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Utsav 2016- the legendary techno-cultural inter-collegiate fest at BMS College of Engineering draws to a close

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utsav

Bengaluru: Utsav 2016 voted Bangalore’s most popular Inter-collegiate fest organized by BMS College of Engineering drew to a close after three days of fun, excitement, challenging competitions and some nail biting adventure. Utsav 2016 held from 01-03 April, 2016 was the 29th edition of this hugely popular fest with all the competitions being held at the BMS campus. While BMSCE is celebrating its 70th year of existence, this 29th edition of UTSAV adds yet another cap to BMSCE’s list of achievements. More than 50,000 students from across colleges all around South India participated in Utsav 2016.

“The Legend Returns”, the name given to this year’s UTSAV was a Celebration of Faith. As it has a specialized theme every year, Utsav 2016 had its theme as Mythology, which included four mythologies namely Indian, Egyptian, Chinese and Greek. The campus was adorned with some of the renowned mythological characters and every nook and corner had a piece of art or a painting effectively made out of waste cardboards and banners of previous year’s UTSAV thus emphasizing on the eco-friendly nature of Utsav.

Sharing his views, Dr. Mallikharjuna Babu, Principal of BMSCE shared, “UTSAV creates opportunities for the students to showcase their talent to the world. The entire event is completely organized by BMSCE students with minimal support from the management and the faculty. Students themselves act as organizers, volunteers, coordinators, fund raisers and even as event managers and also take care of security issues.”

UTSAV 2016 was inauguration amidst much fanfare in the presence of various popular celebrities from the Kannada film industry including actors Sriimurali and Amulya, Cricketer Robin Uthappa, Playback Singer Pallavi Arun, film director Yogaraj Bhat, and Ventriloquist Indushree. The inauguration was a fusion of inspiring speeches, fascinating performances and colourful events.

Indushree kept the audience in splits with her power packed and hilarious ventriloquism performance. Robin Uthappa while sharing his thoughts with the students said “These are the golden days of your life; I have never enjoyed my college life because I was busy with cricket all the time. So enjoy being here. This is where you learn love, helping each other and learn moralities.” Ashok Gopinath, Chairman and Managing Director, Accenture, India, speaking at the inauguration his speech shared “Accenture India now is comprised of 1,50,000 employees PAN India, which will achieve steady growth in the future. I will continue partnering with BMSCE in recruiting future engineers to be a part of Accenture.”

Dr. Mallikharjuna Babu further shared, “As we want more students from other colleges to participate, we call for minimal participation from our students and there is a level playing field. This year we had more than 50,000 footfalls over the three days of the fest including students from nearby cities.” Various colleges in and around Bengaluru were invited to participate in the event. UTSAV’s schedule was filled with multiple innovative and captivating competitions.

Day 2 of the fest comprised of various technical and adventure related competitions. One of the most popular events was “Battle of Bands,” a music battle between the finest college bands. There was, Face on Fire, face painting competition in which Giridhar H.D from ESIC Medical College and Abhishek Yadav from PGIMSR College, Bengaluru won the first prize. In the mad ads event under the name of “Laughing Buddha,” Arjun & Team from RVCE College swept the first prize. Then there was the evergreen “Fashion show” which captured the attention of the students. Fashion show had the highest participation, which also had 10 first prize winners (Gagan, Shikha, Arpita, Kareen, Shruti, Sushma, Derlin, Aakash Nayeem and Arbaaz) all from VOGUE. Harini, from Amrutha College won the title for the “InkyWinky” writer, a contest for creative writing.

On the third and final day of the fest, Whiplash, a widely popular music show by numerous bands and musicians captivated the students. Artistic programs like Nishaada, Indian group music, Mahabharatha (Short Movies) and Kurukshetra, the street play turned the stage into a theatre. Divya & Team from NMIT College bagged the prizes for their outstanding performance in Kurukshetra. Sai Krishna V.K, Sagar Kathrisal and Nikhil A Inamdar from R.V College won the title for the Business and technology quiz. High energy prevailed on the battlegrounds of these combat ships.

