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Bengaluru, Chennai suicide capitals of India; family problem major reason

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suicide

New Delhi: Chennai and Bengaluru have once again retained the dubious distinction of being the suicide capitals of the country, even as the metro cities recorded a minor increase in incidents of people taking their lives.

While Chennai has reported a slight increase, suicides in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai have shown a drop.

According to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2015 published last week, 53 metro cities, which have a population of more than 10 lakh, reported 19,665 suicides in the country as against 19,597 in 2014.

“The number of suicides in 53 mega cities shows a mixed trend during 2012 to 2015. It shows an increasing trend from 2012 (19,120) to 2013 (21,313). However, a decline of 8.1% is seen in 2014 over 2013. A steep rise of 11.5% was observed in 2013 over 2012,” the report stated.

An analysis of the figures showed that Chennai had the highest incidents of 2,274 suicides in 2015 as against 2,214 in 2014, a 2.7% increase.

However, suicides in Bengaluru had a 2.7 decline — from 1,906 to 1,855 — while Delhi had 1,553, down from 1,847, which was a decrease of 15.9%. Mumbai, which is the fourth in the table, had 1,122 suicides, a decrease of 6.2%.

The IT capital Bengaluru (87) and financial capital Mumbai (86), where a number of people migrate for jobs, recorded the highest number of suicides due to unemployment.

Only Bhopal was ahead of these cities with 173 suicides due to joblessness. Meerut (86) and Pune (83) were other toppers, while Chennai had 41 and Delhi 19 such cases.

Major causes

According to the report, family problems (other than marriage-related issues) were major reasons behind suicides in the cities, accounting for 34% (6,682), followed by illnesses at 17.2% (3,379). However, 1,019 victims have committed suicide in cities due to marriage-related issues, accounting for 5.2% of the total suicides in the cities.

While Chennai had the highest number (870) of suicides due to family problems, Bengaluru was a close second at 815. Those who committed suicide due to an illness was also high — Chennai (448) and Bengaluru (229).

In these four cities, 186 people committed suicide due to bankruptcy, while another 146 took their life due to unemployment and 21 due to poverty. Chennai had 154 suicides due to bankruptcy, while Bengaluru had 21, Mumbai (6) and Delhi (5).

Bengaluru also topped the list among the four cities in suicides over love affairs at 73, followed by Chennai (61), Delhi (39) and Mumbai (30).

(Agencies)

Bengaluru cops say man, sister-in-law hatched ‘molestation plot’ to get married

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irshadkhan

Bengaluru: Bengaluru police have cracked one of molestation cases that rocked the city and discovered that the culprit Irshad Khan, had staged the molestation drama with the intention of marrying his sister-in-law.

kg-halli-molestation

Footage from a CCTV camera showed a man stalking a burqa-clad woman walking towards a bus-stop on a deserted road on Friday morning. Another video, later in the day, showed wounds on her lips, tongue, hand and toes as she tried to resist the alleged molester.

Deputy commissioner of police (east division) Ajay Hilori said investigators found that it was a set-up. The alleged stalker is the woman’s brother-in-law and he plotted the incident meticulously because her parents were trying to marry her off.

The duo is in a relationship and decided to stage the molestation because she wouldn’t be able to find a match then. The accused thought he could then convince his wife to let him marry her sister,” the officer said.

The idea came after watching television channels that aired footage from a surveillance camera of a woman being molested by two men riding a two-wheeler in the Kammanahalli area of the city on New Year’s Eve.

Hilori said the accused surveyed the area for cameras and staged the incident.

(Agencies)

Cauvery row: TN seeks Rs 2,480 crore ‘compensation’ from Karnataka

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cauvery-water

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday sought a compensation of Rs 2,480 crore from Karnataka for not releasing water to the state despite getting a Supreme Court directive to do so. The apex court in its sitting on Monday has ordered both the Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka governments to file a list of witnesses within a week. It also said that the details of witnesses affidavit should also be listed within four weeks. However, the apex court on January 4 announced to continue the hearing of the Cauvery water issue on February 7.

A bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A M Khanwilkar extended the interim order in the water issue, directing Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu, till the next order.

The lawyer from the side of Tamil Nadu Shekhar Naphade urged the three-judge bench to bring the matter to a logical end for which there should be continuous hearing. The apex court mentioned that the hearings would go on for three weeks at 2 p.m. daily from February 7 onwards so that the issue could be resolved and the appeal would be finalised.

