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Lottery scam: Pari Rajan printed tickets in Kerala, was connected to film industry

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Pari Rajan

Bengaluru: Reportedly, Pari Rajan, the kingpin of the Single Digit Lottery scam, who was arrested on April 30th in a raid on his house in BEML Layout, KGF, by the lottery and excise enforcement department, has told the CID that the tickets were printed in Kerala, and that the network is spread across three states  He has named his associates as Jithu alias Ranjith, Erode Ranjan, KVK Ganesh and Anand, who are at large. Rajan has been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating and disobeying the order of a public servant.

Sources indicate that Paari has told the police that Jithu was a courier to the printer and collected the tickets. Tickets of 24 different lotteries from several states, including Assam, Tamil Nadu and surprisingly Bodoland were found at his residence. Apart from this Police  recovered more than Rs 39,000 in cash.  The Phones were missing though. He had handed the phones and SIM cards to his friend Murugan, who lives in RT Nagar, Bengaluru. Police later managed to seize the mobiles and cards.

Before the state decided to transfer the case to the CBI, no officer other than Alok Kumar, additional commissioner (west), was questioned. Alok Kumar is now under suspension. Rajan had links with film world, says CID

Information emanating from various sources indicate that Rajan Nataraj aka Pari Rajan,is also closely connected with the film industry in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. This became evident from his his phone call records.

“We are not sure if those from the film industry are involved in the scam. But Rajan claimed he helped producers get finance for films and facilitated budding actors by getting them small roles. He also took commission from them. We’d already seized over 12 SIM cards from him. Now, it looks like he has more SIM cards. Since the case is being transferred to CBI, we will bring the matter to their notice,” sources said.

(Agencies)

Rolls Royces, movies: private India hospitals go luxe for growth

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An exterior view of the Fortis Memorial Hospital is pictured at Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

An exterior view of the Fortis Memorial Hospital is pictured at Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

by Zeba Siddiqui & Aditya Kalra, Reuters

Mumbai: Cinemas, Rolls-Royces and rooms so plush they could belong in a five-star hotel: private hospital operators in India are all but rolling out a red carpet to lure affluent locals and tourists to seek medical treatment at their luxe facilities.

Local hospital firms including Fortis Healthcare Ltd , Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd and privately owned Medanta have built or upgraded facilities to tap the top-end of a private healthcare sector industry body ASSOCHAM estimates would grow 20 percent a year from 2013 to become a $125 billion market in two years time.

Overseas rivals including Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare and ABV Group are also investing in luxury healthcare in India, attracted by strong demand for quality medical care which, due to lower costs and a weaker rupee, they can offer to patients at below-international prices.

“The fact that you actually come for surgery or medical treatment would be an incidental part of the experience,” ABV Group Chief Executive Advet Bhambhani told Reuters.

ABV, due to open a luxury hospital in an upscale Mumbai neighbourhood within two years, plans to provide Rolls-Royce cars to ferry its patients. It plans to invest $78 million and is also looking at refurbishing hotels, Bhambhani added.

An overcrowded and underfunded state healthcare system makes private healthcare the norm for all but the poorest of Indians.

Those wealthy enough to afford it travel to the United States or Singapore for treatment and these are the patients private hospital operators want to keep at home by offering top-notch facilities and Indian doctors who have worked or trained abroad.

At the 450-bed Fortis Memorial hospital near New Delhi, for example, there is an inhouse cinema lounge and a food court. And the rooms at Aster Medcity’s 575-bed hospital in Kerala have warm lighting and hardwood floors intended to give them the feel of a luxury hotel room.

“We feel that in five years time our Aster Medcity and other hospitals that we will set up will enable us to effectively compete with Singapore,” Chief Executive Harish Pillai said.

The hospital operators are also courting medical tourists: visitors who combine surgical procedures with sightseeing, or who let value for money determine where they will seek treatment.

