim dividend, ONGC has declined saying it does not have surplus cash to make such payments within a month of an interim dividend payout, sources with direct knowledge of the development said. As per regulations, a company cannot declare a second dividend within a month of the previous payout and companies like ONGC would need to seek an approval of the market regulator SEBI to make such a payment. Sources said the government is struggling to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent in view of shortfall in Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections. GST shortfall is likely to be around Rs 30,000-40,000 crore and a similar shortfall is expected in direct tax collections as well, they said. In a regulatory filing, IOC said: A board meeting of the company is scheduled on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 to consider declaration of 2nd interim dividend for the financial year 2018-19. Sources said ONGC has told the government that it will need a SEBI approval if it has to pay a second interim dividend within a month.

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PASSENGER VEHICLES RETAIL SALES FALL 8% IN FEBRUARY: FADA

Automobile dealers’ body FADA on Wednesday said retail sales of passenger vehicles (PV) in February declined by 8.25 per cent to 2,15,276 units as compared to the same period last year, hit by lower offtake by end customers. According to Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), PV sales stood at 2,34,632 units in February 2018. Two-wheeler sales declined by 7.97 per cent to 11,25,405 units last month as compared with 12,22,883 units in year-ago period. Domestic auto sales are experiencing a prolonged slowdown as it is already been six months of downturn with no positive triggers visible in near term, he added. Starting with the huge hike in insurance costs in September, we have seen a lot of negative factors come together in the past few months, leading to major postponement in purchase decisions and overall weakening of consumer sentiment, Kale said. Total automobile sales during February declined by 8.06 per cent to 14,52,078 units as compared with 15,79,349 units in February 2018.

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SBI OFFERS DOORSTEP SERVICES FOR SENIORS

State Bank of India (SBI) has launched priced ‘doorstep banking’ for senior citizens over 70 years of age, as also for differently abled and infirm customers, including those who are visually impaired. The facility will be available for those living within a 5-kilometre radius of select bank branches. These services are available against payment of a fee of Rs 100 for financial transactions and Rs 60 for non-financial transactions. Customers will have to register at their home branch and, additionally, differently abled and infirm customers will have to submit a medical certificate to that effect to register for this service. The RBI has directed banks to offer doorstep banking to those who cannot make it to bank branches. In a circular issued in 2017, it said, In view of the difficulties faced by senior citizens of more than 70 years of age and differently abled or infirm persons (having medically certified chronic illness or disability), banks are advised to make a concerted effort to provide basic banking facilities.

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MARCH 31 DEADLINE FOR NEW EMPLOYEE & NEW COMPANY TO REGISTER WITH PMRPY PORTAL TO AVAIL BENEFITS

The new employees and new companies have time till March 31, 2019 to get registrations done on the Prime Minister Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) in order to avail benefits. After the deadline ends, the benefits under the scheme will no longer we available. According to the sources, The New Employee and New company Registrations on PMRPY portal will be disabled from April 01, 2019 which means that the employee to join on or before 31/03/2019 needs to be registered immediately on PMRPY portal, else the benefits will laps later. Like wise, an Employer also has to get registered on PMRPY before 31/03/2019. The already registered employees will be benefited for 03 years since joining, the source added. Government of India will pay the full employer's contribution (EPF and EPS both) with effect from April 1, 2018 for a period of three years to the new employees and existing beneficiaries for their remaining period of three years through EPFO.

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12 STATES BAN E-CIGARETTES, HEALTH MINISTRY URGES ALL TO FOLLOW

Following an advisory from the ministry of health and family welfare issued last year, at least 12 states in India have banned Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Of late there has been an increasing popularity of ENDS, more commonly known as e-cigarettes or vapes in India. E-cigarettes do not fall within the scope of existing national legislation on tobacco production, distribution, and use. Yet doctors claim they pose significant health risks to users that are frighteningly similar to those of conventional cigarettes. The move came in the wake of the Delhi High Court taking strong exception to the Centre for delay in coming up with appropriate measures to tackle the new emerging threat of e-cigarettes in the country. Recently, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), had also issued a similar order. Nicotine is a highly toxic chemical and potentially carcinogenic. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration if it is considered poison. Therefore, any nicotine product should be taken under strict medical supervision for controlling withdrawal symptoms during cessation therapy, Pankaj Chaturvedi, oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital, said. As per a report prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO); ENDS emits nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco products. In addition to dependence, nicotine can have adverse effects on the development of the foetus during pregnancy and may contribute to cardiovascular disease.

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WHY NO MECHANISM TO MONITOR ASSETS OF LAWMAKERS: SUPREME COURT TO CENTRE

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to explain in two weeks why it has not set up a permanent mechanism to monitor the undue accretion of assets by elected representatives as directed by it last year. On Feb 16 last year, the apex court had said the undue accretion of assets by lawmakers was a sure indicator of the beginning of a failing democracy, which if left unattended, would lead to the destruction of democracy and pave way for rule of mafia. It had then asked for a permanent mechanism to monitor the undue accretion of wealth by lawmakers. On Tuesday, hearing a contempt plea filed by NGO ''Lok Prahari'', it said it was not issuing any notice but seeking a reply from the secretary of legislative department of the Union of India why the court's directions were not complied with. The NGO has claimed that certain directions issued by the court on Feb 16 last year have not been complied with. The court also asked the secretary to explain what his department has done with respect to non-disclosure or part disclosure of assets which would amount to undue influence under the Representation of People's (RP) Act.

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ALL B737 MAX PLANES GROUNDED IN INDIA; AVIATION MINISTRY ASKS SPICEJET, JET TO ACCOMMODATE ALL PASSENGERS

All Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft being operated in the Indian airspace have been grounded on Wednesday and the ministry of civil aviation asked SpiceJet and Jet Airways to accommodate all the passengers, news agency ANI reported. SpiceJet and Jet are the only two carriers that have Boeing 737 MAX in their fleet. However, Jet's Boeing 737 MAX planes are on ground due to non-payment issues. Pradeep Singh Kharola said: As of now, All flights of #Boeing737Max have been grounded, before the deadline of 4 pm. We had a discussion with the airlines as to how they plan to reduce inconvenience to the passengers. He stated that, SpiceJet says they've increased the utilisation of existing aircraft. About 30-35 flights will get affected tomorrow. They've assured that no airport that has SpiceJet service will go unserviced. They'll be setting up a special cell to monitor the passengers' complaints. Kharola further said, Today SpiceJet has cancelled 14 flights, it operates 500 plus flights daily and 14 were cancelled. They've been able to accommodate all passengers on their own.

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ETHIOPIA SENDS BOEING BLACK BOXES ABROAD, NORWAY AIRLINE WANTS COMPENSATION

Ethiopian Airlines said on Wednesday it would send the black boxes from its crashed Boeing 737 MAX abroad for expert analysis and a Norwegian airline sought compensation after it grounded its models in the wake of the disaster. Two-thirds of the 737 MAX aircraft have been grounded globally, and Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told the world's biggest planemaker should ground all such craft until their safety is established. Multiple nations including the European Union, have suspended the 737 MAX, leading to the grounding of about two-thirds of the 371 jets of that make in operation around the world.

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SPICEJET TO SEEK COMPENSATION FROM BOEING AFTER GROUNDING 737 MAX AIRCRAFT

SpiceJet will seek compensation from Boeing and demand credit on maintenance, repair, and overhaul for the 12 grounded 737 MAX aircraft. The airline, which had an aggressive expansion plan that banked on the delivery of the Boeing 737 Max, will now look to lease old planes. SpiceJet had bet its fortunes heavily on the new version of the 737, of which it has 13 planes in its fleet and 192 on order. The fuel-efficient and longer range 737 MAX provided an opportunity for SpiceJet to control its cost and plan new foreign routes, the future of which looks uncertain now.

