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DK shivkumar  says coalition govt is not an earthen pot to be broken easilY

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Bengaluru: Water resources minister, D. K. Shivakumar hit out at critics for casting aspersions on the longevity of the coalition government in the state stating that the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government was not an ‘earthen pot’ which could be broken by anyone.

His remarks came a day after former chief minister Siddaramaiah clarified on his ‘CM again’ remark made at a public gathering in Hassan.

Speaking to media persons, Shivakumar said that he was a loyal party worker and would stand by the Congress party decision to forge an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). The alliance was forged based on certain values and ideologies to keep communal forces at bay, he said.

“I will be the last one to pull the rug from beneath anyone’s feet. I stood like a rock behind our party leader Siddaramaiah for five years without a murmur. I will do the same with Mr Kumaraswamy as well,” he said adding that anyone dreaming of breaking the alliance will meet with disappointment

Backing Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar said that the veteran leader would not the coalition government fall and he may have made the statement to motivate party workers.

Replying to a question on whether he is aspiring for the CM post, Shivkumar said that he was not in the race for the coveted Chief Minister’s post for the next five years and later on a decision on who will be the CM candidate will be taken by party central leaders.

 

[UDAYAVANI]

Flight times extended by major airlines to avoid payouts

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London Plane journeys are taking longer than a decade ago, according to a report that claims the change is due to airlines “padding” their schedules to create an impression that passengers are reaching their destinations on time.

The report by London-based travel guide, Which?, carriers were adding extra time to flight schedules, in some cases up to 30 minutes, to ensure they maintain punctuality and are therefore less likely to be liable for compensation payouts, the Guardian reported on Monday.

A majority of flight routes are advertised as taking longer than 10 years ago, despite improvements in aircraft technology, the report found.

Researchers examined average flight times for 125 routes operated by large airlines in 2009 and compared them with last year.

They found that 76 routes, 61 per cent, are now slated to take longer; with 87 per cent of British Airways flights analysed found to be slower. That proportion is 82 per cent for Ryanair, 75 per cent for Virgin Atlantic and 62 per cent for easyJet.

British Airways flights from Heathrow to Bangkok, New York and Singapore were extended by 20 minutes, and a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to Newark Liberty airport, New Jersey, now takes an average of 35 minutes longer.

Rory Boland, Which? travel editor, said: “Passengers are likely to feel that schedule padding is another case of airlines pulling the wool over their eyes. Instead, longer scheduled flight times are likely to mean passengers spend more time sitting around at the gate or on the plane itself, just so the airline can pat itself on the back for being ‘on time’ at your destination.”

[IANS]

This AI system spots often-missed lung cancer tumour

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New York Researchers from University of Central Florida in the US have taught a computer how to detect tiny specks of lung cancer in computed tomography (CT) scans, which radiologists often have a difficult time identifying.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) system is about 95 per cent accurate, compared to 65 per cent when done by human eyes, the team said.

“We used the brain as a model to create our system,” one of the researchers Rodney LaLonde said in a statement released by the university.

The approach is similar to the algorithms that facial-recognition software uses. It scans thousands of faces looking for a particular pattern to find its match.

The group fed more than 1,000 CT scans into the software they developed to help the computer learn to look for the tumours, according to the research to be presented at the MICCAI 2018 conference in Spain in September.

“I believe this will have a very big impact,” said Assistant Professor Ulas Bagci.

“Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the US and if detected in late stages, the survival rate is only 17 percent. By finding ways to help identify earlier, I think we can help increase survival rates,” Bagci added.

The next step is to move the research project into a hospital setting. After that, the technology could be a year or two away from the marketplace, Bagci said.

[IANS]

4 killed in Taiwan rains

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Taipei At least four people were killed and 143 injured following torrential rains in Taiwan that also caused agricultural losses worth more than 563.2 million Taiwanese dollars ($18 million), authorities said on Monday.

Central and southern Taiwan have suffered floods that have paralysed factories and work on farms in addition to causing power outages and damaging several roads, reports Efe news.

According to disaster management authorities, thousands of homes have been flooded and about 7,000 people have been evacuated, including 1,827 who are living in 20 temporary shelters.