The medical tourism sector is expected to grow to $10.3 billion in 2020, from $2.8 billion now, consultancy PwC says. A 2014 study by consultants KPMG ranks India as the third top Asian destination for medical tourists after Thailand and Singapore, with 25 percent growth a year, outstripping the 16 percent growth in Thailand.

“Medical tourists have a lot of expectations now. The quality is a very critical factor,” said Prashant Hedge, group head of marketing at Wockhardt Hospitals, a unit of one of India’s largest pharmaceutical firms Wockhardt Ltd.

Some 1.2 million medical tourists are expected to visit India by the end of this year, and that number is likely to double by 2020, according to PwC.

Popular treatments for these tourists include bone-marrow transplants, cardiac bypass surgery, eye surgery and hip replacements, KPMG says, and costs are below rival destinations. A hip replacement, for example, can cost $7,000 in India, about $12,000 in both Singapore and Thailand and more than $40,000 in the United States.

“A market is evolving for both high-end clinical care and the hospitality that goes with it,” said Vishal Bali, Asia Head of healthcare at private equity fund TPG Growth, which is planning to invest in healthcare providers in India.

“It’s just the rise of healthcare consumerism.”

Edward Snowden a 'Total Hero,' says Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak

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“It’s almost like you can’t have any secrets anymore,” Steve Wozniak says. “And the modern generation just accepts this as the status quo.”

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is a 'total hero.' (Photo: Getty)

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is a ‘total hero.’ (Photo: Getty)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Privacy advocate and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak considers NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be a “total hero” and laments a missed opportunity to build more privacy protections into modern computer operating systems, according to a recent interview.

Asked about Snowden in an interview with the Middle East technology website ITP.netpublished late last week, “Woz” said: “Total hero to me; total hero. Not necessarily [for] what he exposed, but the fact that he internally came from his own heart, his own belief in the United States Constitution, what democracy and freedom was about. And now a federal judge has said that NSA data collection was unconstitutional.”

Regarding today’s privacy protections—or lack thereof—the inventor, engineer, and programmer, who designed both the Apple I and Apple II computers in the late 1970s, is unimpressed.

“It’s almost impossible [to protect yourself] because today’s operating systems generally get so huge that they can only come from a few sources, like Microsoft, Google and Apple,” he said. “And those operating systems have so many millions of lines of code in them, built by tens of thousands of engineers over time, that it’s so difficult to go back and detect anything in it that’s spying on you. It’s like having a house with 50,000 doors and windows and you have no idea where there might be a tiny little camera.”

“It’s almost like you can’t have any secrets anymore,” he added. “And the modern generation just accepts this as the status quo.”

Wozniak, known to many by his nickname Woz, also lashed out at mega-corporations like Google and Facebook, which he said “are trying to make money off knowing things about you.”

As Yoni Heisler notes for the tech website BGR, “Woz’s own views on digital privacy are particularly intriguing because Woz’s own work on the Apple I and Apple II helped kickstart the personal computing revolution, helping to establish the framework for the connected world we live in today.”

During the interview, conducted during an international tech conference in Dubai, U.A.E., Wozniak also claimed the U.S. would look like Dubai—a city known for infrastructure spending, ultra-modern architecture, and lavish wealth—if it pursued different spending priorities.

“Everything is first-class,” he said of Dubai. “The United States used to talk, when I was growing up, like that’s what we were. The U.S. would look like this if we didn’t spend all our money on the military.”

Nusra leader: Our mission is to defeat Syrian regime

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Abu Mohammed al-Golani in exclusive interview to Al Jazeera says his group has no specific agenda to target West.

Abu Mohammad al-Golani

by Al Jazeera

The leader of the Nusra Front, one of Syria’s most powerful rebel groups, has said that his group’s main mission is to dislodge the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and that it has no agenda to target the West unless provoked.

“We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others,” Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in an exclusive interview aired on Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

“Nusra Front doesn’t have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the US or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime. Maybe al-Qaeda does that but not here in Syria,” he said.

But his statements did include a warning against the US over its attacks on the armed group, which has been blacklisted a “terrorist organisation” by the US.