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AIRLINES WON’T GET COVER FOR GROUNDING OF 737 MAX 8 PLANES

Airlines that have been forced to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft will not have any recourse to claims from insurance companies to make up for their losses. SpiceJet on Wednesday announced that it was grounding its Max fleet of about a dozen aircraft, which would result in the cancellation of 14 flights. This has resulted in its fleet size shrinking to about 64 from 76. Jet Airways has five Max aircraft in its fleet. However, these are already believed to be grounded by lessors due to non-payment of dues. The aircraft have been grounded by the regulator as a precautionary measure There has not been any damage to the aircraft and no other insured event has occurred, so we are not expecting any claim, said an official. Sources in New India Assurance, which has provided cover for most of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, said that they have not received any claims because of the grounding. Unlike any manufacturing business, the assets of airlines are mobile, which is why airlines do not take business interruption cover, said the official. As a manufacturer, Boeing would have a liability insurance programme. Given that aircraft have been grounded across the world, it is likely that this cover would have been triggered, said an industry official.

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50 COUNTRIES GROUND, BAN BOEING MAX 8 PLANES

A total of 50 countries including the US, has either grounded or banned the Boeing 737 Max 8 planes following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model that killed all 157 people on board earlier this week. US President Donald Trump spoke to the media before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday grounded all Boeing 737 Max jets in the country, CNN reported. I didn't want to take any chances. We didn't have to make this decision today, Trump said. The safety of the American people, of all people, is our paramount concern, he added.

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PILOT OF CRASHED ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES JET REPORTED FLIGHT-CONTROL ISSUES: WSJ

The pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed on Sunday reported that he was having flight-control problems and wanted to return to the airport, the chief executive of the airline said. In recordings of the pilot’s conversations with controllers, he didn’t indicate any external problems with the jet or the flight, like a bird collision, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told. Gebremariam said the black boxes recovered from the jet would be sent to Europe for analysis, although a final determination as to which country hasn’t been made.

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 ELECTION COMMISSION RULES OUT LOK SABHA ELECTION DUTY FOR SSC, HSC TEACHERS IN MAHARASHTRA

Over 50,000 teachers of class 10 and class 12 in Maharashtra will no longer be enrolled for Lok Sabha election duties, as per the Election Commission. Assistant Chief Electoral Officer A N Walvi Wednesday issued a circular excluding teachers of class 10 (SSC) and class 12 (HSC), whose number is estimated to be over 50,000, from poll duties. The exams are conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education. Lok Sabha elections for all 48 seats will be held in four phases in Maharashtra between April 11 and April 29. Flagging the issue before state Chief Electoral Officer, Shikshak Bharati, an organisation of primary and secondary teachers, had feared delay in declaration of results in case the teachers are drafted in for poll duty. After holding talks with various departments, the electoral office decided to exclude these teachers from election duties. Teachers of other classes will, however, are not excluded from this task. Election duties for teachers typically include undergoing training for the process, working at booths on days of voting and counting, collecting poll material etc. Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, teachers are allowed three assignments Census, disasters and elections. However, teachers’ groups say that poll duties result in wasting of teaching time, as they are also called for training a few days ahead of the elections.

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DESPITE SUPREME COURT ORDER, INFORMATION COMMISSIONER POSTS REMAIN VACANT IN GUJARAT

A Supreme Court order directing all the state government as well as the Centre to fill in the vacant posts of information commissioner is about to end in two days Yet, Gujarat continues to operate with just two information commissioners even as eight other posts of information commissioners continue to remain vacant. Anjali Bharadwaj, filed a petition in the SC seeking that vacant posts be filled and opacity surrounding the appointments come to an end said that despite the order not much has happened in most states. She said as far as Gujarat was concerned the government had sanctioned five posts when it has been specifically stated by the apex court that the government has to look at the total vacancies and not bother about sanctioned strengths. A report card of information commissions in India by Satark Nagrik Sangathan found that as on October 31, 2017, was 3941 cases were pending and the estimated time for disposal is five months. Jog said that the present pending cases before the information commission in the state are 5600 which will take a year and two months to be disposed of.

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POLICE REFORMS: SUPREME COURT CLARIFIES ORDER ON APPOINTMENT OF DGPS

The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified its order from last year on police reforms and said that officers who have a minimum of six months tenure left in service shall be considered for the post of Director General of Police (DGP). A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the recommendation for post of DGP by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and preparation of the panel should be purely on the basis of merit. The apex court passed the verdict on a modification plea filed by former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh. Singh had alleged that the July 3, 2018, directive was being misused by state governments who were ignoring competent senior officers for appointment as DGPs. Singh, on whose PIL the directions on police reforms were passed, had filed a fresh plea before a bench headed by Gogoi alleging that the specific direction that IPS officers should have minimum two years of services left for being considered for the post of DGPs was being used to deny the promotion to competent and honest officers by states for their vested interest. Due to this, brilliant police officers have been overlooked just because they do not have two years of services left. The UPSC says that it will not consider these officers, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the former DGP, had said. The consequences of the direction were coming to the fore now, Bhushan had said. He had given the example of Bihar DGP and said he had resigned and joined BJP and now, he has been allowed to join the police force and made the DGP. It had said the UPSC should then prepare a panel as per the earlier directions of the court and intimate it to the states, which in turn shall immediately appoint one of the persons from that list. The UPSC, while considering the names for empanelment, should look for those people as far as practicable with clear two years of service left before superannuation, it had said.

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DEATH ONLY WHEN LIFE TERM INADEQUATE: SUPREME COURT

Holding that the death sentence should be awarded for heinous crimes only when life imprisonment appears to be wholly inadequate the Supreme Court on Tuesday spared a man from the gallows and sentenced him to 25 years in jail for raping and killing a minor girl in 2015. A bench of Justices NV Ramana, M M Shantanagoudar and Indira Banerjee convicted a school bus driver who had raped and murdered the child in Jabalpur and refused to give credence to some discrepancies in the statement of witnesses. It said traditional dogmatic hypertechnical approach has to be replaced by a rational, realistic and genuine approach for administering justice in a criminal trial. The accused had taken the ground that there were procedural lapses on the part of police and his alleged confession, which led to the recovery of the victim’s body, was liable to be rejected as the panchnama was drawn at the police station and not at the spot from where the body was recovered. He said the prosecution’s case mainly rests on the last-seen circumstances, but the said circumstance has not been duly proved. The court, however, rejected his plea and said there was sufficient evidence to prove his guilt and upheld the trial court and HC’s order of conviction. But the bench commuted the punishment to 25 years’ imprisonment without remission. As has been well-settled, life imprisonment is the rule to which the death penalty is the exception. The death sentence must be imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be an altogether inappropriate punishment having regard to the relevant facts and circumstances of the crime, the bench said. Rejecting the plea of the accused for granting him the benefit of the doubt, the bench said courts are not obliged to make efforts either to give latitude to the prosecution or loosely construe the law in favour of the accused. In our considered opinion, all the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution are proved beyond reasonable doubt and consequently the chain of circumstances is so complete so as to not leave any doubt in the mind of the court that it is the accused and accused alone who committed the offence in question. It is worth reiterating that though certain discrepancies in the evidence and procedural lapses have been brought on the record, the same would not warrant giving the benefit of the doubt to the accused/appellant. It must be remembered that justice cannot be made sterile by exaggerated adherence to the rule of proof, inasmuch as the benefit of doubt given to an accused must always be reasonable, and not fanciful, the bench said.

