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Two-wheeler taxi services uberMOTO, Ola Bike launched

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ubermoto

Bengaluru: Leading app-based cab aggregator rivals Uber and Ola on Thursday launched pilot on-demand two-wheeler taxi services uberMOTO and Ola Bike, respectively.

“We are very excited to pilot uberMOTO in Bangalore — pairing our on-demand technology platform with motorbikes… uberMOTO will offer another affordable mobility option that will help people save time and money while helping cut congestion in our cities over time,” said Uber India president Amit Jain in a statement.

uberMOTO’s minimum fare is pegged at Rs.15 followed by Rs.3 per km and Re.1 per minute of travel time.

About Ola’s motorcycle taxi offering Ola Bike, COO Pranay Jivrajka said: “We are excited to launch the pilot of Ola Bike in Bangalore today.”

“This will help users get to where they want to be within minutes, especially in traffic-prone cities like ours,” Jivrajka said.

Ola Bike comes with a minimum fare of Rs.30, Rs.2 per km and Re.1 per minute of trip time.

Both uberMOTO and Ola Bike motorcycle taxis have made arrangement to provide helmets to pillion riders and put safety measures like driver details displayed upfront, SOS, GPS tracking, two-way feedback and the ability to share trip details with family and friends in place.

Uber also highlighted that two-wheeler owners can become drivers on its platform and recoup expenses for their trips.

Currently, uberMOTO is available at Jakkur, Banaswadi, Whitefield, Sarjapura, Begur, Kothnur, Hosakerehalli, Vijaya Nagar and Yeshwantpur areas in Bengaluru.

(IANS)

SBI seeks Vijay Mallya’s arrest, seizure of passport: Report

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Vijay Mallya. Photo: Reuters

Vijay Mallya. Photo: Reuters

Mumbai: Top state-run lender State Bank of India (SBI) has sought arrest of Vijay Mallya, and also impounding of his passport, as the bank approached Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) seeking action against the UB Group promoter for defaulting on loans.

State Bank of India, which heads the consortium of 17 lenders to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru against the airline’s chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs. 7,000-crore dud loans from him.

According to sources, SBI has moved four applications at the DRT in Bangalore, seeking impounding Mallya’s passport, getting him arrested, securing the lenders’ first right on the payout from Diageo and getting full disclosure of his assets in the country and abroad.

The immediate objective of the lenders moving the DRT is to secure a first right on the $75 million severance package that Mallya will be getting for quitting Diageo-owned United Spirits (USL) as its chairman last week.

An SBI official confirmed to Press Trust of India that they have moved the DRT seeking right on $75 million severance package, as the borrower Mallya who has already been declared by the bank a wilful defaulter, has decided to leave the country and settle down in London.

Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs. 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank which had an exposure of over Rs. 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline.

Since January 2012, the loan was not serviced. Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank and Dena Bank among others. Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter. Last month, Punjab National Bank had also declared him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and the long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters.

As part of a deal, Diageo said it would pay $40 million immediately to Mallya with the balance being payable in equal installments over the next five years. It will also absolve Mallya of all liabilities over alleged financial lapses at the company founded by his family.

Last year Diageo auditors had found that Mallya had diverted Rs. 7,200 crore of United Spirits Limited (USL) funds to the airline, which was again diverted elsewhere.

The England-based Diageo is the majority shareholder of USL with a 54.78 per cent holding, excluding the 2.38 per cent owned by the USL Benefit Trust.

Mallya personally held a small stake of 0.01 per cent in USL at the end of December 2015, while his group firms owned further 3.99 per cent stake. However, more than half of these shares are pledged with banks.

The 17-member lenders consortium led by SBI has also decided to auction Kingfisher House in Mumbai on March 17 this year in a bid to recover a part of Rs. 6,963 crore debt due from Kingfisher, as lenders since January 2012 has recovered around Rs. 1,200 crore by selling pledged shares of group companies and other physical assets.