Some 70,000 households have suffered power outages, according to fire agency data.

A Taiwanese weather expert on Monday forecast three more days of torrential rains and strong winds, warning residents of increased flooding, landslides and falling rocks, while evacuations continue.

The army has mobilized more than 37,000 troops and some 5,000 aircraft and vehicles to deal with the situation arising from the torrential rains.

[IANS]

Light rains in some parts of Delhi

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New Delhi With light rains in the morning in some parts of the national capital on Monday, the minimum temperature settled at 26.5 degrees Celsius, the season’s average.

The Met Office predicted few spells of rains and thundershower to occur during the day.

“There will be a generally cloudy sky during the day with light rainfall and thundershower likely to occur,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 34.9 degrees Celsius.

The humidity at 8.30 am was recorded 72 per cent.

Sunday’s maximum temperature was recorded at 33 degrees Celsius, the season’s average, while the minimum temperature settled at 27 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season’s average.

[IANS]

Vajpayee was not in favour of advancing 2004 polls, feared defeat: Long-time aide

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Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee was not in favour of advancing the Lok Sabha election in 2004 as he feared defeat but an overconfident BJP still decided to go for it, says his long-time aide Shiv Kumar Pareek, recognisable to everyone by his handlebar moustache.

Pareek also feels that the coordination that existed between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and workers during the Vajpayee era is now missing.

“There were two reasons behind the (2004) defeat. First, the slogan of ‘India Shining’ went against us. The second was the decision to hold early polls. Although Atalji was not in favour of early polls, the party decided to hold it,” Shiv Kumar, who had been with Vajpayee through thick and thin for over five decades and was his virtual shadow, told IANS in an interview.

He disclosed that Vajpayee had sensed the BJP’s defeat in 2004, a day before he cast his vote in the last election he ever contested.

“‘Sarkar to gayi. Hum haar rahe hain’ (The government is going. We are losing),” Vajpayee told Shiv Kumar after returning from an election campaign in Lucknow around midnight.

He said when he countered that a defeat was not possible, Vajpayee replied: “In which world are you living in? I am campaigning among people.”

Asked about the performance of the Modi government and whether it was following the path shown by Vajpayee, Shiv Kumar said: “It’s a political question. When I praise someone, I do it wholeheartedly, and when I criticise something, I do it to the fullest as well.

“Walking on Atalji’s path means living the way he lived, treating everyone the way he did and performing like he did as a Prime Minister. I hope they will follow his path.”

He added that it was due to the foundation laid by Vajpayee that the BJP not only crossed the half-way mark in 2014 but also became the first ever non-Congress party to a simple majority on its own. Besides the Centre, the BJP is now ruling 19 states. “If the foundations are strong, the structure will be steady.”

Asked whether the country could see another Vajpayee, Shiv Kumar said: “I believe that an artisan may create any idol, whether of Lord Ram or Hanuman or Ma Durga, but people will not bow before it until it is consecrated and installed in a temple.

“Atalji used to do the same with the karyakartas. In the present situation there is nobody who does it. The coordination that existed between the party and the workers during the Vajpayee era is missing now.”

Shiv Kumar said the Modi government was doing a good job and taking ahead Vajpayee’s initiatives. “This government is also bringing a lot of new schemes. In 2019, the people of this country will judge this government.”

Is there any difference between the “Shining India” campaign and Modi’s “New India” slogan?

He said: “Vajpayee was running a coalition government of 24 parties while Modi is running a majority government with BJP being in power in 19 states. Although an atmosphere against it is being created, the BJP will emerge victorious. The number of seats may go down but it will not be defeated.”

Shiv Kumar rejected suggestions that Vajpayee kept himself away from active politics due to the shock defeat in 2004.

“Atalji was never bothered about victory or defeat. You must have heard his famous poem — Na haar me na jeet me, kinchit nahi bhaybheet mai. After defeat he attended the BJP’s National Executive meet in Mumbai where he declared his retirement from active politics. After that he kept himself confined to attending limited functions of his closest ones. He remained active till Bhairon Singh Shekhawat contested the presidential elections in 2007.”

