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Gangster Abu Salem gets seven years in extortion case

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A court here on Thursday sentenced extradited gangster Abu Salem to seven years rigorous imprisonment in a 2002 extortion case.

“…the convict is a hardcore criminal (who) indulged in the activities of extending threats and extortion under the fear of death, and he has been previously involved in several cases of similar nature, therefore, he deserves severe punishment of such magnitude that the same should be a lesson for the convict and an alarming lesson for others,” Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sahrawat said.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.

On May 26, Abu Salem was convicted under Section 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, but acquitted under charges of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

The court has acquitted co-accused Pawan Kumar Mittal alias Raja Bhai, Mohd Ashraf alias Bablu, Majid Khan alias Raju Bhai and Chanchal Mehta in the case.

According to the prosecution, the gangster demanded money from a Delhi-based businessman and threatened to eliminate his family members if the amount was not paid.

Kabul announces ceasefire with Taliban

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The Afghan government on Thursday announced an eight-day ceasefire with the Taliban in response to a historic ruling issued by hundreds of religious scholars.

The ceasefire starting from the 27th day of Ramadan (June 13) will continue until the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said in a statement.

“With the ceasefire announcement, we epitomize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict,” Tolo News quoted Ghani as saying,

“This ceasefire is an opportunity for the Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not wining them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause.”

On Monday, more than 2,000 Afghan religious scholars from across the country gathered in Kabul and issued the ruling, saying “the ongoing war in Afghanistan is forbidden under Islamic law”.

However, at the end of the gathering, a suicide bomber detonated himself where 14 people were killed and 17 others wounded.

The Taliban has denied any involvement in the attack.

What RBI’s consumer confidence survey says about 4 years of Modi govt

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The fourth anniversary of the Narendra Modi government has led to much discussion about its track record on the Indian economy. Predictably, the pros and cons have divided among ideological lines, making it difficult to have an impartial view. Thankfully, we now have the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) consumer confidence survey, which should be free of bias.

The survey is conducted in the six cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad and therefore reflects opinions among the citizens of metropolitan India.

The RBI survey says that 48% of those surveyed in May 2018 felt that the general economic situation has worsened from a year ago, while 31.9% said their economic situation had improved. That gives a net response of -16.1 percentage points (31.9 less 48). Four years earlier, in June 2014, the net response was -14.4, better than it is now.

The consumer confidence survey also has data on people’s expectations—whether they expect economic conditions to get better a year from the date of the survey. In May 2018, the percentage of respondents who thought the economic situation would get better was 49.5%, while 27.8% thought it would worsen. That sounds good, until we consider that the June 2014 survey had 56.7% who thought the economy would get better in a year’s time and only 17.6% who thought it would get worse.

Expectations about the economy have come down sharply.

Data for perceptions and expectations about employment. It shows that people’s perceptions about the availability of jobs have worsened considerably, as have expectations about job prospects.

people think their incomes have increased or decreased in the last one year and whether they expect improvement in the next year. The survey numbers show a similar trend of fading expectations. Slightly more than half—50.8%—of those surveyed in May 2018 expect their income to increase in the next year. This measure was as high as 63.9% in June 2014.

In short, the National Democratic Alliance government has a tough task on its hands in the one year before the elections to change the mood of disillusionment.