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‘INSURANCE CLAIMS FOR RENAL DISEASES ON THE RISE’

Kidney-related health disorders seem to be on the rise among millennials, though heart attacks and neurological disorders continue to be the top life-threatening ailments across the country, according to a study by SBI General Insurance. The study has revealed that 4 per cent of the total health insurance claims paid out are for those related to kidney disorders. Renal disorders are, in fact, the second-highest disease settled for as they are also associated with heart-related issues. About 70 per cent of claims settled for kidney-related ailments over the last four years are under the non-surgical category, where most of the diseases are managed with dialysis, the study released on Wednesday said, adding that there has been a year-on-year increase between 2015-16 and 2018-19. It also found that the majority of claims – amounting to 69 per cent – are paid from metro cities while 31 per cent are from non-metro cities. This could be due to the specialised treatment and dialysis facilities available in metropolitan cities, it said. The study further revealed that of the total claims related to renal disorders, a majority was made by men at 49 per cent in 2018-19, compared to 44 per cent by women.

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61% OFFICE GOERS WANT COMMUTING TIME COUNTED AS OFFICE HOURS: SURVEY

A majority of office-goers in India want commuting time to be included in their working hours, according to IWG Global Workspace survey. Over 80 per cent of the companies in India are introducing flexible working to help attract and retain employees it said. 61 per cent office-goers from India believe that official working hours should include time spent on their journey to and from work. Also, 41% said commuting to/ from work is the part of the working day which they like the least, IWG said in a statement. Globally, nearly half (42 per cent) of the professionals think that official working hours should include time spent on their journey, as it does not constitute free time in their day. Indeed, half of all our respondents claim to work outside their main office location for at least half of the week, he said. The survey suggested that businesses that do not have a flexible workspace policy risk losing out on top talent. Around 71 per cent of businesses globally and 81 per cent in India think that offering flexible working enables them to expand their talent pool, the survey showed. In fact, many (77 per cent globally and 81 per cent in India) businesses are adapting to improve talent retention by introducing flexible working.

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DELHI EATERY STAFF ARRESTED FOR CLONING CUSTOMERS' DEBIT, CREDIT CARDS

An employee of a central Delhi restaurant has been arrested for allegedly cloning debit and credit cards of customers and duping them of nearly Rs 4 lakh, police said Wednesday. The accused has been identified as Pankaj Kumar, they said. On February 14, a private bank filed a case that few of their customers who were having credit and debit cards have reported disputed transactions. Moreover, the cards were in possession of the customers at the time of those transactions, Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), said. He used to re-swap cards of the customers and noted down their last four digits, PIN and bank name. He handed over the screamer having data of cards and other details to Rahul, police said.

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DELHI AT NO. 2 IN BLUE-COLLAR WORKFORCE

Next to Bengaluru, Delhi employs the second highest blue collar labour force in India. The city employs 2.3 lakh blue collar workers in startup/urban-centric jobs that have been created because of the new-age gig economy model, according to a survey. Workers in construction, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and other traditional sectors have not been included in the survey. Independent businesses, SMEs and MSMEs are also not included and the data is limited to jobs sourced via large tech-aggregators/startups. And the split-up for Delhi is Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, Food Panda and others employ 86,019 delivery boys while the likes of Ola, Uber, other taxi aggregators employ 64,514 drivers. About 37,633 work as security guards, 26,881 facility personnel, 2,688 beauticians, 2,707 maintenance workers and 5,376 pre-school workers in the capital. Compared with Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon employ less individuals. Noida employs 85,460 blue-collar workers, while Gurgaon employs 50,690 workers. The majority of blue-collar workers (35%) earn Rs 15,000-25,000, but there is a percentage of workers who make more than 30K a month. On average, 14% of blue-collar workers at startups earn Rs 30,000 a month; about 16% earn Rs 25,000-30,000; about 20% earn Rs 20,000-25,000 and 15% make Rs 10,000-15,000. When it comes to the age group, the ratio is skewered towards youngsters. About 64% of the blue-collar workforce pan-India is between the age 24 and 38 years, 16% between 18 and 23 years, 10% between 39 and 43, 8% between 44-54 and 2% above 52 years of age. Pan-India, 96% of the workforce in blue-collar jobs is male, with only certain sectors like the beauty and services sector having a higher percentage of women. And where does Delhi gets its migrant labour force from? Delhi gets as high as 55% of its workforce from Uttar Pradesh, 17% from Bihar, 6% from Haryana and 5% from Rajasthan, followed by Kerala (3%), Madhya Pradesh (3%), Uttarakhand (2%), Jharkhand (2%), West Bengal (1%), Punjab (1%), etc. When it comes to a city-wise split-up, Loni is the highest contributor to Delhi's workforce at 3.2%, followed by Aligarh (1.5%), Mainpuri (0.9%), Chapra (0.75%). Of the 14 lakh urban workers in metros, there is a 4% high-earning aspirational set of workers, who takes up two or more jobs to earn higher. This trend, we see more in Delhi and Mumbai. We have interviewed a plumber, who works an 8-hour shift for an MNC during the day and drives an Ola car by night. We have also interviewed Ola drivers, who start out with one car. Earn enough to buy more cars and today run a fleet of 4-10 cars. Upskilling also happens a lot in Delhi, where delivery boys take courses and acquire skills to become warehouse managers, accountants or supervisors, said Pravin Agarwala.

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INDIANS IN WHITE-COLLAR JOBS MORE PRONE TO OBESITY, CHRONIC HEALTH RISKS

Indians in white-collar jobs, with low levels of activity in their workday, have a higher average body mass index (BMI)--an indicator of obesity--than those in blue-collar occupations, according to a new study. Engineers, technicians, mathematicians, scientists and teachers, for example, had higher BMIs than farm workers, fisherpeople and housekeepers, concluded the study published in the journal Economics and Human Biology. BMI is derived by dividing an individual’s body mass by the square of the body height and is expressed in units of kg/m2. The average BMI of men in white-collar jobs was 1.17 kg/m2 higher than those in blue-collar occupations; among women, the difference was 1.51kg/m2, the study showed. A lower BMI is better than higher. Individuals are categorised as underweight if their BMI is under 18.5 kg/m2, normal if it is in the range of 18.5 to 25 kg/m2, overweight if it is somewhere between 25 and 30 kg/m2 and obese if the index surpasses 30 kg/m2, according to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO). India has experienced high rates of economic growth in the last two decades, and the resultant increase in income is related to a rise in the proportion of those who are obese, according to this study. India currently has the third highest number of overweight or obese individuals among all countries--20% of its adults and 11% of adolescents can be categorised as obese, according to this September 2014 paper, that has been cited in this study. Higher levels of BMI have been associated with higher levels of energy intake and lower levels of energy expenditure. But there has been a long-term, persistent decline in the average energy intake in India, studies have shown. Given this, the rise in BMI can be traced to the rise in sedentary occupations--a natural consequence of economic development. Lower physical activity level at work is possibly one of the factors of rising BMI, given the backdrop that, on an average India has witnessed a decline in energy intake as shown by studies. Unhealthy levels of BMI are directly related to chronic health risks such as hypertension and diabetes, diseases that can have substantial impacts on household budgets, according to the study. The study analysed the BMI of men and women, based on the sector of their occupations, the level of activity at work and their intensity. It focused on adults between 18 and 60 years of age who worked for at least 180 days in the preceding year. Women and men in low-activity jobs recorded an average BMI of 24.26 kg/m2 and 24.20 kg/m2 respectively. This average was lower by 1.62 kg/m2 for women in jobs that involved high levels of activity. For men, it was lower by 1.39 kg/m2. The WHO cut-off defines individuals as overweight or obese if BMI is greater than or equal to 25, which is the standard benchmark, said Dang. But WHO re-defined cut-offs for Asians at 23 because they appear to be at risk for non-communicable diseases at lower levels of BMI than other populations as they have a higher percentage of body fat than, for example, European populations of the same age, sex, and BMI.