Asked whether Vajpayee really wanted Modi removed as Chief Minister of Gujarat post the riots in Godhra, Shiv Kumar replied: “Vajpayee wanted him (Modi) to follow Rajdharma (rule of law).”

Shiv Kumar, who saw Vajpayee from very close quarters, said the late leader’s life was like an open book.

“I am an orphan now,” he said, referring to Vajpayee’s passing away. He was the only person besides the family who was allowed on Vajpayee’s cremation platform.

“I was an RSS worker. Later I became a worker of the Jan Sangh. After Shyama Prasad Mukerjee’s death in mysterious circumstances, I approached Atalji and expressed my willingness to work with him as a caretaker. He was non-committal initially. Finally, he agreed and I started working with him in 1967.”

He said this was how he got associated with Vajpayee till his last breath.

“If you look for the ideals of Lord Ram, the energy of Lord Krishna, the policies of Chanakya in one man, he was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”

According to Shiv Kumar, Vajpayee used to watch movies, listen to songs and see Marathi plays at his 3, Krishna Menon Marg residence for 14 long years after he demitted office as Prime Minister and from where he was taken to hospital where he died.

[IANS]

Pakistan to continue water talks with India this week

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Pakistan will reiterate its serious objections over two water storage and hydropower projects being built by India during a meet with New Delhi this week in Lahore.

A government official told Dawn news on Sunday that Indian Water Commissioner P.K Saxena, along with a delegation, was expected to reach Lahore on Tuesday to begin the discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Syed Mehr Ali Shah from Wednesday.

The official said Pakistan would raise its concerns over the 1000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on two different tributaries of River Chenab despite Islamabad’s serious objections over their designs.

Pakistan has been raising reservations over the designs of the two projects and would like India to either modify it to make them compliant to 1960 Indus Waters Treaty or put the projects on hold until an understanding is reached between the two sides.

The official said Islamabad and New Delhi would also finalise the schedule of future meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission and visits of the teams of the Indus commissioners.

He said that the water commissioners of Pakistan and India were required to meet twice a year and arrange technical visits to projects’ sites and critical river head works, but Pakistan had been facing a lot of problems in timely meetings and visits.

The two-day session is also expected to discuss ways and means for timely and smooth sharing of hydrological data on shared rivers.

Pakal Dul is a storage-cum-power project and can have gross storage of about 108,000 acre feet of water. The project design envisages its filling every monsoon season between mid-June and end-August.

Pakistan believes that the tunnel spillway of Pakal Dul should be raised closer to the dead storage level because its placement 40 metres below the dead storage level could allow drawdown flushing not permitted to India under the 1960 water treaty, reports Dawn news.

On the 48MW Lower Kalnai project, Pakistan has raised objections to its freeboard, pondage and intake and is of the view that the depth of bridge girder and provision of freeboard should be close to one metre and considers two-metre freeboard as “excessive”.

The Lower Kalnai project is on a left bank tributary of Chenab and can have gross storage of about 1,508 acre feet of water.

Under the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty 1960, waters of the eastern rivers – Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – had been allocated to India and the western rivers – the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – to Pakistan, except for certain non-consumptive uses for India.

(IANS)

Pakistan bans VIP protocol at airports

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The Pakistan government has banned VIP protocol given by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to influential people at airports across the country, the media reported on Monday.

The decision came into force from Sunday as the Interior Ministry directed all officials concerned of the agency’s immigration wing to implement it, reports Dawn news.

“We have decided to strictly implement the decision to provide equal opportunities to all travellers without any discrimination,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told Dawn on Sunday.

“We have seen that influential people used to seek assistance of FIA officials at airports who (officials) accompanied them to promptly clear their luggage,” the Minister said.

The VIP protocol was usually given to politicians, legislators, senior bureaucrats, judges, military officials and journalists.

In case any FIA official is caught giving protocol to a VIP, he would face strict action, the Ministry warned.

Immigration counters at airports would be monitored and if any VIP was seen being given special treatment, the immigration staff and official in charge of their shift would be immediately suspended.

It was observed in the VIP lounge at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad that the influential people would sit in a luxurious atmosphere while their luggage was being cleared by FIA officials, Airport Security Staff or Civil Aviation Authority.