To improve work culture, Mamata goes for sudden cabinet reshuffle in Bengal

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Executing a moderate reshuffle of her cabinet for the first time since 2016 elections, Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has changed the portfolios of a number of her senior colleagues in an apparent bid to improve the work culture and efficiency of her ministry.
As per her decision taken here on Wednesday night, state Transport minister Subhendhu Adhikari was given the additional charge of Environment department which was held by city Mayor Sovan Chattopadhyay since 2016.
The Mayor who used to hold three ministerial portfolios of Environment, Fire Brigade and Housing,was now stripped of one of his most important departments for reason best known to the Chief minister.
Similarly, Soumen Mahapatra has now become the new Irrigation minister replacing Rajib Bandopadhyuay, who was made the new Backward Classes minister, the portfolio previously held by Mahapatra himself.
In fact both the ministers had just swapped the departments between them for better functioning.
Like Subhendhu Adhikari, Labour and Law minister Malay Ghatak had also been given more importance in the cabinet as he was given the additional charge of Public Health Engineering (PHE) department which was till yesterday held by Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, another senior colleague of the Chief minister.
As a result Mukherjee was now left with the Panchayat, Rural Development and far less important the Water Resources Investigation departments to head.
Finally, the Chief minister has decided to keep the portfolio of sacked Tribal Development minister James Kujur to herself till further order.
Earlier on Tuesday, in another sudden move three senior ministers of the state cabinet also resigned owning responsibility for the ruling party’s partial debacle in the three tier Panchayat elections in their respective districts last month.
Informing their decision to step down, the Chief minister said State OBC (Other Backward Classes) Welfare minister Churamoni Mahato,Tribal Development Minister James Kujur and the minister without portfolio Abani Joardar submitted their resignations to her in view of their alleged failure to perform during the Panchayat poll.
‘I have accepted their resignations and asked therm to concentrate fully on the party organisations’, the Chief minister said.
Meanwhile, in a simultaneous reshuffle at the Administrative level, eight district magistrates were also transferred to other districts while some other IAS officers were shifted as heads of some other departments to further boost the work culture.
Among the districts where the District Magistrates were changed were Bankura, Purulia, East Midnapore Birbhum, North Dinajpur and Alipurduar, the sources said.

Hindusthan Samachar/Ankur/Shri Ram\

India among top five countries in e-waste generation: ASSOCHAM-NEC study

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Maharashtra tops e-waste generator but has only 32 recycling unit

Despite the government’s emphasis on Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan and Smart Cities project, India continues to be generating highest e-waste vis-à-vis China, USA, Japan and Germany, an ASSOCHAM-NEC recent study noted.

In India, Maharashtra contributes the largest e-waste of 19.8% but recycles only about 47,810 TPA (tonnes per annum) whereas as its counterparts Tamil Nadu (13%) recycles about 52,427, Uttar Pradesh (10.1%) recycles about 86,130, West Bengal (9.8%), Delhi (9.5%), Karnataka (8.9%), Gujarat (8.8%) and Madhya Pradesh (7.6), noted the joint study.

The global volume of e-waste generated is expected to reach 52.2 million tons or 6.8 kg/ inhabitant by 2021 from 44.7 million tons in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent, according to a study on ‘Electricals and Electronics Manufacturing in India,’ conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)-NEC joint study.

Out of the total e-waste produced in 2016, only 20% (8.9 MT) is documented to be collected properly and recycled, while there is no record of the remaining e-waste. The quantity of e-waste generated worldwide is expected to grow at a rate of 3.15 % (CAGR), due to which the estimate for the year 2018 has risen to 47.55 MT, noted the joint study.

The total value of all raw materials present in e-waste is estimated at approximately USD 61.05 billion in 2016, which is more than the GDP of most countries in the world, pointed out the joint study.

E-waste generated in India is about 2 million TPA (tonnes per annum), the quantity that is recycled is about 4,38,085 TPA. In states like Karnataka has 57 units with a capacity to process nearly 44,620 tonnes; Maharashtra has 32 units that can process 47,810 tonnes; Uttar Pradesh has 22 units to process 86,130 tonnes; Haryana has 16 units to process 49,981 tonnes. Tamil Nadu has 14 (52,427 in metric tons per annum), Gujarat has 12 units (37,262) whereas Rajasthan has 10 units (68,670) and Telangana has 4 units to process 11,800 metric tons per annum respectively.

The sad part is that a mere 5% of India’s total e-waste gets recycled due to poor infrastructure, legislation and framework which lead to a waste of diminishing natural resources, irreparable damage of environment and health of the people working in the industry. Over 95% of e-waste generated is managed by the unorganized sector and scrap dealers in this market, dismantle the disposed of products instead of recycling it.