The average BMI of 24.26 kg/m2 in women holding white-collar jobs is way above the Asian cut-off, which is alarming, Dang said. For data analysis, the study assigned each occupation with a metabolic equivalent (MET) value, based on this May 2011 study. The MET of an activity is the ratio of the rate of energy spent during the activity to the rate of energy spent at rest. One MET is the energy it takes to sit passively or be at rest. The average BMI of women and men with light-MET jobs was 1.58 kg/m2 and 0.94 kg/m2 more, respectively, than those employed in jobs with vigorous METs. The average MET for white-collar jobs is 1.87 whereas it is 3.23 for blue-collar jobs. Similarly, on the basis of the level of activity involved, low-level activities have an average MET of 1.87, whereas medium-level and high-level activities have MET of 2.78 and 3.42, respectively. Local governments can be key players in creating an environment which is more conducive to physical activities through their land-use policies, the study suggested. For example, builders can be mandated to provide parks and recreational facilities in new developments.

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CONGRESS BEST IN FIELDING WOMEN CANDIDATES, BSP WORST

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has given 40% of its election tickets to women while Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal has decided to set aside 33%, but most national political parties don’t walk the talk on women’s representation in Parliament. It’s still early to say how many women each party will field this time but data from the past six Lok Sabha elections reflects a political unwillingness that is spread across the top five national parties — BJP, Congress, CPI, CPM and BSP. An analysis of Lok Sabha elections from 1996 to 2014 shows none of them has given more than 10% of their tickets (all elections taken together) to women. In individual elections, some have exceeded the 10% mark. But no one is close to the 33% reservation in the Lok Sabha that women have been demanding for a long time. Congress fielded the maximum number of women both in terms of the absolute number and as a percentage of the total number of candidates the party gave tickets to. Mayawati-led BSP fielded the least number of women. Overall, the five national parties together fielded 9,174 candidates in six elections, of whom only 726 (8%) were women. As for state parties, they fielded 252 women candidates in the six Lok Sabha elections combined. The number of women who got tickets from unrecognised parties and the number of independents was 649 and 1,109, respectively. Ritu Singh, a former BSP member now with BJP, says, There is a problem across parties, and as somebody who speaks on behalf of BJP as its spokesperson, I think women must get 50% of the tickets. In BSP, Behenji (Mayawati) herself did not do this. I have had several talks with her, but women never got the kind of importance in that party. Maybe, she was scared. On an average, Congress gave 1 in 10 tickets to women while BSP had only 5% of its candidates as women. BJP and CPI each gave 8% of their tickets to women and CPM gave 9%. Of the 2,780 candidates that contested on Congress tickets in these elections, 286 were women. BSP gave tickets to 96 women among its 1,847 candidates, and BJP fielded 196 women in its pool of 2,490 candidates.

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POOREST & UNEDUCATED MOTHERS BENEFIT LEAST FROM HEALTHCARE SERVICES: STUDY

Despite a four-fold increase in the number of women and children receiving supplementary nutrition under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme in the 10 years to 2016, a large proportion of the poorest have not benefited a new study has found. While the poorest households had the highest utilisation of ICDS services in 2006, their share became the second lowest in 2016, the study says, suggesting that the reasons could include poor delivery, difficulty of accessing remote regions, and social divisions such as caste. Started in 1975, ICDS, the world’s largest scheme of this kind, provides nutrition and health services to all pregnant and lactating mothers and children under six years of age. In addition to take-home food supplements and hot, cooked meals, the programme provides health and nutrition education; health check-ups; immunisation; and pre-school care services at either government-run anganwadi (childcare) centres or at home. The study, India’s Integrated Child Development Services programme; equity and extent of coverage in 2006 and 2016. Low to middle socio-economic brackets were more likely to receive food supplements, nutrition counselling, health check-up and child-specific services than both the poorest and the richest groups, the researchers found. Women with no schooling were also less likely to receive ICDS services than those with primary and secondary education.

Coverage improves but the poorest still have less access

The study shows an increase in the number of beneficiaries of ICDS services from 2006 to 2016 in four key areas, along with an eight-percentage-point rise in the frequency of monthly supplementary foods provided to children:

·       Supplementary food -- 9.6% to 37.9%

·       Health and nutrition education -- 3.2% to 21%

·       Health check-up -- 4.5% to 28%

·       Child-specific services -- 10.4% to 22%

With the exception of Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the coverage of food supplementation during pregnancy and lactation was less than 25% in most states in 2006 but increased in almost all states by 2016. The greatest expansion was seen in food supplementation during childhood, which reached more than 50% coverage in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The coverage of services has improved for the poorest group--from 11.7% to 34.8% for food supplement; 3.4% to 14.8% for nutrition counselling; 5.1% to 21.5% for health check-up; and 11.3 to 20.4% for child-specific services between 2006 to 2016.

Scheduled Tribes are among India’s poorest with 45.9% falling in the lowest wealth bracket, IndiaSpend had reported in February 2018. While only 34.7% of uneducated mothers received food supplements, 43.7% of those with primary education and 43.8% of those with secondary education did. This trend was visible across services, although those with the highest category of education also had lower access. The women with no education may intersect with the poorest quintile which is predominantly in UP and Bihar, which could explain their poor utilisation but we are yet to analyse this, Menon said, adding that there is much to be explored in further analyses. Another 2006 study found only 6% girls aged 0-2 years and 14% aged 3-5 years received supplementary nutrition despite 90% of their villages having an ICDS centre. These led to reforms from 2006 to 2009--more funds and provision of supplementary nutrition in a rights-based framework. Today, ICDS serves about 82 million children younger than 6 years and more than 19 million pregnant women and lactating mothers. The number of beneficiaries fell across the country but was noticeably more in poorer states such as Bihar (53%) and Uttar Pradesh (25%). The share of anganwadi services in the overall budget for the ministry of women and child development fell from 89% in 2014-15 to 68% in 2019-20. The wages of frontline anganwadi workers were increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,500 per month from October 2018, which Kapur said is a good move, adding that providing transport facilities to women supervisors to reach remotes tolas (hamlets) could also help.

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TEA COMPANIES UPSET OVER LOW OPENING PRICE DESPITE IMPROVED QUALITY

The excessive carry-over stock of around 30 million kg (mkg) of tea and lower demand from the buyers kept the opening prices muted for tea companies as the year’s first tea started to hit markets. Average price fall is seen at around 10-15 per cent. One of the larger tea companies having a significant presence in Darjeeling, Dooars and Assam registered a 22 per cent shortfall in its opening prices while another Assam based large tea company experienced a near 10 per cent dip in its opening prices as compared to last year. Every tea company I’ve been talking to in Assam is complaining that opening prices in private sales are down by Rs 10-15 a kilo as compared to last year, Vivek Goenka, executive director at Warren Tea said. The fall works out to around 5 to 7 per cent depending on the variety and company. Around 50 per cent of tea produced annually is sold privately and the rest lands up at auction centres. For sale number 13 last year, Guwahati had listed 6,521 packets, while this year, only 2,382 packets are on offer for sale. The second reason for muted opening prices, according to Atul Asthana, managing director at the Camellia Plc owned Goodricke, is lack of demand from the buyers.