Winning or losing didn’t’ matter to most participants. As one of the participants in the Whiplash event aptly shared, “Defeat shouldn’t stop you, while success shouldn’t make you too proud. Winning and losing are part of any game.” To conclude BMSCE’s UTSAV 2016 was a total feast to the eyes, blessing to the ears and a great place to learn teamwork.

Heavy voting in West Bengal, Assam in first phase of Assembly polls

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(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Kolkata: Brisk polling was recorded in the first phase of balloting in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam with an estimated 70 and 67 per cent voters respectively exercising their franchise in the two states till 3:30 pm.

Polling is being conducted under heavy security and no violence or untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the two states so far, official sources said.

In West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is making a determined bid for a second successive term, heavy voter turnout was recorded with an estimated 70 per cent of 40.09 lakh electors casting their ballots in 18 of the state’s 294 constituencies where polling is in progress till 3:30 pm. Most of these constituencies are in areas where Maoists earlier wielded considerable influence.

“There were some issues with EVMs in some booths which were immediately addressed and polling is going on smoothly. We got some other complaints also and they have been addressed,” Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar told PTI.

Of the 18 seats, 13 are in Jangalmahal area earlier affected by Maoist violence where voting will end at 4 PM due to security considerations. In the remaining five seats of Purulia, Manbazar, Kashipur, Para and Raghunathpur voting will go on till 6 PM.

A key contestant in this phase is Tribal Affairs Minister Sukumar Hansda, who is trying his luck from Jhargram.

All major contenders to power- Trinamool, Left-Congress alliance and BJP- have fielded candidates in all 18 seats.

Mamata Banerjee, who has held sway over West Bengal politics since coming to power five years ago, if facing a challenge from foe-turned-friends– the CPI(M)-led Left Front-Congress combine, besides BJP, which is seeking to make inroads into the eastern state.

In Assam, where Congress under Tarun Gogoi is seeking a fourth straight term, 67 per cent of little over 95.11 lakh voters cast their ballots till 3:30 pm. There were no reports of violence in any of the 65 of the 126 constituencies where polling is being held in the first phase.

The 65 constituencies are spread across Upper Assam, the hill districts, the northern banks and the Barak Valley.

Prominent Congress candidates in the fray in the first phas include Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi from Titabor and Speaker of the outgoing Assembly Pranab Gogoi from Sibsagar.

BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is trying his luck from Majuli, while party’s Lok Sabha member from Jorhat Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is crossing swords with Tarun Gogoi in Titabor.

(PTI)

Abducted Indian priest is safe, Sushma tells church delegation

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Thomas Uzhunnallil

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday assured a Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) delegation that abducted Salesian Order priest Father Thomas Uzhunnallil is safe and all efforts are being taken to free him, a statement said.

“Sushma Swaraj has categorically assured the delegation that Fr. Tom Uzhunnallil is safe and that the government is adopting all possible means for the quick and safe release of Father Tom,” said a CBCI statement.

However, she did not reveal the finer details of the negotiations and the technicalities involved in securing the release of the Indian priest, abducted by the IS in Yemen, as it may jeopardise the entire process.

“The minister also said that the wild rumours being spread about any harm done to Fr. Tom, are totally baseless,” the statement said, thus quashing the rumours that Uzhunnallil was crucified by the IS terrorists on Good Friday.

The minister also told the delegation, led by CBCI deputy secretary general Joseph Chinnayyan, of the strenuous efforts being undertaken by the ministry and her personally to obtain the safe passage of the only surviving nun, sister Rema.

On March 4, the priest from Kerala was kidnapped after IS terrorists barged into a Missionaries of Charity care home in Aden for which he is the caretaker and shot dead many people, including four nuns, one of them from India.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Archbishop of Bengaluru, Father Bernard Moras, has called upon the general public in Bengaluru to join for a three-hour prayer vigil for Uzhunnalil to observe the completion of a month of his abduction.