E-waste typically includes discarded computer monitors, motherboards, Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT), Printed Circuit Board (PCB), mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones, white goods such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)/ Plasma televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators and so on.

High and prolonged exposure to these chemicals/ pollutants emitted during unsafe e-waste recycling leads to damage of nervous systems, blood systems, kidneys and brain development, respiratory disorders, skin disorders, bronchitis, lung cancer, heart, liver, and spleen damage.

The current rate of e-waste generation in India is 4.56 times greater than the annual e-waste processing capacity offered by the nation, which leads to improper and illegal dumping/ disposal of the hazardous e-waste, which further leads to environmental and health hazards, reveals the paper.

This includes 2 million tonnes generated in India, which has one of the fastest growing electronics industries in the world. Besides, electronics import also adds to waste. India’s e-waste production is likely to touch three million tonnes by the end of 2018.

E-waste includes all forms of waste products containing as a manufacturing component that run on either battery or power supply. It may include general consumer electronics, such as TV appliances, computer, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, white goods and also, industrial grade electronics, such as telecommunication systems, instrumentation systems and electronic machinery.

As Indians become richer and spend more electronic items and appliances, Computer equipment accounts for almost 70% of e-waste material followed by telecommunication equipment (12%), electrical equipment (8%) and medical equipment (7%). Other equipment, including household e-crap account for the remaining 4%, it said.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Former President Pranab Mukherjee to attend RSS event in Nagpur today

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Former President Pranab Mukherjee is in Nagpur today (Thursday, June 07) to attend and address an RSS event.

Mukherjee’s decision to accept the RSS’ invitation has generated a lot of controversies. While many Congress leaders expressed shock and reservations, RSS leaders welcomed it.

“By going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP and RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread a false rumor,” said Sharmishtha Mukherjee, Congress leader and daughter of Pranab Mukherjee in her Tweet message.

“The outrage amongst certain sections of the political class on former President’s acceptance of an invitation to be the chief guest for the concluding ceremony of the RSS’s Tritiya Varsh Training programme smacks of intellectual intolerance,” said Manmohan Vaidya, joint secretary of the RSS.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Indian police arrest Dalit activists amid criticism

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Police in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Wednesday arrested five Dalit activists on charges of inciting violence earlier this year, drawing criticism from community leaders.

The arrests of the Dalit writers and activists – Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, and Surendra Gadling – were made in connection to clashes between unprivileged caste Dalits and privileged caste groups in Bhima Koregaon, central Maharashtra, and ensuing protests in January. Two people were killed in the violence.

Dalits, who have suffered thousands of years of exclusion and extreme poverty, are at the bottom of India’s Hindu caste hierarchy.

“They have been arrested under the Unlawful Activities Act and charges under the Indian penal code,” Pawar said.

In January, Dalits from across Maharashtra took to the streets to protest against a January 1 attack on the community during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon.

During that battle in 1818, unprivileged-caste Dalits sided with British colonial forces to defeat privileged-caste rulers.

‘Inflammatory speeches’
The police are probing the connection of those arrested on Wednesday to “inflammatory speeches” at an event in Pune on December 31, 2017.

“They want to instil fear in the hearts of Dalit leaders,” Prakash Ambedkar, an activist and grandson of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution and a Dalit icon, told Al Jazeera.

A statement by People’s Union for Civil Liberties called the arrests “vindictive and arbitrary”.

Ashok Kamble, the leader of Dalit group Bhim Army, said Wednesday’s arrests were a “pressure tactic”.

“Dalit groups have no funds, but we are committed to fighting oppression. We can’t be bought, that’s why the state uses such tactics against us,” he told Al Jazeera.

Activists point to how right-wing privileged-caste leaders, with links to the ruling party, have yet to be arrested – despite cases filed against them for the January 1 attack on Dalits.

India is home to about 200 million Dalits, many of whom complain about continued social discrimination despite the outlawing of caste-based discrimination by parliament in 1955.

Hindus are traditionally grouped into various castes and membership is determined by birth.

