Varanasi, Nov 19 A fire broke out at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport here in Uttar Pradesh on Monday at the Air India ticket selling counter creating panic, police said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot, an official said, adding that no officer or staff was present at the counter at the time of the incident as the first flight of Air India comes from New Delhi at 11.35 a.m.

Some furniture and computers were damaged. The reason behind the fire was not known.

(IANS)

Belagavi (Karnataka) Hundreds of farmers, including the womenfolk, on Sunday staged a protests here against the state government’s alleged indifference over ensuring minimum support price for sugarcane and in getting their arrears released from the mill owners.

“In view of the production glut and falling price, the state government should ensure a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 3,000 per tonne for sugarcane with 9.5 per cent recovery and help us get arrears for the cane supplied to mill owners last year,” farmer leader Siddanna Gouda told reporters here, about 500km northwest of the state.

The previous Congress government had fixed Rs 2,500 per tonne as MSP last year.

With input costs, including harvesting and transporting the cane to the mills going up steeply, Gouda said growing sugarcane was no longer remunerative, as mill owners were unwilling to pay more and settle the arrears.

“We suspended on Saturday our agitation launched on November 15 for higher MSP and recovery of arrears on the assurance of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy that he would meet us here on Monday. But he has now backed out,” alleged Gouda.

As a mark of protest against Kumarswamy cancelling his visit to the city on Monday, about 20 farmers drove trucks laden with sugarcane into the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, which is the state legislative and secretariat building for the region.

“We will disrupt the winter session of the state legislature here next month if the state government does not resolve our issues by November 30, as we cannot keep the cane in the fields longer from harvesting as recovery will be less if delayed,” added Gouda.

The opposition BJP condemned the JD-S-Congress coalition government’s indifference to the plight of the sugarcane farmers in the state.

“The coalition government’s approach to farmers’ plight is reprehensible. Scores of farmers, including their womenfolk, were arrested at Belagavi for staging a protest,” said Karnataka BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa in Bengaluru.

Mocking at Kumaraswamy and the JD-S for claiming to be a party for farmers, by farmers and of farmers, Yeddyurappa said the former told a woman agitator that he was not responsible for what happened to them over the last four years as he became chief minister only 5 months ago.

Kumaraswami has also cast aspersions on the integrity of the farmers, which is unacceptable.

“By calling farmers ‘goondas’ (goons), Kumaraswamy has indulged in an outrageous act. This shows the contempt his party has for farmers,” added Yeddyurappa.

(IANS)

New Delhi Air quality in Delhi and the adjoining areas worsened to the ‘very poor’ category on Sunday, after a 3-day respite, and pollution is expected to increase over the next few days due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Official report claims “significant drop” in stubble burning in neighbouring states. Delhi is currently suffering with the pollution generated from the local sources.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi on Sunday was 311, considered ‘very poor’, while on Saturday it was 267 or ‘poor’, on a scale of 0 to 500.

The major pollutant PM2.5 or particles with diameter less than 2.5mm also intensified over the day as the Westerly winds brought along moisture.

“Air quality is ‘very poor’ and expected to remain in the same category, with a gradual increase for the next three days as surface winds will be declining slowly,” said a forecast by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

SAFAR said that high humidity is unfavourable for dispersion of the pollutant.

“Delhi currenlty is polluted with its own pollutants. Stubble burning has negligible effect on it,” said Mahesh Palawat, a director at private weather forecasting agency Skymet.

With wind speeds set to fall till November 20, the pollution may rise.

“However, air quality will improve with Delhi receiving fresh north-westerly winds from November 21,” Palawat added.

The average presence of the major pollutant PM2.5 was 163 microgrammes per cubic meter in Delhi. Across over 40 regions in the National Capital Region (NCR) it was 160.

Across NCR, Gurugram with an AQI of 255 or ‘poor’ had the cleanest air. The AQI was 335 in Ghaziabad, 313 in Greater Noida, 336 in Noida and 308 in Faridabad.

SAFAR has issued an advisory cautioning people in Delhi to avoid outdoor physical exercises.

[IANS]

 
The Indian government has revoked the passports of 25 men living abroad for abandoning their spouses in India, a Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) official said on Friday.