Banks are charging 15.5 per cent compounded interest on this principal amount, which has not been serviced since January, 2012.

(PTI)

No direct link of Kanhaiya with anti-India slogans: DM’s report

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Kanhaiya-Kumar

New Delhi: “No direct link” has been found between Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and anti-India sloganeering at the campus on February 9, said a Delhi government report.

“I have submitted the report to the Delhi government late last (Wednesday) night,” District Magistrate, New Delhi, Sanjay Kumar, who conducted the inquiry, told IANS.

The report also stated that the role of Umar Khalid, another JNU student accused of raising anti-India slogans, needs to be further investigated.

“Umar Khalid was visible in many videos. His support for the role of Kashmir and Afzal Guru is known and he was the organiser of the event. His role needs to be further investigated,” the report states.

Sanjay Kumar refused to divulge the details but an official privy to the report, who did not want to be named, said: “The DM report says they could not find any link between what Kanhaiya Kumar said and the anti-India slogans raised at the gathering.

“No witness or video available to me could support allegation against him,” Sanjay Kumar stated in the report.

But the official said that “anti-India slogans were indeed raised in the campus. There is no doubt about it”.

“Anti-national slogans were indeed raised on the campus of the JNU. The university administration has identified few faces who were clearly heard raising anti-India slogans. Whereabouts of them should be found out and their role must be investigated further,” the report stated.

The official said that seven videos were sent to Truth Labs, Hyderabad, of which three were found to be doctored. “In those doctored versions, video has been edited and voices added,” the official said.

The state government had ordered a magisterial probe into the matter on February 13.

On February 9, a cultural event was organised at JNU to commemorate the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

During the event, anti-India slogans were allegedly raised, following which JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested by Delhi Police on February 12.

Kanhaiya Kumar was granted interim bail for six months by Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

(IANS)

W Bengal: 800 fall ill after eating ‘prasad’ served in a ceremony

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Prasad

Barasat: About 800 people have fallen ill after consuming ‘prasad’ distributed in a religious function at Mitpukuria in North-24 parganas district, a health official said today.

The affected people include those from neigbouring villages of Kalikapur, Sardarhati and Mallikpara.

They all complained of stomach pain, loose motion and vomiting after eating ‘prasad’ at the ceremony on Tuesday night, the district’s Chief Medical Officer (Health) Proloy Acharya said.

All 800 of them were admitted to several hospitals and Primary Health Centres on the following day, he added.

About 300 people continued to be under treatment in different health facilities including the Barasat hospital, Acharya said adding, that even today many people are coming for treatment with similar ailments.

The Health department has collected samples of the ‘prasad’ served on Tuesday, he said.

(PTI)

PM attacks Congress, then reaches out to Oppn for support

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modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reached out to the opposition, saying he needs their support for ‘improvement’ in his government, even as he attacked the Congress over disruptions in Parliament while skipping the raging issues like JNU and Dalit student’s suicide.

Modi, speaking in the Lok Sabha, used wit and barbs as he responded to the attack by Congress over various initiatives of his government, including ‘Make in India’ and MNREGA.

Slamming the Congress for disrupting Parliament and stalling bills, he said the main opposition party was doing so because of “inferiority complex” of its top leaders. He also invoked the statements made by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and first President Rajendra Prasad by reading out their statements against stalling of legislative business.

He deploredthe ‘tu tu, mai mai’ (blame game) attitude by political parties for “scoring points”, saying the officialdom rejoices over this and nation suffers.

“This government also needs improvement which cannot happen without your help. I am new, you are experienced. I need the benefit of your experience. Governments will come and go. Let us work shoulder to shoulder,” Modi said while replying to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address which was approved later.

He said a democratic country like India cannot be left at the mercy of the bureaucracy as he sought to underline the importance of the Legislature, saying even a single MP of any party should be treated like “Prime Minister”.