“Our options are open when it comes to targeting the Americans if they will continue their attacks against us in Syria. Everyone has the right to defend themselves,” he said in an interview with the Doha-based network.

‘Khorasan fabricated’

Golani not only accused Western nations of backing the government of President Assad against the rebels, but of also fabricating the “Khorasan” group – which Washington says is a covert faction in Syria that aspires to attack the US.

“The West is targeting Nusra because they know we are the real threat to the Assad regime. This is why they came out and said they are only targeting this group that they called Khorasan,” the leader of al-Qaeda’s Syria branch said.

“There is nothing called Khorasan group.The Americans came up with it to deceive the public. They claim that this secret group was set up to target the Americans but this is not right.”

He also noted that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), which has been accused of rampant atrocities and controls large parts of the country, was a main threat to the Nusra Front.

“Assad forces are fighting us on one end, Hezbollah on another and ISIL on a third front. It is all about their mutual interests.”

Alawites will not be targeted

When questioned whether the Nusra Front planned to establish Islamic state in Syria, Golani said that after the whole war is over, all factions and groups in the country will be consulted before considering
“establishing an Islamic state”.

Golani also said that his group will not target the country’s Alawite minority despite their support for Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“The battle does not end in Qardaha, the Alawite village and the birthplace of the Assad clan,” he said.

“Our war is not a matter of revenge against the Alawites despite the fact that in Islam, they are considered to be heretics.

Heat wave toll in Andhra, Telangana crosses 1,300

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heatwave

Hyderabad: The heat wave sweeping across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana claimed over 200 more lives since Tuesday, taking the toll to 1,360.

Officials on Wednesday night said 157 people succumbed to sunstroke in Andhra Pradesh while 70 died in Telangana since Tuesday.

There was no respite from the blistering heat as both the states recorded temperatures three to seven degrees Celsius higher than the average.

The toll in Andhra Pradesh now stands at 1,024 and in Telangana at 366. Officials in the two states had confirmed 1,133 deaths till Tuesday night.

Almost all the deaths were reported during the past one week.

Though Andhra Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinna Rajappa had confirmed 551 deaths on Tuesday, the toll was revised later based on reports received from the districts.

Disaster management department officials said they were revising the figures after receiving confirmation from field-level officials about the deaths.

Though temperatures dropped in parts of Telangana and also in north coastal Andhra on Wednesday, both the states continued to reel under the searing heat.

The Hyderabad Meteorological Centre has warned that severe heat wave conditions may continue for another two days.

The heat wave, attributed to dry winds from the north-westerly direction, may abate after two days.

The highest temperature of 47 degrees Celsius was recorded at Jangamaheswarapuram in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. Vijayawada, Bapatla and Machilipatnam sizzled at 46 degrees.

The mercury continued to be above 42 degrees in most parts of south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

In Telangana, Nalgonda and Khammam were the hottest places on Wednesday at 46 degrees Celsius.

Poor people, especially the homeless, construction workers, rickshaw pullers and street vendors were the worst hit by the heat wave.

According to officials, the majority of the victims were the elderly and children. The Andhra Pradesh government has already announced compensation of Rs.1 lakh each for the families of the victims.

Out of 867 deaths confirmed by officials in Andhra Pradesh till Tuesday night, Prakasam district accounted for 202. Guntur (130), Visakhapatnam (112) and East Godavari (107) also bore the brunt of the heat wave.

Vijayanagaram district accounted for 78 deaths, Nellore 74, Srikakulam 40, Chittoor 29, Kadapa 22, Kurnool 17 and Anantapur 14.

In Telangana, Nalgonda district was the worst hit with 73 deaths. Khammam district accounted for 60 deaths, Mahabubnagar 32, Medak 26, Karimnagar and Adilabad 22 each, Warangal 9, Nizamabad 8 and Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy seven each.

(PTI)

Delhi government challenges Centre’s notification on LG’s powers

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Najeeb Jung Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The AAP government on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre’s recent notification giving the Lieutenant Governor absolute powers in appointing bureaucrats in the national capital.