Aljazeera

Light intensity earthquake jolts J&K

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A light intensity earthquake occurred in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday with no report of any casualty or damage to property.

An official of the MET department said the earthquake, measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale, struck at 12.21 p.m.

“The epicentre of quake was on the Kashmir-Xinjiang border,” the official said.

Sharad Yadav will retain official residence but not draw allowances: SC

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Rebel JD-U leader Sharad Yadav will continue to occupy his official accommodation here as the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court order allowing him to retain the official bungalow on Tughlaq Road here.

Permitting him to stay in the official accommodation, the vacation bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Ashok Bhushan took on record the statement by senior counsel Guru Krishna Kumar that Sharad Yadav won’t draw any allowances till the matter was decided by the High Court.

The top court also said that the division bench of the High Court will decided the issue, listed for hearing on July 12.

The court said this as senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Janata Dal-United Rajya Sabha member Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, said that due to the pendency of the matter, the election to fill two vacancies caused by the disqualification of Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar was not taking place.

The High Court while refusing to interfere with his disqualification by Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu as JD-U member of the Upper House had by an interim order allowed him to continue to stay in the official residence until his plea against his disqualification was decided.

The High Court had also allowed Yadav to draw allowances and perquisites.

Thursday’s order came on a petition by JD-U’s Rajya Sabha member Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, who challenged the Delhi High Court order.

Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar were disqualified as Rajya Sabha members after they rebelled against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to join hands with the BJP-led NDA after snapping ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.