Earlier, on December 9, the apex court upheld its constitutional power and right to hear appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, against the 2007 Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal final award.

(Agencies)

Customers can pay at petrol pumps via cards post Jan 13 too, says Petroleum minister

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petrol-price

New Delhi: Credit and debit cards will continue to be accepted at petrol pumps even after January 13 without customers having to pay transaction charges, the government said today.

Banks and oil companies are in discussions as to who should bear these charges, it said a day after averting a crisis that would have hit millions of people as oil pump owners threatened to stop taking card payments.

“Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges will be levied as per RBI guidelines but who will take the hit? Banks, oil marketing companies are discussing,” Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters after meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the issue.

“We had assured yesterday also that since retail outlets, petrol pump owners work as commission agents, we will not pass on the cost to them,” he said.

Petrol pump operators had yesterday threatened to stop accepting card payments after banks said the transaction charges of up to 1 per cent will have to be borne by them. The crisis was averted after banks agreed not to insist on transaction charges for five more days, leading to pumps owners deferring their plans till January 13.

Pradhan said the government stands by its decision that customers using non-cash digital modes of payments will not have to pay any transaction charge. Also, the 0.75 per cent discount on fuel rate for using digital payments will continue.

“Banks and oil marketing companies (OMCs) are discussing the issue. In the coming days a mechanism will be worked out under which customers or petrol pump owners will not bear the cost,” he said.

Pradhan said the government had in February last year issued a circular saying customers will not have to bear the MDR charges on digital transactions so as to help the country move towards digital transaction and less cash economy.

“Government will ensure implementation of that decision,” he said. “In the coming days whatever digital transactions happens especially in petrol pumps, the burden will not be passed on to customers.”

When a card payment is made using a POS machine, service charges are levied. All stakeholders are discussing who will bear these, he said.

Pradhan said the Reserve Bank of India has come out with a circular on the amount of MDR to be charged for transactions below Rs 1,000, those between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 and those above Rs 2,000.

Asked if petrol pumps will continue to accept card payments after January 13, he said, “They will accept cards. I want to assure the people of the country who want to do digital transactions in petrol pumps, they will continue to do so.”

With OMCs already facing Rs 5,000 crore hit from having to bear 0.75 per cent discount on fuel sold using digital modes, Pradhan said the numbers are “fictional”.

“It (Levying MDR charges on card transactions) is a business model between banks and OMCs. They will decide who will take how much cost,” he said. “Government will not bear the cost.”

Card payments involve 2/3 players — payment gateways, POS machine provider and banks/merchandise outlet. “All these have their own share in the MDR charges. After negotiations, it will be decided to what extent the MDR charges can be brought down that we are discussing,” he said.

Pradhan said people can use cards for fuel purchases even after January 13. “0.75 per cent cash back incentive that we have given to customers will also continue.”

“It will be resolved before January 13. Bargaining and negotiations are going on. An amicable solution will be worked out,” he said.

(Agencies)

Erdogan offers citizenship to Syrian and Iraqi refugees

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President Erdogan says some refugees who pass screenings will be granted nationality to “make use” of their skills.

Turkey hosts more than three million refugees, mostly from Syria [AP]

Turkey hosts more than three million refugees, mostly from Syria [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that some Syrian and Iraqi refugees who pass a screening process will be granted Turkish citizenship.

In a speech broadcast on television on Friday, Erdogan said that security checks would be carried out to determine who among the millions who fled war in their home countries were eligible for citizenship.

“Our interior ministry is carrying out work, and under this work, some of them will be granted our nationality after all the necessary checks have been carried out,” he said.

“There are highly qualified people among them, there are engineers, lawyers, doctors. Let’s make use of that talent … Instead of letting them work illegally here and there, let’s give them the chance to work as citizens like the children of this nation.”

Erdogan added that the interior ministry “is ready to implement the measure at any time”. But he gave no further details, notably about how many would gain Turkish nationality.

According to Turkish government figures, the country is hosting more than three million Syrians and Iraqis who have fled conflict.

The Turkish leader outlined a naturalisation plan last summer but the idea was met with angry protests and xenophobic comments on social media.