The petition was mentioned before a bench of justices B.D. Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva, saying, “The Delhi government has decided to move against the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA’s) May 21 notification.”

“As per the notification, the LG would have jurisdiction over matters connected with services, public orders, police and land, and…services of bureaucrats…allowing him discretionary powers to seek the opinion of the CM,” it said.

The petition was mentioned by Delhi government standing counsel Raman Duggal a day after the Centre moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Delhi HC which termed as “suspect” MHA’s recent notification barring the city government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) from acting against its officers in criminal offences.

The HC had also held that the LG cannot act in his discretion.

Mr. Duggal also said that he has challenged all notifications issued by the Centre in the past. The bench has listed the matter for hearing on Friday.

The Delhi government, led by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has also challenged the appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary by the LG.

LG meets Union Home Secretary

Meanwhile, Delhi LG Najeeb Jung met Union Home Secretary L.C. Goyal on Thursday, amidst the ongoing tussle between him and the AAP government.

The meeting came a day after the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the Home Ministry notification giving absolute powers to the LG in several matters, including transfer and postings of senior bureaucrats.

After the meeting with the Home Secretary, the LG refused to speak to media persons.

Sources said they discussed the issue of Wednesday’s resolution passed by the Delhi Assembly and the government’s stand in the apex court with regard to the SLP.

(PTI)

Movie Review: 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' is an endearingly romantic & superb film

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Tanu-Weds-Manu-Returns

Banner: Colour Yellow Pictures
Producer: Kishore Lulla & Anand L. Rai
Director: Anand L. Rai
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K. K. Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Rahul Shankalya & Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub
Music: Krsna Solo & Tanishk – Vayu

5 years ago director Anand L. Rai had come up with an endearing film ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ which had lady luck in tandem with the box office Goddess smiling at him and now exactly after 5 years he has come up with its sequel ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’. So will its past box office success also return with the current offering. Let’s wait & watch.

So the pre – plotted scenario of ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ gets kick started with the nostalgic wedding day of Tanuja Trivedi aka Tanu (Kangna Ranaut) along with Dr. Manoj Sharma aka Manu (R. Madhavan) with the iconic “Sunn Saahiba Sunn” track playing in the background. The opening scene sets the tempo of the film. This is then immediately followed by the admission of Manu in St. Benedict’s Asylum by Tanu. After that, she returns to her hometown Kanpur to be with her parents. But the human side of her being makes her call Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal) and ensures that he frees Manu from the asylum. When she reaches Kanpur, she meets up with Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Sheirgill), who is on the verge of getting married. Around the same time, when Manu reaches Delhi, he sights upon the very ‘sporty’ Kusum (Kangna Ranaut again in a dual role), who happens to be a state level athlete. The very moment Manu sees her, he falls in love with her so much so that he starts following her and ultimately convinces her & her relatives for marriage, despite being a ‘second hand’ man, which is how Kusum describes him as. Meanwhile, with the help of her just graduated lawyer friend Chintu (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), she manages to threaten Manu with a divorce notice. Frustrated & aggravated because of this action, Manu ultimately decides to marry Kusum. Seeing her ‘husband’ about to tie the knot with Kusum, Tanu lands up with Raja at the venue, despite being all geared up for all the insults.

Director Anand L. Rai has made an appropriate & commendable sequel of his earlier film. His directorial skills are perfection personified & brilliant. The film hooks nay mesmerizes the cine goers from “start” to “end”. A standing ovation also goes to his entire behind the scenes team. A special well deserved credit also goes to crooner Swati Sharma for her husky, melodious & mellifluous “Banno” number.