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FIRST HUMAN TO SET FOOT ON MARS LIKELY TO BE A WOMAN, SAYS NASA CHIEF

The first person to set foot on Mars is likely to be a woman, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said. While Bridenstine did not identify a specific person, he said that women are at the forefront of the US space agency's upcoming plans Asked if a woman will go to the Moon for the first time, Bridenstine said The answer is absolutely. In fact, it is likely to be a woman, the first next person on the Moon. It is also true that the first person on Mars is likely to be a woman, Bridenstine said during a recent interview on the science and technology radio talk show Science Friday.

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MODI’S UNFINISHED AGENDA IS A LONG ONE; MOST INDUSTRIES NEED BIG REFORMS

NITI Aayog has done well to organise an Economists’ Huddle on the reform priorities for the next government since, when the next government assumes office, it is useful to have a 100-day, a 200-day and a 365-day agenda so as to be able to hit the ground running. While each economist will have a separate list the simple answer is to do what the government failed to do this time around. And while the list of what has been achieved is a long one, from GST to Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and so many pro-poor programmes like Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), so is the list of the unfinished agenda. Agriculture, needless to say, has to top this list not just because of the fact that close to half the workforce is dependent upon it, but also because this is the area where prime minister Narendra Modi seemed to have got the policy options totally right from the very beginning. He appointed the Shanta Kumar committee on restructuring FCI’s operations, and that recommended a modified income-transfer scheme—what is now called a Quasi Universal Basic Income (QUBI)—to farmers each month as a substitute for the MSP-led procurement that only a small fraction of farmers, and that too in just a few states, get today. For reasons best known to Modi, he never took this forward and, instead, tried to extend the UPA’s failed MSP policy. While he has been forced to implement a QUBI now, the next government has to replace all agriculture subsidies—fertiliser, water, electricity, interest—with a QUBI. In its present form of being an add-on to existing subsidies, it achieves nothing and is just another sop. Next on the list is industrial reforms and, for all the talk of improving India’s DoingBusiness score, the falling level of both domestic and foreign investment—as a share of GDP—is testimony to the fact that the government has missed very big reform opportunities. Apart from the problems associated with the government backing a telecom regulator that has done more harm to the industry than good and whose actions show a lot of bias, the government hasn’t been able to do something as simple as cut the exorbitant annual licence fee levies that were first imposed at a time when spectrum was given to telcos for free; this is not a favour, it is simply correcting a UPA wrong but the government has not been able to summon the courage to do so. Meanwhile, the industry is on its deathbed, and not all of this can be blamed on RJio’s pricing. After refusing to execute the UPA’s plan—for over two years—to deregulate prices of natural gas even though this was required, the NDA government was forced to raise them when fresh investments in exploration started drying up. Even then, the oil and gas reforms were hesitant as well as inadequate and, while an attempt was made to fix this last month, the moves were still grudging; and given how the government went back on its promises and tried to harass industry, it will be a long time till investors fully trust the government. And while the government did well to finally come out with a pragmatic mining policy earlier this month, this needs to be translated into action by the next government. Royalty and other levies need to be, as promised, kept at global levels and there are huge delays in various mining clearances—at both the Central and state levels—that need to be dealt with. Important to note, in this context, is the fact that despite the government announcing that commercial mining of coal would be allowed several years ago, this has not yet happened. And given that Coal India Limited managed to ensure the government had to go back on its policy, it is not clear how the government will fulfill its latest promise of taking away acreage that PSUs have—but are not mining—and auction this to the private sector; this is important because India’s largest imports of minerals, including oil, take place in sectors dominated by PSUs and where they have mostly already got the best acreages. And while the government has tried to get RBI to back down on its February 12 circular—even the new Governor, appointed after the last one was forced to resign, hasn’t obliged—since a lot of loans taken for creating fresh power capacity would turn into NPAs as a result of it, as this newspaper has pointed out earlier, the real issue is faulty government policy. In the case of the sugarcane sector, similarly, while the government periodically comes up with sugar ‘packages’ to help the industry clear its dues—it was 20,159 crore on February 22—to farmers, it has failed to address the real issue of an incorrect policy that sets artificially high prices for cane and mandates that every mill buy whatever cane is brought to it by farmers in its area of operations. And as the ongoing brouhaha over the angel tax made clear, nor has the issue of tax terrorism been addressed adequately; ditto for the retrospective tax. None of this is to take away from the reforms Modi has carried out, from GST to the IBC or the plethora of reforms in pro-poor expenditure, from DBT to LPG connections for rural households, subsidised insurance, Swachh Bharat, etc. Indeed, even if economic growth—and jobs—had picked up to desired levels in the last five years, it would still take time for the benefits to truly reach the poor; to that extent, measures like DBT and the LPG or subsidised insurance schemes have helped ensure the poor get a better deal till such time they get to share the fruits of higher economic and employment growth. But since there is no substitute for economic growth—indeed, even higher pro-poor expenditure requires the economy, and hence the tax base, to grow rapidly—the next government, whether headed by Modi or not, needs to get these issues right at the earliest.

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INDIA FAR AWAY FROM BEING LESS-CASH ECONOMY, MUST ADDRESS DIGITAL PAYMENTS SECURITY ISSUES: NANDAN NILEKANI

India is still very far away from being a less-cash economy and security issues around digital payments system needed to be addressed to make the mode more acceptable, Nandan Nilekani said Wednesday. Nikelani said that in the last couple of years, there has been an expansion of forms of digital payments including cards and there are more retail points accepting cards as well as point of sale (POS) devices. Nilekani stressed on making the card payments infrastructure more secure in a bid to compete with cash-based system. As we work to develop global data security standards that support the future of payments, we need India to be a part of this effort, Johnson said. The PCI forum also discussed about the Indian fintech landscape which continues to expand as the global payment security market size moves towards reaching USD 43.76 billion by 2025.

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COGNIZANT BRIBERY: THE CASE THAT'LL EITHER TARNISH L&T'S NAME OR BURNISH ITS FAME

Larsen & Toubro’s image with customers hinges on a transparent probe into its alleged involvement in the Cognizant bribery case as India’s biggest engineering group expands its business to cement its credentials as a global technology leader. L&T has said that its audit committee would get an external expert to probe the bribery allegations that came to light after US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp agreed to pay $25 million to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle such charges in India, where L&T is alleged to have helped the software company. The Mumbai-based company had said earlier that the audit committee of the management-initiated investigation was conducted by leading law firms in the US and India, with the help of forensic experts from Hong Kong in 2017. L&T said that there was no evidence of the involvement of the company or any of its executives, but it would get an external expert on board to decide on the future course of action. Experts believe that transparency and accountability in this context could help the brand L&T in the long term. Until then, the onus appears to be on L&T to re-establish its credentials, said brand and governance experts.