The country’s political opposition saw the plan as a scheme to widen Erdogan’s electoral basis at a time when he is pushing for constitutional reform to strengthen his powers.

US veteran arrested over Fort Lauderdale shooting

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Esteban Santiago, who served in Iraq and was discharged last year, identified as Fort Lauderdale gunman who killed five.

Witnesses said the attacker shot his victims without a word and kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition [AP]

Witnesses said the attacker shot his victims without a word and kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition [AP]

by Al Jazeera

A US army veteran who complained that the government was controlling his mind drew a gun from his checked luggage on arrival at the Fort Lauderdale airport and opened fire in the baggage claim area on Friday, killing five people and wounding eight, authorities said.

The gunman was identified as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago of Anchorage, Alaska, who served in Iraq but was demoted and discharged last year for unsatisfactory performance. His brother said he had been receiving psychological treatment recently.

He was taken into custody after throwing his empty weapon down and lying spread-eagle on the ground, one witness said.

“People started kind of screaming and trying to get out of any door they could or hide under the chairs,” the witness, Mark Lea, told MSNBC. “He just kind of continued coming in, just randomly shooting at people, no rhyme or reason to it.”

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press news agency that Santiago had walked into the FBI office in Anchorage in November to say that the US government was controlling his mind and making him watch videos by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Agents questioned an agitated and disjointed-sounding Santiago and then called the police, who took him for a mental health evaluation, according to the official, who was not authorised to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said Santiago did not appear intent on hurting anyone. Authorities said the motive for the attack was under investigation.

One witness said the attacker shot his victims without a word and kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition for his handgun, sending panicked travellers running out of the terminal and spilling onto the tarmac, baggage in hand.

“The guy must have been standing over me at one point. I could smell the gunpowder,” Bruce Hogan, a witness, said. Hogan said a woman next to him tried to get up and was shot in the head.

President Barack Obama was briefed by his Homeland Security adviser, the White House said. President-elect Donald Trump said that it is a “disgraceful situation that’s happening in our country and throughout the world” and that it was too soon to say whether it was a “terrorist” attack.

The airport was shut down, with incoming flights diverted and outgoing flights held on the ground.

It is legal for airline passengers to travel with guns and ammunition as long as the firearms are put in a checked bag – not a carry-on – and are unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container. Guns must be declared to the airline at check-in.

Santiago arrived in Fort Lauderdale after taking off from Anchorage aboard a Delta flight Thursday night, checking only one piece of luggage – his gun, said Jesse Davis, police chief at the Anchorage airport.

At Fort Lauderdale, “after he claimed his bag, he went into the bathroom and loaded the gun and started shooting. We don’t know why,” said Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner who was briefed by investigators.

Santiago’s brother, Bryan, told AP that his brother had been receiving psychological treatment in Alaska. He said Santiago’s girlfriend alerted the family to the situation in recent months. Bryan Santiago said that he did not know what his brother was being treated for and that they never talked about it.

He said Esteban Santiago was born in New Jersey and moved to Puerto Rico when he was two. He was sent to Iraq in 2010 and spent a year there, according to Puerto Rico National Guard spokesman Major Paul Dahlen. He later joined the Alaska National Guard.

The Pentagon said Santiago had gone absent several times during his stint with the Alaska National Guard and was demoted – from specialist to private first class – and given a general discharge, which is lower than an honourable discharge.

The attack is likely to raise questions of whether aviation safety officials need to change the rules.

The attack also exposed another weak point in airport security: While travellers have to take off their shoes, put their carry-on luggage through X-ray machines and pass through metal detectors to reach the gates, many other sections of airports, such as ticket counters and baggage claim areas, are more lightly secured and more vulnerable to attack.

In 2013, a gunman with a grudge against the Transportation Security Administration shot and killed one of the agency’s screeners and wounded three others during a rampage at Los Angeles International Airport.

Last November, an airline worker was shot and killed near an employee car park at Oklahoma City’s airport, and in 2015 a machete-wielding man was shot dead after he attacked federal security officers at the New Orleans airport.

After MP, Rs 2,000 notes without Gandhi’s image found in Bengaluru

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mahatma-gandhi-image-missing-note

Bengaluru: A few days after people in Madhya Pradesh found Rs 2000 notes without Mahatma Gandhi’s image, similar notes were found in Anekal on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

It is said that when a local withdrew Rs 24,000 from his bank account, he was in for a shock when he noticed that Gandhi’s image was missing from few of the notes. Of the 12 notes the person received, many were blank on one side. It was only after he went to pay his house rent that he found the mistake in the notes. The man’s ordeal was not over, as when he went to the bank to exchange the notes, they too turned him away.