(Agencies)

Mehbooba Mufti takes oath as first woman CM of J&K

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Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday took oath as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister, heading a 22-member ministry with the BJP as the junior ally.

Mehbooba Mufti, 56 and now a Lok Sabha member, was sworn in by Governor N.N. Vohra here, almost three months after the state came under Governor’s Rule on January 8.

The Peoples Democratic Party has nine cabinet and three junior ministers — the chief minister included — and the Bharatiya Janata Party has eight cabinet and two junior ministers in the new government.

BJP leader Nirmal Singh remains the deputy chief minister.

The new coalition takes office after three months of political uncertainty sparked by the death on January 7 of then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The PDP dropped two cabinet ministers — Altaf Bukhari and Javaid Mustafa Mir and inducted three-time legislator Zahoor Mir.

The BJP dropped cabinet minister Chaudary Sukhnandan and brought in his place Shyam Lal Chaudhary. The BJP also dropped a junior minister, Pawan Gupta.

The BJP share of cabinet ministers includes People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone, son of separatist politician Abdul Ghani Lone.

Mehbooba Mufti is the 13th chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.

(IANS)

Massive tax evasion: Amitabh, Aishwarya among 500 Indians with hidden assets

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aishwarya-rai-amitabh-bachchan

New Delhi: The names of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, real estate tycoon KP Singh and late gangster Iqbal Mirchi figured in a list of over 500 Indians who allegedly used a law firm in Panama to set up offshore entities in tax havens across the world, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The Indian Express said a study of more than 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm, showed that Indians possibly violated tax rules or masked ownership of firms they allegedly set up abroad.

The newspaper claimed that while Aishwarya Rai was a shareholder of a firm in the British Virgin Islands, her father-in-law – superstar Amitabh Bachchan – was the director of four shipping companies in the Bahamas. It said Indiabulls owner Sameer Gahlaut acquired “three top London properties” via “entities” in the Bahamas and Jersey, and DLF promoter KP Singh and his family owned firms in the British Virgin Islands.

The promoters of Apollo Tyres, business tycoon Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani, West Bengal politician Shishir Bajoria and former Loksatta Party leader Anurag Kejriwal were some other Indians named in the newspaper report.

Until 2003, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms did not allow an Indian citizen to set up an overseas entity. In 2004, resident Indians were allowed to remit funds of up to $25,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) – the limit of which stands at $250,000 a year now.

The media claimed that while RBI let individuals buy shares under LRS, it never permitted them to set up companies abroad. The Mossack Fonseca documents allegedly show companies were set up long before the rules were changed, and the purpose may have been to park foreign exchange in a tax haven.

Individuals named in the newspaper report were yet to comment, and government officials were expected to respond later. The report in the Indian Express formed part of an investigation by an international coalition of media outlets into the offshore financial dealings of the rich and famous, based on a vast trove of documents provided by an anonymous source.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen present and former world leaders, besides businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars. Political figures from Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina were named in the reports.

Hindustan Times wasn’t immediately able to verify the allegations made in the articles that were published by over 100 news organisations across the world.

(Agencies)

India to finally join nuclear security ‘gift baskets’

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Narendra Modi

Washington: India has finally decided to join “gift baskets” at the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit here on Friday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings with several leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, on the sidelines of the summit.

Addressing a media briefing here as the summit got underway, Amandeep Singh Gill, joint secretary (disarmament and international security affairs), said that India has decided to join some gift baskets, including those on counter nuclear smuggling and sharing best practices.

Gift basket diplomacy involves an approach to a crucial issue where, if consensus is not reached till the lowest common denominator, then those willing can join in. In other words, it is a system of getting around the system of universal consensus at any multilateral summit.

The US had first introduced the gift basket diplomacy during negotiations in 2011 for the Second Nuclear Security Summit.

Fourteen such gift baskets were put up in the summit held in Seoul next year.

India, which had so far refrained from joining any of these gift baskets, has finally decided to go for it.

Gill said India would join the Trilateral Initiative which is the joint statement of the previous three co-chairs of the nuclear security summit which has been circulated in the form of a document in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“So, this group of countries which India is joining are committed to holding the bar high on nuclear security,” the joint secretary said.

“We will also be joining three other gift baskets in priority areas like counter nuclear smuggling, the sharing of best practices through centres of excellence such as GCNEP (Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership), and finally NSS follow-up through contact group in Vienna,” he said.

In Friday’s summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would underline that India would continue to reflect its nuclear obligations to the international community through its national actions, Gill said.

In the national progress report on the work India has done in terms of nuclear security in the two years since the last summit, Modi would underline the continued priority the country attached to nuclear security at home.

“Second, the prime minister will underline the continued priority we attach to the technology direction of nuclear security,” he said.

As leaders of over 50 nations met for the biennial summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“My meeting with PM @David_Cameron focused on defence cooperation, @makeinindia & other key issues,” Modi tweeted.

The meeting assumes significance as Tata Steel, after having suffered nearly $3 billion in losses on its British operations, is exploring to put its entire portfolio there up for sale, some 10 years after it forayed into Europe by acquiring Anglo-Dutch Corus for over $8.1 billion.

With around 40,000 jobs at stake, Cameron was expected to take up the matter with Modi during the meeting, according to media reports.

Earlier in the day, Modi met with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and invited Canadian faculty members to teach at institutes of higher learning in India for short stretches.

“He (Modi) said that Canadian professors and teachers, including retired faculty members, could consider coming to India during the harsh winter months in Canada and teaching at Indian universities for periods ranging from three to six months under the GIAN (Global Initiative of Academic Networks),” external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing here following the meeting.

GIAN is a programme under the union human resources ministry that aims at tapping the talent pool of academia and scientists internationally to encourage their engagement with institutes of higher education in India.

Trudeau, according to Swarup, said that there was “real potential for harnessing the opportunity of helping so many young people in India get better skills and Canada would also be happy to provide help in education and infrastructure support”.

Modi also invited Canadian companies to participate in India’s flagship development programmes such as the smart cities project and in India’s new policy for hydrocarbon sector, in particular for deep sea and high temperature exploration, that came into effect on Friday.

On the sidelines of the summit, Modi also had informal meetings with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

This year’s summit is the fourth and final edition of the biennial affair.

The first summit was held in Washington in 2010 which was followed by the summits in Seoul in 2012 and The Hague in 2014.

(Agencies)

Survey: AAP likely to win 100 seats in Punjab

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punjab-aap

Chandigarh: In what is likely to be an encouraging development for the Aam Aadmi Party supporters, a new survey has predicted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party to win nearly 100 seats in Punjab.

The survey conducted by HuffPost-CVoter in February shows a consolidation of favourable sentiment in favour of AAP from the same time last year.

As per the findings of the survey, AAP is likely to bag between 94-100 out of the 117 seats in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, up from the 83-89 projection of the CVoter poll from April, 2015.

The latest CVoter-HuffPost poll has the Congress Party trailing in the second position with 8-14 seats in the Assembly, down from the 12-18 seats projection, last year.

The ruling SAD-BJP alliance will come with just 6-12 seats, down from 13-19 seats last year, the survey claimed.

Interestingly, the survey claimed that 48 percent would vote for AAP if the election was held today.

In the 2012 State Assembly Election for Punjab, SAD won 56 seats followed by the Congress Party with 46 seats, and the BJP with 12 seats. 78 percent of respondents said that they wanted a change in government, indicating a huge wave of anti-incumbency.

According to the survey, AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal is the most favoured face as chief ministerial candidate for Punjab, while Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh turns out to be the second favourite choice for the top job.

While 59% respondents wanted Kejriwal to be declared the chief ministerial candidate for Punjab, 51% said they would choose Arvind Kejriwal over Amarinder Singh. They also chose him over deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Among Kejriwal, Sukhbir Badal and Captain Amarinder for CM’s choice, 51% backed Kejriwal, 35% Amarinder and 7% Sukhbir.

Unemployment, drug abuse and corruption were identified as the three main problems of Punjab.

(Agencies)

‘Balika Vadhu’ suicide : Boyfriend taken into custody, friends cry foul

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Pratyusha Banerjee

Mumbai: With the truth behind television star Pratyusha Banerjee’s suicide yet to be unravelled–the anticipation around the case is only increasing by the minute.

While some have assigned Banerjee’s death to her tumultuous relationship with boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh, others have gone on to say she was suffering from an acute case of depression.

Rahul Raj Singh who has been under the radar of the police since the news of Banerjee’s death surfaced–has now been taken into custody for interrogation. While the location of the inquiry remains a secret–the tension around Singh’s involvement in the case is gaining attention from all quarters.
According to reports, Rahul Raj Singh has said that he left the house at 10 in the morning and when he got back home at 4 pm, he saw Pratyusha hanging from the ceiling. He added that Pratyusha was fine at the time he left the house.

Reports say he wasn’t taken into custody yesterday because there was nothing to indicate his involvement in the death. After the cops spoke to their cook and watchman, it emerged that Pratyusha and Rahul used to have frequent fights.

The Jamshedpur-born actress, Banerjee who had been part of shows like Balika Vadhu, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Bigg Boss was declared dead at Mumbai’s Koikilaben Hospital last night after her body was discovered by her boyfriend.

Her parents landed in Mumbai this morning.

The 24-year-old television actress was found hanging from the ceiling of her Bangur Nagar flat in suburban Kandivli, according to the Police. After being rushed to Mumbai’s Koikilaben Hospital, the actress was declared dead soon after.

With Banerjee’s friends from the television industry are still in shock over her sudden demise–actor Ajaz Khan alleged that Pratyusha Banerjee’s death wasn’t a case of a suicide, but a murder. Banerjee’s close friend Dolly Bindra was also quoted as saying that “Pratyusha was a strong girl, and couldn’t have committed suicide.”

(Agencies)

Villagers Stop Women Activists At Shani Temple Despite Court Orders

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Shani Shingnapur

Nashik: A day after the Bombay High Court ruled that it is the fundamental right of women to go into places of worship, around 25 women activists led by Trupti Desai today entered the premises of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, but were stopped by locals from offering prayer in the inner sanctum.

As the standoff escalated, the police took away Ms Desai and other protesters away from the temple premises.

Angry women villagers allegedly pushed the members of Bhumata Ranragini Brigade led by Ms Desai as they tried to enter the inner sanctum of the temple which according to tradition is forbidden for women.

Activist Desai, who had pledged to pray at the famous temple in the state’s Ahmednagar district, said: “We are not going to turn around we have the court order and if need be we will file an FIR (first information report) against the home minister and chief minister.”

“What is the police doing? They were directed to provide protection to us by the court,” Ms Desai said questioning the state government.

The court on Friday ruled that offering prayers at a temple “is the fundamental right of a woman and the government’s fundamental duty to protect their (women) right.”

The Maharashtra government had said that it will take all steps to comply with the order by enforcing a law that provides six months in prison for preventing anyone from entering a temple.

Ms Desai has been stopped in the past by the police and hundreds of locals, including women, from forcing her way into the Shani Shingnapur temple.

Last year, after a woman worshipper managed to offer her prayers to the idol at the Shani Shingnapur temple, an elaborate cleansing ritual was immediately carried out by a priest.

Meanwhile, member of an action committee formed to maintain the 400-year-old tradition, Sambhaji Dahatonde said: “We will soon approach the Supreme Court against the High Court ruling as it is a matter of protecting the faith of devotees.”

(Agencies)

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