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GANDHI-VADRA FAMILY THE EMBODIMENT OF ‘PARIVARIK BRASHTACHAR’, SAYS SMRITI IRANI

Smriti Irani sought to corner Rahul Gandhi for alleged links with arms dealers and involvement in defence contracts. Irani, who gave a tough fight to Rahul Gandhi in the Congress bastion of Amethi in 2014, alleged that Gandhi is hiding behind Robert Vadra and accused him of intervention in defence preparedness due to his pursuits of family and commercial interests. Irani also accused Rahul of involvement in the Bikaner land scam. Irani slammed the Gandhis and said, In the past 24 hours, the facts that have come out in news, indicates how Gandhi-Vadra family has described parivarik brashtachar. Irani referred to a media report and said documents showing transactions between Rahul Gandhi and H L Pahawan, are now in public domain. Irani further claimed that seized documents reveal that Robert Vadra was just a part of the whole land scam. Hence, the nation has come to a conclusion, that Rahul Gandhi’s intervention in the defence preparedness of our country stems from his pursuit not only of individual politics but his personal commercial interests, his personal family interests, Irani added.

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WEST BENGAL SHOULD BE DECLARED 'SUPER SENSITIVE' ZONE AHEAD OF LS POLLS, BJP URGES EC

Expressing apprehensions that the ruling TMC government might not allow free-and-fair elections in West Bengal, BJP on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to declare Bengal a super-sensitive zone A high-level delegation of BJP leaders comprising Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Health Minister JP Nadda and others met EC officials. Prasad said, We have demanded that entire Bengal be declared a super-sensitive zone. We have also handed them (EC) a list of officers whose impartiality is doubtful and urged that they be removed from election duties. Around 100 murders took place during Panchayat elections in West Bengal. Officers sit on dharnas along with Chief Minister. The ruling party (BJP) president's chopper is not allowed to land there, he added. BJP also demanded the deployment of Central forces on all booths in West Bengal while accusing the West Bengal police of acting as TMC workers. Prasad further claimed that there is a history of violence (during elections) in Bengal. Therefore we appealed to the EC to take all steps to ensure a free-and-fair election in West Bengal.

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SC PULLS UP ASSAM GOVERNMENT OVER INADEQUATE FUNCTIONING OF FOREIGNERS TRIBUNAL

The Supreme Court on Wednesday blamed the Centre and the Assam government for being lax about tackling the inflow of illegal foreigners into the northeastern State and their deportation. It has become a joke. You have not done anything, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi addressed the Assam government. The court pointed out that though the State's foreigners tribunals had identified over 58,000 illegal immigrants, the detention centres house only 900. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for Assam, explained that the variance in numbers is because orders of the tribunals are given ex-parte as the alleged foreigner absconds and merges with the local populace the moment proceedings against him begin. We have given far too many opportunities the State (Assam) is facing external aggression. We like to know what the State is trying to do to tackle the problem? Chief Justice Gogoi said. At one point, referring to the main issue raised in the petition about the lack of basic facilities for the 900 detainees lodged in the centres, Chief Justice Gogoi asked you (Assam) are unable to deal with the base problem of 900 illegal immigrants, how will you deal with over 58,000 of them? The Bench then directed the Assam Chief Secretary to file an affidavit by March 26 about the number of illegal foreigners, their numbers in deportation centres and those deported from the State. The court initially wanted to summon the Chief Secretary but desisted after Mr. Mehta's intervention. The State has to further update the court on the adequacy of foreigners tribunals.

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BIDDERS SEEK EXTENSION FOR PAWAN HANS BIDS

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has received a request from bidders seeking an extension of the last date for submission of financial bids for the disinvestment of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, according to a senior official. Tuesday was the last date for submission of financial bids as well as the date for opening of bids.

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PROCESS TO APPOINT DEALERS FOR 50,000 FUEL PUMPS HALTED

State oil companies have paused the process to appoint dealers for about 50,000 petrol pumps following the release of election schedule to avoid any potential political landmine ahead of polls, people familiar with the matter said. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have been seeking to appoint petrol pump dealers at about 78,500 locations across the country. The advertisements went out in November and applications have already been received. In all, 95% of locations received interest with 39% getting single application and 56% multiple. The three companies have already declared winners for about a third of the locations advertised following draw of lots and examination of bids, and are now verifying the credentials of winners. Of the winners, more than 2,000 applicants have received letters of intent (LoI) or a formal appointment letter by companies. Companies have halted the selection process for the remaining pumps where winners haven’t yet been declared, in line with the past election practice, a company executive said, adding that a previous government order barred companies from making appointments during the election season. Companies are also thinking of seeking clarity from the Election Commission on the matter, another executive said.

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INDIANS COME TOGETHER FOR CRPF BRAVEHEARTS, DONATE RS 47 CRORE VIA PAYTM

To express solidarity with the CRPF bravehearts, Indian Paytm users donated Rs 47 crore to CRPF Wives Welfare Association. According to Paytm, the company today handed over a cheque of Rs 47 Crores to Manu Bhatnagar, President of CRPF Wives Welfare Association. This money was collected through contributions for the CRPF Bravehearts. The fundraising efforts began on the platform following the ghastly attack on CRPF jawans on February 14.

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RISING OIL PRICES, LIQUIDITY SQUEEZE AT BANKS WILL HIT ECONOMIC GROWTH IN FY20: CARE

According to the survey, in which 285 participants responded from various sectors such as agriculture and allied, manufacturing, financial services, banking, infrastructure, real estate and services, nearly 47 per cent of the participants expect the existing NDA government to come back to power on its own while 34 per cent feel they may not get absolute majority. When those who said the NDA government may not get an absolute majority were further asked if there would be a coalition government with new allies, 84 per cent of the respondents agreed on this, the credit rating agency said in a report. Nearly one-third of the respondents feel that implementation of GST (Goods and Services Tax) and resolution of banking system NPAs (non-performing assets) have been unsatisfactory, while ‘Housing for all’, ‘Power for all’ and ‘financial inclusion’ have been satisfactory. Therefore, reaching out to the poor has been effective unlike the more complex issues such as GST and NPA resolution, the survey said. The survey observed that GST implementation has been satisfactory as per 42 per cent of the respondents, though 30 per cent are not satisfied. As for social-oriented schemes, the response has been very positive with more than two-third being in favour, it added. The survey said there is a divided opinion with respect to resolution of NPAs in the banking system, with 38 per cent opining that implementation of policies is satisfactory, with 36 per cent feeling it is unsatisfactory. According to the survey, economic growth in the coming fiscal year could be hindered on account of slowdown in global economy, liquidity pressures in the banking system, elections and rising crude oil prices. It elaborated: More than 40 per cent of the participants think that liquidity pressures in the banking system, slowdown in global growth and elections would be risks for economic growth of India in 2019-20. More than 36 per cent indicate that rising crude oil prices and fiscal slippages might pose another threat for high economic growth. As per respondents, other risks pertain to employment generation (28 per cent), trade wars (23 per cent) and currency volatility (15 per cent).

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JAITLEY BLOG POST ATTACKS 'CAPITAL CREATION OF CONGRESS' FIRST FAMILY'

In a scathing attack on the Congress party's first family, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said if a forensic audit of their capital creation is conducted the facts will speak for themselves. Jaitley said while conventionally many may have relied on straightway corruption through bribery, a new methodology has now been established. Wheeler-dealers and fly-by-night operators give you the privilege of 'sweetheart deals'. With very little investment, windfall profits are thrust on a few privileged ones to enable them to create a capital. 'Political equity' results in buying goodwill. It enables you to influence decisions, said Jaitley. Without elaborating, Jaitley in his blog said, When exposed, the beneficiaries hide behind the shield of 'clever business decisions’ No place for middlemen. No tolerance for corruption. No fake beneficiaries swindling away recourses. This is a New India. We have worked hard to remove corruption and punish the corrupt. The government (led by Modi) and its ministers have conclusively proved that it is possible to run an honest government in India. Not a single charge of any substance has been made against the government, Jaitley said. He further said India has understood that corruption follows the law of Newton's gravitational pull.