Bank officials alleged that the man had gone to the RBI office in Bengaluru to exchange the notes, but the man argued that he was given the notes at the bank; finally after a heated argument, bank officials exchanged the notes after checking CCTV footage and verifying serial number of the notes.

While some felt that they were fake notes, bank officials said that they were genuine notes but the mistake was a result of defect in printing.

(Agencies)

Sex racket case: Absconding Meghalaya MLA arrested

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Shillong: Independent Meghalaya MLA Julius Dorphang, who was wanted in connection with a sex-racket case involving a 14-year old girl here, was today arrested from his hideout in neighbouring Assam, the police said.

The arrest came a day after a look out notice was issued and the state police sought cooperation from their counterparts in neighbouring states.

“We have arrested Dorphang and he was brought here. He will now face trial,” East Khasi Hills district SP M Kharkrang told PTI.

The arrest was made from a place which he used as a hideout, he said, without divulging details.

In fact several raids were conducted within the state and even several places in Assam where the legislator frequented till yesterday morning but the raids were futile.

A joint raid was also conducted at Hatigaon area on Thursday where the surrendered ULFA leaders are running their offices but they did not find him there.

Dorphang, who had co-founded an armed organization until he surrendered in 2007, went into hiding after the police booked him under section 366 (A) of the IPC and registered section 3 (a)/4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and under section 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) against him.

The sex racket came to light after an employee of a guest house owned by senior Congress leader and Home Minister H D R Lyngdoh’s son was arrested for trafficking of the 14-yr-old victim last month.

The victim was rescued from near the guest house and brought to the police station where she named all those involved in sexually exploiting her. Five of the eight people, including four women, named in separate FIRs have been arrested till date.

On January 4, the court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Dorphang, following which the manhunt began.

(PTI)

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas kicks off in Bengaluru

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pravasi-bharatiya-divas

Bengaluru: The 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Day got off to a colourful start here on Saturday, with the young Indian diaspora from across the world connecting with their motherland and discovering its wonders.

“With 65 per cent of the Indian population being under 35 years, it’s a great opportunity for the young diaspora to foster friendship, discover the country’s hoary tradition and rich culture and identify with its ethos,” said Karnataka’s Industry Minister R.V. Deshpande at the inaugural session of the three-day event.

Lauding the contribution of the young Indian Diaspora worldwide, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel said the American business magazine Forbes had listed about 30 Indians below 30 years as super achievers and game changers in 20 industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, finance and sports.

“It’s a matter of pride and honour that Chief Executives of Google, Microsoft and PepsiCo are India-born Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and Indira Nooyi. President-elect Donald Trump has named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, daughter of Indian immigrants, as the US Ambassador for the United Nations,” said Goel.

About 400 young Indian diaspora participated in the a Youth Pravis Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at the inaugural session on “Role of diaspora in the transformation of India”.

Suriname Vice-President Michael Ashwin Adhin and Minister of State for External Affairs General V.K. Singh also addressed the gathering on the occasion.

Being held for the first time in Karnataka at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on the city’s outskirts, the three-day event has drawn about 1,800 NRIs from 72 countries to redefine their engagement with their motherland.

Besides, about 5,400 delegates from across the country are also attending the mega event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially inaugurate the event on Sunday and deliver the keynote address in the presence of Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa as the chief guest.

Celebrated every alternate year since 2015 in the second week of January, the biennial event commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa on January 9, 1915 and provides a common forum for addressing issues concerning the Diaspora, especially NRIs and PIOs.

About 10 plenary sessions are being held over the next three days on various topics, including two on start-ups and disruptive innovations and investment opportunities in Karnataka.

President Pranab Mukherjee will confer Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards and delivery the valedictory address on Monday.

Other Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javedkar, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers H.N. Ananth Kumar and Niti Ayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant are among those who will address the gathering at the plenary sessions.

Chief ministers of seven states are also attending the event.

The state’s Kannada and Culture department has organised cultural shows in the evenings to entertain the delegates for all the three days.

(Agencies)

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