In his 75-minute speech, Modi, however, did not respond to the specific issues raised by Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders, like his visit to Pakistan, blackmoney, JNU and Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide.

(PTI)

 

CM Siddaramaiah hands over the controversial watch to Assembly Speaker

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Siddaramaiah-watch

Bengaluru: Mired in a controversy over a luxury watch gifted to him, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday handed it over to the Speaker amid uproar in the state Assembly, declaring it a state asset.

As the Assembly was rocked by the controversy for the second consecutive day, an angry Siddaramaiah gave the watch and a letter to Speaker Kagodu Thimappa as BJP and JDS members continued to stage a dharna in the well of the House.

Siddaramaiah’s dramatic gesture came when the House reassembled after two adjournments with BJP and JDS persisting with their demand for a discussion on the issue. The Chief Minister said in the letter to the Speaker, who read it out, that he had paid “advance tax” for the watch.

He said the pre-owned “HUBLOT BIG BANG-301-M” wrist watch was presented to him by his Dubai-based NRI friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma in July last at Bengaluru as a personal gift. Siddaramiah also said Varma has no official dealings with Government of Karnataka or its organisations.

Opposition BJP leader Jagadish Shettar dismissed Siddaramaiah’s action as “high drama” and said he was doing so thinking that the controversy would end. A high-level probe by a central agency should be conducted, he said.

The Chief Minister is in the eye of a storm over the diamond-studded watch.

As controversy erupted, he declared last week that the watch, claimed to be worth Rs 70 lakh, would be declared as state asset and handed over to the government. As the Assembly met for the day, BJP members entered the well of the House and demanded that a discussion on the issue be allowed and Speaker should reconsider his decision on not allowing an adjournment motion on the issue.

However, Thimmappa, who rejected BJP’s appeal on Tuesday to allow adjournment motion, stuck to his decision. Following this, BJP continued its protest, stating that affidavit, documents and receipt relating to the watch had to be made public by Verma, who is said to have gifted it.

As both opposition and treasury benches were involved in war of words, the House was adjourned by the Speaker who called the floor leaders for a meeting. When the House reassembled, opposition members again entered the well and demanded a discussion.

Amidst sloganeering and protest by opposition, the Speaker even allowed introduction and passage of Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pension and Allowances (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, aimed at making provision to provide family pension to family members of the member deceased before December 26, 1978 operative from February 22, 2014.

As the protest continued, the Speaker once gain adjourned the House till afternoon.

(PTI)

Two JNU videos ‘manipulated’: forensic report

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kanhaiya-kumar-jnu

New Delhi: A Delhi government-ordered forensic probe of a set of video clippings of the controversial JNU event has found that two videos were “manipulated” where voices of persons not present in the clips were added.

Out of seven videos sent by the Delhi government to the Hyderabad-based Truth Labs, two have been found to be tampered with while the rest were authentic, sources said.

“In the manipulated clips, videos have been edited and voices have been added. The main report with a supplementary have been submitted to the Delhi government,” they said.

When asked whether the voices that were added were of persons not seen in the manipulated clips, they said “naturally”.

The Arvind Kejriwal led-government had on February 13 ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged raising of anti-national slogans on the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s campus on February 9.

Earlier, a video showing raising of anti-India slogans allegedly by outsiders at the event had given a fresh twist to the case.

In the video, the youths, whose faces were covered, could be seen raising slogans against India.

Several videos of the event have surfaced since the row broke out leading to the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition, triggering widespread protests.

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, also arrested in connection with the same case, to 14 days judicial custody.

(Agencies)

‘Fair and Lovely’ scheme launched to convert black money into white: Rahul Gandhi

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Rahul-Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress vice president on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government, saying it launched a “‘Fair and Lovely Yojana’ to convert black money into white money”.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said: “Nobody who has black money will be jailed under Modi’s ‘Fair and Lovely’ scheme. All those who have black money can make it white under this scheme.”