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FACEBOOK RULES OUT CYBER ATTACK AFTER ITS FAMILY OF APPS SUFFERS OUTAGE

Facebook and Instagram users lost access to the social network's applications in parts of the world Wednesday as a result of an outage of undetermined origin. The California giant which has more than two billion users acknowledged the outage after users noted on Twitter they could not access Facebook or had limited functionality We're aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, a Facebook statement said on Twitter. A short time later, Facebook indicated the outage was not related to an attack aimed at overwhelming the network. We're focused on working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, but can confirm that the issue is not related to a DDoS attack, Facebook said, referring to what is known as a distributed denial of service cyber strike.

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US COURT AWARDS $29 MN TO CANCER VICTIM WHO ALLEGED J&J TALCUM HAD ASBESTOS

A California jury on Wednesday awarded $29 million to a woman who said that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's talcum-powder-based products caused her cancer. The verdict, in California Superior Court in Oakland, marks the latest defeat for the healthcare conglomerate facing more than 13,000 talc-related lawsuits nationwide. J&J said it would appeal, citing serious procedural and evidentiary errors in the course of the trial, saying lawyers for the woman had fundamentally failed to show its baby powder contains asbestos. The company did not provide further details of the alleged errors during the trial. We respect the legal process and reiterate that jury verdicts are not medical, scientific or regulatory conclusions about a product, J&J said in a statement on Wednesday.

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OIL REGULATOR HIKES TARIFF OF PIPELINE TRANSPORTING RELIANCE GAS BY 37%, HALF OF SOUGHT

Oil regulator PNGRB has approved a 37 per cent rise in tariff from April 1 for the pipeline that transports Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 gas to customers. In its final tariff order, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) in a March 12 order said transporting natural gas on the East-West pipeline would cost Rs 71.66 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) on gross calorific value (GCV) basis from April 1 as compared to Rs 52.33 per mmBtu tariff charged for April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2019, period. The tariff approved is almost half of the tariff sought by East West Pipeline Ltd - the operator of the pipeline. It had sought the tariff to be raised to Rs 151.84 per mmBtu with effect from April 1, 2018. A rise in tariff would lead to increase in the price of fertiliser as well as city gas like CNG that uses gas brought through the pipeline starting from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and running up to Bharuch in Gujarat.

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JUBILANT PHARMA'S RATINGS UNAFFECTED BY USFDA WARNING, FITCH SAYS

Jubilant Pharma’s credit profile remains unaffected by the US Food and Drug Administration's (USFDA) recent regulatory action at its Roorkee facility in India, Fitch Ratings has said. The plant makes generic solid-dosage products and has limited contribution to JPL's revenue and earnings due to the Singapore-based company's greater focus on speciality-pharmaceutical segments, the agency said. The USFDA issued a warning letter for the Roorkee facility on March 6 after having classified it under ‘Official Action Indicated (OAI)’ status in December 2018. The warning letter suggests that the USFDA may withhold approval of any new products until the company addresses compliance-related issues raised by the agency on manufacturing practices. JPL believes that the manufacturing and sale of existing products from the facility, which contributed less than 5% in sales, will not be affected. Fitch said that it expects JPL management to take the necessary remediation steps required to address the USFDA's concerns in a timely manner.

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NGT SEEKS ACTION TAKEN REPORT FROM HP GOVT ON POLLUTING ASHWANI KHUD RIVER

The National Green Tribunal has sought an action taken report (ATR) from the Himachal Pradesh government on steps taken to clean Ashwani Khud river, which had heaps of plastic waste flowing into it as per a video that went viral last year. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the state government to submit the ATR by April 30. Taking cognisance of the video, NGT had directed the state pollution control board to verify the facts and submit a detailed report.

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SC RAPS DELHI GOVERNMENT FOR CUTTING POWER SUPPLY OF JUST 692 OUT OF 30,000 ILLEGAL UNITS

The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government to explain as to why the electricity connection of only 692 industrial units, running illegally in residential and non-conforming areas, was disconnected when it was stated earlier that around 30,000 such units had been closed down. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta observed it appeared that figure given earlier was of 30,000 industrial units which were stated to have been closed down by the authorities. Now the compliance report dated February 27, 2019 filed by the Government of NCT of Delhi indicates that in total 692 industrial units, electricity connection has been disconnected, whereas earlier the figure was of 30,000 industrial units, the bench said. Let the aforesaid aspect be explained as to how the figure has been reduced to 692 units only. Let an affidavit be filed by the Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner of Industries, Government of NCT of Delhi, explaining the aforesaid, the bench said in its order. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on April 1.

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CHILD SEX ABUSE CASE: CARDINAL GEORGE PELL SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Vatican official to be convicted of sex abuse to date, has been sentenced to six years in prison by an Australian court for the callous assault of two choirboys in the late 1990s. A former senior adviser to Pope Francis, Pell, 77, was found guilty by a jury in December last year. The County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd, while delivering the sentence, described Pell’s abuse of two choirboys in the sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne as a brazen and forcible sexual attack on the victims. There was a clear relationship of trust with the victims and you breached that trust and abused your position to facilitate this offending, the chief judge said. Pell will serve a minimum of three years and eight months in jail before he will be eligible for parole. I will impose a shorter non-parole period than I otherwise would have been inclined to impose in recognition in particular of your age, so as to increase the prospect of you living out the last part of your life in the community, the chief judge said.

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AIR POLLUTION RAISES DIABETES RISK IN CHINA: STUDY

China is facing the largest diabetes problem in the world with around 11 per cent of its population suffering from the metabolic illness, according to a United States study published in 2017. Increased prosperity has brought changing diets and lifestyles, along with an air pollution crisis that the World Health Organization estimates causes over a million premature deaths every year. The risk of diabetes rose by about 16 percent for an increase of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre in long-term PM2.5 particle exposure, researchers from Fuwai Hospital in Beijing and Emory University in the US found in a study published online by Environment International last week. Sustained improvement of air quality will help decrease the diabetes epidemic in China, Lu Xiangfeng, one of the study’s authors, told. Due to high levels of PM2.5, different exposure pattern and population susceptibility, results from developed countries with low PM2.5 levels were not applicable in China, Lu said.

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APPLE TO PULL OUT OLDER IPHONE MODELS, JACK UP ENTRY PRICES IN SHARP INDIA RESET

Apple will stop selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in India and move out of small stores and outlets where sales don’t exceed 35 units per month three senior industry executives said. The strategy is to reinforce Apple’s premium positioning in the Indian market and increase the entry price of iPhones by more than Rs 5,000 with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. The iPhone maker had offered the iPhone 6 (32 GB) — introduced in 2014 — at about Rs 24,900. The equivalent iPhone 6s version costs Rs 29,900. Apple has progressively increased the entry-level pricing in India from Rs 21,000 last year for the iPhone SE, which it took off brick-and-mortar shelves to shed the ‘discounted brand’ tag, the executives said. It wants to reinforce the brand’s ‘premiumness’ in the Indian market and increase average selling prices. Apple has no plans to immediately drop prices of iPhone 6s, which is locally manufactured, an executive said. As part of the strategy, Apple distributors have informed neighbourhood stores that it wants to exit outlets that are less than 350-400 square feet and those that sell less than 35 phones per month. The company is pulling out sales promoters and fixtures from such outlets since it won’t be cost effective, the executives said. Instead, Apple wants to expand the number of Apple-exclusive stores — also called Apple Authorised Resellers — that are over 500 sqft, and wants each trade partner to have more than one such store. Apple wants fewer trade partners in India, and to deepen the relationship with them. This is to improve the selling experience and ensure compliance of the store as per its terms. The larger Apple Premium Reseller stores, too, are a big focus area, an executive said.