Of these, eight were recommended by the Ministry while the rest involved cases where the state police sought the action.

“We keep receiving such complaints where Non-Resident Indians have been held accountable for abandoning their wives. The action taken depends on priority,” the official said.

Apart from revoking of passport, in some cases the police also has the authority to issue Look-Out-Circulars (LoC).

In criminal matters involving NRIs, the LoC can be issued by the investigating agency in cognisable offences when the husband from overseas is deliberately evading arrest.

It could also be that he is not appearing in the trial court despite non-bailable warrants and other coercive measures or that there is likelihood that he will leave the country to evade trial or arrest.

An inter-ministerial body dealing with matrimonial disputes headed by WCD Secretary Rakesh Srivastava with members from Home Ministry and the External affairs takes the decision of issuing the LoC after the case is scrutinised by the National Commission for Women (NCW).

IANS

New Delhi It was a misty morning in the national capital on Thursday with the minimum temperature recorded at 16.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season’s average, weather office said.

The MeT has predicted a clear day ahead.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality was recorded in the ‘poor’ category after overnight drizzle led to a drop in the pollution level.

“It is expected to be a mainly clear sky throughout the day,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

There was 1.4 mm of rainfall recorded in the past 24 hours. The maximum temperature was likely to hover around 28 degrees Celsius. The humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 88 per cent.

Wednesday’s maximum temperature settled at 28.5 degrees, at par with the season’s average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 17.6 degrees Celsius, four notches above season’s average.

(IANS)

New Delhi The Women and Child Development Ministry on Wednesday said 4,916 children have been rehabilitated through the missing children track portal ‘Khoya Paya’ till November 8.

Launched in 2015, the Khoya Paya portal is a citizen based website which has been developed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

According to the ministry, the helpline number ‘1098’ was also expanded from 250 to 475 places across the country.

The ministry further said that establishment work of the Railway Childline centres have been also initiated.

With over 83 Railway Childline centres at major railway stations being operated currently, more than 48,000 children have been assisted to date.

In Khoya Paya website, citizens can report missing children, as well as sightings of their whereabouts. The ‘found’ children can also be reported on this web portal.

The reporting can be done through text, photographs, videos and other means of transmitting and uploading information to the site. Information about missing and sighted children can be uploaded at khoyapaya.gov.in.

(IANS)

Srinagar After fresh snowfall in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir in the last 24 hours, the Met office on Thursday forecast improvement in the weather conditions.

“Weather is likely to improve in Jammu and Kashmir from today. We are expecting dry weather till November 21,” a Met official said.

There has been fresh snowfall in Sonamarg, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Peer Ki Gali, Drass, Gurez and other mountainous areas of the state while light rains lashed the plains.

Kargil continued to be the coldest in the state as the minimum temperature dropped to a minus 6.8 degrees Celsius. Leh town recorded a minus 2.8 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.

The night’s lowest temperatures were 3.3 in Srinagar, minus 3.0 in Pahalgam and minus 4.0 in Gulmarg.

In the Jammu division, Jammu city recorded 9.5 degrees Celsius, Katra 8.8, Batote 3.8, Bannihal 1.8 and Bhaderwah 3.4 as the minimum temperatures.

Traffic has been suspended on the Srinagar-Leh Highway and the Mughal Road due to snowfall.

(IANS)

Lucknow Senior BJP office-bearers, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will be riding bikes across the state to mobilise support from each of the 80 parliamentary constituencies from Saturday, an official spokesman said on Wednesday.

‘Kamal Sandesh bike rallies’ would witness senior party leaders riding bikes and touching each booth in the state.

THe CM’s deputies — Keshav Prasad Maurya, Dinesh Sharma, party’s organisational secretary in-charge of UP, Sunil Bansal and state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey — will ride bikes across the state.

All MPs, ministers and legislators will also take part in the rallies. State office-bearers, MLCs and Rajya Sabha members have also been told to chip in.