Performance wise it is no doubt the Queen Kagna Ranaut’s histrionic oriented journey from “start” to “end”. Critical appreciation and awards galore are now hers for the asking. She is just fab in her dual role of Tanu (The hurt wife) & Kusum (The Haryanvi athlete). She gets into the skin of both the characters with perfect ease. R. Madhavan delivers a restrained albeit a “healthy” performance, pun definately intended please. All in all even he too has emerged a “plumpy” winner all the way without an iota of doubt. Deepak Dobriyal is brilliant. While the rest of the actors comprising of Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Jimmy Sheirgill, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K. K. Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma & Rahul Shankalya have lent their own incredible charm to the film thereby helping with their individual ‘contributions’ in making the film a winner all the way.

Tail Piece: Strictly recommended for one and all, but especially for the married men and their spouses, teeny bopper boys and girls and of course all the about to be married and romantically involved couples.

One shot dead in Patanjali food park; Ramdev’s brother arrested

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Ramdev Rambharat

Dehradun: One person was shot dead and four others were injured today when a clash broke out between security guards on duty at Ramdev’s Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in Padartha area and members of a truck union, the police said.

Two persons, including Ramdev’s brother Rambharat, have been detained for interrogation in connection with the incident.

The police said the members of the truck union were for some time protesting against the firm engaging truck operators from outside of Haridwar for transporting products to market.

They wanted the firm’s management to assign the job to local truck owners, SP (rural) Parmendra Dobhal said.

The supporters of the union today stopped trucks outside the gates of the firm to which the security guards objected.

A verbal clash ensued followed by fist fighting leading to the security men opening fire at the group of truckers, killing one of them on the spot, he said.

The deceased has been identified as Balbir (50), who hails from Ethal in Haridwar district.

Four persons belonging to both groups were also injured in the clash, the SP said.

Ramdev’s brother Rambharat and a park employee have been detained for questioning, the police said adding that the situation was under control.

(PTI)

Yaduveer crowned as Maharaja of Mysuru

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Mysore: Yaduveer Krishnanadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar during his Coronation Ceremony in Mysore on Thursday. Photo: PTI

Mysore: Yaduveer Krishnanadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar during his Coronation Ceremony in Mysore on Thursday. Photo: PTI

Mysuru: Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar was coronated as the Maharaja of Mysuru on Thursday. The newly coronated King ascended the silver throne ‘Bhadrasana’ following the coronation ceremony.

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar is the 27th King of the Wadiyar dynasty.

The coronation ceremony took place at the Amba Vilas Palace, Mysore today morning at around 9:30 am. Around 1,000 special guests attended the royal occasion.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda attended the coronation ceremony along with other politicians.

'Achche din' only for PM, not for common people: Tarun Gogoi

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Tarun Gogoi

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying ‘achche din’ (good days) have come only for the prime minister and not for the common people.

“The prime minister wore a suit worth Rs.10 lakh. So ‘achche din’ have come for him, but not for the people. I have not even seen a suit worth Rs.10 lakh,” Gogoi said in an interaction with media persons.

Gogoi criticised the frequent visits by central ministers to Assam and the northeast, saying it was a ploy to impress the people of the state ahead of the state assembly elections next year.

“We are happy that so many ministers are coming to Assam and other parts of the region now. This will continue till next year’s elections and after the elections, it will stop,” he said.

Launching a personal attack against the prime minister on his dressing style, Gogoi said: “The sales of the Modi jacket have gone down now. Earlier it was in fashion. Even I have worn one. People have now come to know that the quality of the Modi jacket is not good and that is why the same has decreased now.”

Gogoi claimed that the Congress will come to power again in Assam in next year’s assembly elections.

“The people of Assam have seen the BJP government at the Centre in the last one year. They made so many promises before the Lok Sabha elections. However, they have now made U-turns on most of them,” Gogoi said.

“The BJP has cheated the people of Assam and so it cannot come to power in Assam,” he said.

On the Congress party’s alliance with other parties, the chief minister said: “We have decided to go alone in next year’s polls. There are problems of accommodation in a coalition government. So, there will not be any alliance next year.”

Gogoi also accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of reducing the centrally-sponsored schemes from 142 to 66, and of further moves to cut programmes launched by the earlier governments.

(IANS)

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