Small Screen TV Trade Round Up

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Prasar Bharati Board Approves Policy
The Board of Public service broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, has decided to finalize the FreeDish policy in a meeting held recently. The Board has given approval to Doordarshan which operates the entity. It is understood that the finalized version will be presented to Information & Broadcasting Ministry (MIB). The decision was delayed in the previous meeting with a hesitation that the directive could “wreck the finances of Prasar Bharati, as the policy is likely to consider MIB’s direction to stop all e-auction of channels, according to the referred report. The broadcaster was asked earlier by MIB to review the continuation of FreeDish. As they had a feeling that only private channels will find this programme beneficial & the government would undergo recurring liability. FreeDish has a reach of 22 million subscribers. FreeDish was looking to adopt MPEG4 technology to carry more channels as it presently carries 80 channels only. The issue had been put into the sight of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal last year when channels reacted to its decision to suspend auctions after which an interim order allowed channels to continue to a pro rata basis till it decides on a new policy.
Pro Kabaddi League Makes 1st Ever Player Auction
India’s 2nd most watched sporting league, Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), has entered its 6th season auctions. Riding on the back of 5 phenomenal seasons, the auctions are taking place on 30th May, 2018 & 31st May, 2018 in Mumbai. The salary purse of the franchise remains the same as Rs 4 crore per team with a minimum of 18 players mandatory in the squad. The teams are strategising to build their strongest teams. A total of 422 players will be drafted into the auction pool of which 58 are overseas players & 87 are players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme (FKH), a nationwide talent scouting programme. The auctions will witness player representation from 14 other countries including Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia & Sri Lanka.
Industry Optimistic About RPD Technology
Across the world, efforts are on to make audiences measurement systems more reliable & tamper-proof so that advertisers can get the right value & content providers can tailor content as per market demand. Return Path Data (RPD) is a globally used system for collecting viewership data and is used by distribution players to study consumer behavior in UK, US, Canada & South East Asia. India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has tied up with Airtel Digital TV, Den Networks & Siti for including its subscriber homes on the BARC India RPD Panel. The partnerships will provide a fllip to BARC India’s plan for scaling up panel homes to multiples of the mandated 50,000. Zee Melt 2018 saw a session on “how return path data will turbo-boost television audience measurement globally” with panellists DEN Networks Group CTO Sanjay Jain, IndiaCast EVP Amit Arora, Tata Sky CCO Arun Unni, Star India head data science & IT Kaushik Das, Numeris Canada VP research Ricardo Gomez-Insausti & TRAI principal advisor Debkumar  Chakrabarti. The panel was moderated by Castle Media executive director Vynsley Fernandes.
ZEEL Gets Aggressive
And now following in the footsteps of &Prive HD, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has announced that it is rolling out &flix come 1 pm on 3rd Jun, 2018 on major DTH & digital cable TV platforms. The target audiences for the new offering: the striver, which the channel de×nes as those who are always pursuing new experiences, are ready to upgrade and take that quantum leap. Thus &fix will feature 52 premiers of hit movies, amongst a total roster of 400 – that have stories that show not just what is, but what could be. Among the top notch titles – that it has acquired from 10-11 independent Hollywood players & studios such as Sony, Paramount & Disney – that will debut on &fix feature: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Baby Driver, Life, The Emoji Movie, The Atomic Blonde, Jumanji & Blade Runner 2049. &flix is initially seeking a market in the 6 metros and will be available on Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Sun TV, Hathway & TCCL to name a few to start with. According to ZEEL premium channels-business cluster head Aparna Bhosle, 60 per cent of the total English content viewership comes from mega cities and has been growing at a CAGR of an impressive 35% over the past 3 years. “Out of the 183 million TV households, 51 million households consume English movies in India,” she elaborated.
The Rise And Rise Of SOL Productions
Fazila Allana & Kamna Menezes, who have been running top TV production house, SOL Productions, for the past one & a half decade. Word on the street is that they are like the goddesses of the unscripted TV genre. So much so that whenever a TV channel commissioning editor even considers a factual or unscripted show, one of the 1st ever production house’s doors they come aknocking at is SOL’s. With an overall turnover of more than Rs 35 crores, the big shows that have emerged from its banner are: Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, Koffee With Karan, Comedy Nights with Kapil & Nach Baliye. This apart, it has been behind several years of the Star Parivaar Awards, Zee Rishtey Awards & Colors Golden Petal Awards. Amongst the 1st ever shows it line produced was Indiantelevision.com’s The Indian Telly Awards in 2002-2003.
Enterr10 To Launch 2 Bengali Channels
There was a time when Hindi speaking market was much preferred by the Indian audiences, whereas regional markets weren’t much spoken about. Considering the increasing viewers’ interests towards regional space, broadcasters have also planned to shift their focus on launching regional channels for viewers. Enterr10, an Indian media & entertainment company which already has a Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) called Dangal TV, a Bhojpuri & Marathi movie channel named Bhojpuri Cinema & Fakt Marathi in their cluster. The company has added another feather to its cap by launching 2 more Bengali channels, which will be GEC & a movie channel. A source close to the development confirmed the news and revealed that Enterr10 Bangla will be a GEC channel & Shaandaar Cinema will be a Bengali movie channel.
Colors Makes A Push Into Bangla & Kannada
The Mukesh Ambani majority owned Viacom18 is firing ahead on 2 regional markets: Kannada & Bangla. Its flanking Kannada GEC Colors Super is all charged up to roll out 8 show come 11th Jun, 2018, while Colors Bangla is unveiling a new season of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire format – Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti. The reason: the channel’s management is hoping to build up on the momentum the 2 have been gathering. While Colors Super has grown by 280% in terms of reach & viewership in just the past year, Colors Bangla has seen its viewership double while its reach has gone up from 28% to 40% and its share has leapfrogged to 8%. So much so that it ranks 3rd in the regional pecking order after Colors Kannada & Colors Marathi for Viacom18.
Sony Opts For Interactivity
The debut TV show of actor Salman Khan nearly a decade ago, is back with a bang but promises to take the offering up a few notches. After 9 years, he will be back on screen on Sony Entertainment Television (SET) with Dus ka Dum. While the initial seasons depended on the entertainment factor, SET EVP & business head Danish Khan said that this time it will be socially-driven. Several heads were put together to decide the right set of questions. The brands on board till now are Kamla Pasand which is the presenting sponsor & Priyagold SuperStar & Syska LED as powered by sponsors.

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