However, there is no such lounge available at the new Islamabad airport established near Fatehjang where all passengers have to follow the normal procedure.

Kapoor family to sell iconic RK Studio, Kareena nostalgic

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Bollywood’s iconic Kapoor family has collectively decided to sell the sprawling landmark RK Studio. Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan says she has fond memories of the studio, built by her late legendary grandfather Raj Kapoor.

Kareena, who has been under the weather for a few days, told IANS here: “I don’t know how far what is actually happening. In fact, I have been quite under the weather and I haven’t even met my father in the last four or five days… But of course, we have all grown up walking around in those corridors.”

“I think it’s probably something that the family has decided, so it’s upto my fathers, his brothers and up to them… If that’s what they have decided, so be it,” added the actress on the sidelines of the Lakme Fashion Week, where she was the showstopper for the finale show.

The Kapoor family has taken the tough decision of selling the two acre RK Studio 70 years after it was established as it was not economically viable to rebuild it after it was gutted down in a fire last year.

Rishi Kapoor, in an interview to Mumbai Mirror on behalf of the family, said they were initially juggling with the idea of renovating the place with state-of-the-art technology, but the investment in rebuilding the studio would just not have yielded sufficient revenue to keep it going. He called it a “level headed decision”.

In September last year, a major fire broke out on the sets of a dance reality show, leaving a section of the studio gutted.

R.K. Studio, the headquarters of the film production company R.K. Films, was founded and named after the Great Showman, Raj Kapoor, in 1948.

Its inaugural banner film “Aag” that year crashed at the box office, but the next year proved to be a good omen when its production “Barsaat” (1949), starring Raj Kapoor-Nargis was a superhit.

In fact, the company’s logo was designed to reflect the poster of a scene from “Barsaat” and after that, the studio never looked back.

It had a string of successful black-and-white releases like “Awaara” (1951), “Boot Polish” (1954), “Shri 420” (1955), “Jaagte Raho” (1956).

Later, the studio was the venue for several other big ticket films like “Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hain” (1960), “Mera Naam Joker” (1970), “Bobby” (1973), the debut film for Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” (1978), “Prem Rog” (1982), “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” (1985), which was the founder-actor’s last film before his death in June 1988.

(IANS)

Read IMF report on progess under NDA: Jaitley

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Referring to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that it was only with NDA coming to power in 2014 that the economy had undergone a transformational change.

In postings over both Twitter and Facebook, Jaitley, who resumed his duties earlier this week, said that a comparison of the data released in 2014 and 2018 proved that high inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit, besides a standstill in the infrastructure and power sectors, as well as in allocation of natural resources, were some of the failures of the previous UPA government.

“We have come a long way. The last four years have seen a series of reforms, both legislative and otherwise, which have been carried on by the Government. The system has been substantially cleaned up and made more transparent,” Jaitley posted on Facebook.

“Decisiveness has led to easier decision making and made the economy stand out before several other countries. I would urge all to read these two reports (IMF), the copy of which are now publically available,” he said.

“The tightening of global liquidity has increased external pressures and heightened the focus on India’s macroeconomic imbalances (high inflation, large current account and fiscal deficits) and structural weaknesses (particularly supply bottlenecks in infrastructure, power and mining),” The Finance Minister said regarding the report’s references to the situation in 2014.

“Growth is expected to slow to 4.6 per cent this fiscal year, the lowest level in a decade, reflecting global developments and domestic supply constraints. Headline CPI inflation is expected to remain near double digits for the remainder of the fiscal year. The current account deficit is narrowing, driven by a significant improvement in exports, robust remittances flows, and a rapid diminution of gold imports.

“Nonetheless, India has very little room to adopt countercyclical policies, constrained by persistently-high inflation, and sizeable fiscal and external imbalances. Spillovers from renewed external pressures interacting with domestic vulnerabilities are the principal risks,” he said referring to the situation in 2018.

“Stability-oriented macroeconomic policies and progress on structural reforms continue to bear fruit. Following disruptions related to the November 2016 currency exchange initiative and the July 2017 goods and service tax (GST) rollout, growth slowed to 6.7 per cent in FY 2017/18, but a recovery is under way led by an investment pickup”, he added.

(IANS)

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