State general secretary Govind Narayan Shukla told IANS that Mahendra Nath Pandey will be in Chandauli to participate in the rally, while the Chief Minister will participate in the bike rally in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sunil Bansal will be in Kannauj, Keshav Prasad Maurya in Phulpur and Dinesh Sharma in Lucknow.

(IANS)

London Four authors of Indian origin and two of Pakistani, whose novels bring alive a spectrum of themes and emotions relevant in contemporary South Asian life were short-listed on Thursday for the US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018.

They are Jayant Kaikini for “No Presents Please” (Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana, HarperCollins India); Manu Joseph for “Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous” (HarperCollins, India); Neel Mukherjee for “A State Of Freedom” (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, UK and Penguin Random House, India) and Sujit Saraf for “Harilal & Sons” (Speaking Tiger, India) from the Indian side.

Besides, Mohsin Hamid for “Exit West” (Riverhead Books, USA and Penguin Random House, India) and Kamila Shamsie for “Home Fire” (Riverhead Books, USA and Bloomsbury, UK) from the Pakistani side.

Several acclaimed writers, including Arundhati Roy, Jeet Thayil, Anuradha Roy and Perumal Murugan, who were earlier longlisted for the prize among the 88 submissions from major English publishing markets in India, the US, UK, Canada and Australia, among others — failed to make the cut.

The shortlist, unveiled by Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chair of the jury panel, at the London School of Economics & Political Science, includes a translated book where the original writing was in Kannada.

“Being the chair of the jury of the DSC Prize has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I say this for two reasons. One is the sheer intellectual excitement of reading, evaluating and discussing these works of fiction.

“The other is the interactions I had with my four colleagues on the jury. I know I learnt an enormous amount from all of them and for this I am profoundly grateful to all of them.

“Evaluating these books reminded me once again of the importance of reading in human lives,” said Mukherjee, Professor of History and the Chancellor of Ashoka University and an internationally acclaimed historian of the revolt of 1857 in India.

Administered by the South Asian Literature Prize and Events Trust, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature has helped to raise the profile of South Asian writing around the world by rewarding authors who write on the region.

Its co-founder Surina Narula asserted that the shortlist represents “the very best of South Asian fiction writing”, and “the depth, creativity and unique narrative of each of these novels” is “impressive and inspirational”.

The prize received close to a quarter of its submissions from publishers based beyond South Asia which highlighted the growing interest of publishers and authors across the world in South Asian writing.

The prize is open to authors of any ethnicity or nationality as long as the writing is about South Asia and its people.

(IANS)

Hyderabad Telangana Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who filed his nomination from Gajwel Assembly constituency on Wednesday, has declared his total assets worth over Rs 20.60 crore, but neither he nor his wife owns any vehicle.

His total movable assets are valued at over Rs 10.40 crore while his wife K. Shobha has movable assets of over Rs 94.5 lakh.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, has immovable assets of about Rs 12.20 crore which includes 54-acre agriculture land valued at Rs 6.50 crore.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief, in the affidavit filed before the returning officer, has shown agriculture as his profession. He pegged his income for financial year 2017-18 at Rs 2.07 crore including agricultural income of Rs 91.52 lakh

KCR declared that he has investments of Rs 4.71 crore in shares of Telangana Broadcasting Private Limited. He has Rs 5.63 crore in bank accounts and fixed deposit.

The Chief Minister owns a house in Hyderabad and another in Karimnagar, together valued at Rs.5.10 crore. He also has 2.04 acre non-agriculture land in Siddipet district valued Rs 60 lakh.

KCR owns 75 grams of jewellery worth Rs 2.40 lakh and has Rs 2.40 lakh cash in hand while Shobha, a housewife, has 2,200 grams of gold jewellery, diamonds and valuables gems/stone worth Rs 93,66,184 and Rs. 93,595 cash in hand.

According to the affidavit, KCR has liabilities to the tune of Rs 8.88 crore in the form of unsecured loans. He has no bank loans.

While filing affidavit during 2014 elections, KCR had declared total assets of Rs 16.94 crore. His income for the financial year 2012-13 was Rs 6.59 lakh.

KCR also provided details of 64 cases booked against him during Telangana agitation. No summons were issued and no charges were framed in any of these cases.

(IANS)