Gandhi was participating on the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President on his address to the joint sitting of parliament’s two houses, marking the beginning of the budget session.

He hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Modi ji had promised that he will put people with black money behind bars, now they have come up with way to save those people.”

“I was shocked to see Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launching such scheme.”

He said the prime minister failed to fulfil his poll promise of bringing the black money from foreign countries.

Gandhi also raked up the issue of suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula and said the prime minister neither called up his mother nor did he speak on the issue.

Gandhi slammed the prime minister for his silence over the violence done with students and media persons at a Delhi court.

“Why were you silent, Modi ji, when journalists, teachers and students were beaten,” he said.

On the ongoing Jawaharlal Nehru University row, Gandhi said: “I had heard (JNUSU president) Kanhaiya’s whole speech, not a word in his speech was anti-national.”

He said the government could not “crush the JNU” or the “poor people of the country”.

(Agencies)

No holy cows to protect, says Jaitley on Aircel-Maxis

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Aircel-Maxis

New Delhi: With new charges against former minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti surfacing over Aircel-Maxis deal, the government today asserted in Lok Sabha that there are “no holy cows” to protect and action will be taken against those found guilty, “howsoever important” one may be.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that Enforcement Directorate (ED) and investigative wing of the Income Tax Department, during recent searches in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal, have recovered several “incriminating” documents which are being scrutinised and charge sheets will be filed.

Replying to a short duration discussion on Aircel-Maxis deal in the wake of vociferous demand for action by AIADMK which has been disrupting the House since yesterday, Jaitley said the matter is being probed by three investigating agencies and it would be taken to the logical conclusion.

“No one will be spared. We have no holy cows to protect. The government is going to the root of each one of these cases,” said Jaitley, who also holds Corporate Affairs portfolio.

Refuting allegations that the government was going slow in the 2G and Aircel-Maxis cases as “absolutely incorrect”, he said in all these cases, “where CBI has come to a prima facie opinion that an offence has been committed, chargesheets have been filed and the trials are going on”.

Jaitley said, “Whatever was the stand of the earlier government, we have not been influenced by that stand at all. The investigative agencies have absolute freedom to professionally record the entire evidence and if they come to an opinion that some people prima facie guilty, the investigating agencies are free to take actions.”

For the second day today, Parliament proceedings have been disrupted by AIADMK members who were demanding action against Karti Chidambaram following reports that he has invested huge sums of money in various countries based on searches conducted at his premises and other related companies.

(PTI)

Priest gets 40-year jail term for molesting minor in Church

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Sanil K James

Kasaragod: Thrissur First Class Additional District and Sessions Court on Tuesday sentenced Sanil K. James, a pastor, to 40 years of rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act) Act for molesting a minor girl.

The judge K.P. Sudheer also slapped a fine of Rs.20,000 on the pastor with Salvation Army Church, Peechi. According to the prosecution, the pastor hailing from Karukachal, Kottayam district, molested the 12-year-old girl, a seventh standard student, in April 2014, at his quarters on the church premises at Peechi.

The court found him guilty under IPC Section 376 (2) (rape) and POCSO Section 5 (S).The judge observed that the accused deserved maximum punishment for his most cruel act against a minor girl.

This is the biggest ever jail term given to an accused under the POCSO Act in the state, according to legal experts. Peechi police investigated the case on a complaint received by the Child Welfare Committee, Thrissur.

Umesh, circle inspector, Ollur, registered the FIR. Special Prosecutor Pius Mathew appeared for the prosecution. Child Welfare Committee Chairman P.O. George said there are more than 300 cases registered under the POCSO Act in Thrissur district alone.

Incidentally, another case has also been registered against the pastor with the Peechi police for molesting another girl belonging to SC/ST community. The trial in the case is yet to begin. The convict has been sent to Viyyur Central Prison.

(Agencies)

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