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CLEARED OF ABUSE CHARGES, START-UP CEO SEEKS REDEMPTION AND $100 MILLION

Zain Jaffer’s charmed, Silicon Valley life was about to collapse beneath him. It was October 2017 and Jaffer, founder of a promising mobile ad startup, was suddenly arrested and charged with a series of crimes including assault and sexual abuse. His company, Vungle Inc., promptly dismissed him. But the case, it turned out, wasn’t what it seemed. And now that the charges have been dropped Jaffer, 31, is taking Vungle to court. His unusual lawsuit is testing the limits of redemption in Silicon Valley after a run of troubling revelations about personal conduct at companies from Google to Uber. Jaffer’s case hinges on a provision in California’s labor code that’s designed to protect people who’ve been exonerated of crimes. His lawyers have cited a suit brought by an insurance salesman who was fired after admitting to striking his girlfriend, even though he’d avoided criminal conviction. A jury subsequently awarded the salesman almost $20 million. Jaffer was removed as CEO after he was arrested and charged with performing a lewd act on one of his children, as well as child abuse and battery. The charges were later dropped after prosecutors concluded Jaffer had suffered a psychotic episode triggered by a cocktail of prescription drugs prescribed to him by doctors. It was during that altered state that Jaffer, a trained martial artist, allegedly attacked his father, punched an infant and performed a jiu-jitsu move on his son that was misinterpreted by police as a sex act, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Jaffer now wants his job back, or at least compensation to cover his losses, said Joann Rezzo, his attorney. While his complaint filed Tuesday in San Francisco state court doesn’t specify the damages he seeks, Rezzo said her client has suffered harm worth at least $100 million While Mr. Jaffer would like nothing more than to regain control of the company he started, the law only allows for recovery of monetary damages under the circumstances, Rezzo said.

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USER DATA HARVESTING: CBI SEEKS MORE DETAILS FROM FACEBOOK, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA

The CBI has approached Facebook and Cambridge Analytica seeking additional information following their responses to its queries related to alleged illegal personal data harvesting of Indians from the social networking platform, officials said Wednesday. The agency officials said the CBI had received responses to its queries from both the companies but it needed more details from them on some specific questions. The officials refused to divulge further details on this communication as the inquiry is at a crucial stage where the CBI will take a call on whether to proceed further with an FIR, they said. In the letters sent to the companies, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought the details of data collection exercise adopted by them, they said. It is alleged that Cambridge Analytica received data from Global Science Research which employed illegal means of personal data harvesting of Indians using Facebook, they said. Facebook has over 20 crore users in India.

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WILL DO MORE TO LIMIT VIRAL CONTENT: WHATSAPP INDIA

WhatsApp has taken several measures to limit the spread of misinformation and fake news on its platform in India but there is more to do to fully secure the platform, the company's India head Abhijit Bose said on Wednesday. In his first statement after taking over as head of India operations of the Facebook-owned messaging platform early this year, Bose said the company strongly believes that private messaging is fundamental to safety. We're pleased that the recent changes we've made to limit viral content and educate users is having an impact. This work is never done - there is more that we can and will do, noted Bose who is hiring the first full country team outside of California which will be based in Gurugram. I am going to be listening closely and learning in the months to come, and I look forward to working with stakeholders here in India on our common safety goals, added Bose. With over 200 million monthly active users, India is WhatsApp's biggest market in the world. Globally, the platform has over 1.5 billion users. Facing flak from the government over dozens of lynching incidents in the country last year which were linked to rumours spread on WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service introduced several new measures, including limiting the number of messages that a user can forward to five and appointing a grievance officer for the country. One of the most exciting features we're building is WhatsApp Payments. Leveraging services from the 'India Stack' such as UPI (Unified Payments Interface), we're making it possible for people to easily transfer money to each other or their favourite merchants, informed Bose.

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GOOGLE'S GBOARD GETS OFFLINE AI DICTATION FEATURE

Google is adding an Artificially Intelligent (AI) offline dictation feature on its Gboard keyboard for Pixel phones that would allow users to speak out emails and texts even without an Internet connection We're happy to announce the rollout of an end-to-end, all-neural, on-device speech recognizer to power speech input in Gboard which is always available, even when you are offline, Johan Schalkwyk, Speech Team, Google wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Google has designed the feature to work at the character level. As you speak, it outputs words character-by-character, just as if someone was typing out what you say in real-time. It is exactly as you'd expect from a keyboard dictation system, Schalkwyk said.

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UPA WILL RESERVE 33% GOVERNMENT JOBS FOR WOMEN: RAHUL

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the UPA will reserve 33 per cent government jobs for women and pass the Women's Reservation Bill giving them 33 per cent of seats in Lok Sabha if the party is voted to power. Rahul Gandhi also said that the UPA government would simplify the procedures in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and have a low single tax rate. To a question on the status of women in the country, he said the situation was better in south India than in north India. There was the cultural aspect, he said. There is still a lot needed to be done in Tamil Nadu, he quickly added. When a student asked why he chose to hug the prime minister, Gandhi said he watched a 'very angry' Modi in Parliament running down his party, his late father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia. However, deep inside, he said, he felt affection for Modi and he thought Modi was angry because he is not able to see the beauty of the world. So I thought that at least from my side, I should show him some affection. When Rahul said, I genuinely feel love for the Prime Minister, the students broke into laughter and raised their voices, to which he repeated I genuinely do (love him). Love is the foundation of every religion whether it is Hinduism, Islam or Christianity. I was watching the Prime Minister speech in Parliament where he was criticizing my father, grandmother, great grandfather and the Congress, he said. Inside me, I was feeling affection for him. He was so angry that he was not able to see the beauty of the world. Rahul Gandhi said he felt that Modi didn't have the love he wanted. I wanted to show affection and hugged him. He said the UPA defeat in 2014 taught him several lessons. I learn from Modi. I don't hate him. Do you hate the person who teaches you? Rahul Gandhi asked to students and got a big No as the answer. The biggest teacher are the people who attack. The more you are attacked, the more you give love and affection back. On bringing peace back in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the first step was to build the bridge to the people there. It was built between 2004 and 2014 during the UPA government. As a result, terror attacks came down drastically and power was given to the people by holding elections. Pakistan will carry out terror attacks, he said. But we have to engage with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He criticized the central government for facilitating businessmen like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and others to leave the country after defrauding the banks The money deposited in the banks by people during demonetization was given to these businessmen, he said. When a student queried why he did not mention the name of Robert Vadra along with these businessmen, Rahul said: The government has the right to investigate. The law must not be applied selectively. I am the first person to say investigate Vadra. He asked the students how many times they had seen Modi taking any question. According to him, the current central government was North India centric and he believed that all parts of India should have an equal say. Rahul Gandhi said the world was moving from being US centric to US-China-Russia centric and India should not lean right or left but should stand straight. The Congress President said that the biggest hindrance for economic growth was crony capitalism and corruption. On the education system, Gandhi said there should be space for the government and everything cannot be left to the hands of the private sector.

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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya