India

Voting for 67 assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh in the second of the seven-phase elections in the state ended on Wednesday. With a total of 720 candidates in the fray, voting was held across 11 districts -- Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

By 5 pm on Wednesday, according to the Election Commission, 65.5 per cent voting in the second phase was completed, with counting still going on.

With voting underway at 7 am, several polling booths reported errors early on. Voters in Moradabad said that while polling was supposed to begin at 7 am, machines  were still just being set up. A glitch in EVM machine temporarily halted voting process at Badaun Sadar constituency’s SK Inter College booth number 183 as well. Meanwhile in Budaun, drone camera was used at a polling booth for surveillance purposes.

The second phase is considered crucial for Samajwadi Party as stakes in this round are the highest for the ruling Akhilesh Yadav-led party. Out of the 67 seats, SP had won 34 in the previous assembly elections, while BSP, BJP, Congress and others won 18, 10, 3 and 2 respectively.

Prominent contestants include controversial SP minister Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam, who are contesting from Rampur and Swar seats respectively. Saif Ali Naqvi, son of former Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi, former central minister Jitin Prasada from Tilhar (Shahjahanpur), BJP Legislature Party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna from Shahjahanpur city and state minister Mehboob Ali from Amroha are among those contesting.

The fate of these candidates will be decided by 2.28 crore voters, including over 1.04 crore women, eligible to cast their ballots in 14,771 polling centres and 23,693 polling stations.

While the polling took across western Uttar Pradesh, leaders took the opportunity to take jibes at each other.

Dusre charan ka vote pad raha hai, hum to sawaray se hi khabar pa rahe hain cycle ki raftaar badh rahi hai (I have been reading since morning that cycle has been picking up the votes),” said Akhilesh Yadav in Unnao.

On the other hand, PM Narendra Modi, at a rally in Kannauj took a swipe at the ruling Samajwadi Party and said,“I don’t own a single car but these people who call themselves socialists, have many expensive cars.”

At the rally, he said that the SP, BSP, Congress were all favouring each other in some way or the other in these elections.

Attacking PM Modi over his ‘Rs 15 lakh promise’, BSP supremo Mulayam Singh said that despite all the promises, not even Rs 15 was not given.

“15-15 Lakh Rs dene ki baat kahi thi, 15 rupaiy tak nahi diye (There were talks over giving Rs 15 lakh to the people, not even Rs 15 has been given) ,” said Mulayam Singh.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi also joined in attacking PM Modi over the same and said that ‘two youths’  have come together to not make fake promises.

“Two youths have joined hands, so will work for the youngsters. We have not come to make fake promise of Rs 15 lakh,” said Gandhi at Barabanki.

The next five phases of polling will be held on February 19, 23, 27 and on March 4 and 8. Counting of votes will be taken up on March 11.

AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala on Wednesday surrendered before Bengalure police after being convicted in the disproportionate asset case by the Supreme Court. The trial court, place to surrender, was shifted the central jail at Parapppana Agrahara due to security reasons. Sasikala gave herself up at the Central Jail on the city’s southern outskirts with her relatives Elavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran after reaching from Chennai by road, officials said.

As the long-time confidante of the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa reached the prison complex, clashes erupted between AIADMK supporters and police personnel. One official said Sasikala underwent a medical check-up.

Sasikala was imprisoned after completion of court formalities and medical check up, officials said. The ourt also turned down her pleas for two weeks more time to surrender and for home food. She has been given a cell that will be shared with two other inmates.

Sasikala’s relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, whose conviction by the trial court in Bengaluru had been upheld by the Supreme Court, also surrendered. Four cars in the cavalcade of Sasikala were damaged soon after it arrived near the court premises, police said, adding, it was not immediately known who did it.

Before leaving for Bengaluru to surrender, Sasikala visited the memorial of J Jayalalithaa and the Ramapuram residence of party founder M G Ramachandran. The 62-year-old leader, who was locked in a bitter tussle with AIADMK’s O Panneerselvam for Tamil Nadu’s chief ministership, took the inevitable journey to the Karnataka capital after the Supreme Court earlier today refused to give her further time to surrender.

At the Jayalalithaa memorial on the Marina Beach, Sasikala paid floral tributes and was seen muttering something which was not audible. She had yesterday given pep talk to MLAs and supporters to stay bold and remain united. “Only I can be jailed, not the care or concern I have for this party. Wherever I will be, my thoughts will be here,” Sasikala had told both her MLAs at Koovathur resort as well as to her supporters later at Poes Garden late last night.

The Supreme Court had yesterday restored Sasikala’s conviction in the DA case, awarding four years jail term to the AIADMK general secretary and her relatives, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10 crore each. The trial court had imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on the late Jayalalithaa.

In a momentous occasion for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as well as India, a record 104 satellites was launched today from the spaceport of Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh. India now becomes the first country to script history after launching the 104 satellites in a single rocket.

ISRO already an achiever of extraordinary feats, has outdone itself and Russia which previously held the record for the most satellites launched in a single mission- which is 37 -- in 2014.

Last June, ISRO had sent up 20 satellites in one go, its personal best. It is using the same rocket this time -- the XL version of the popular Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), to push the boundaries of efficiency and effectiveness in space launches.

With smaller satellites -- like the ‘Cubesats’ that measure 10cm x 10cm x 10cm and weigh between 1 kg and 10 kg -- becoming the norm, it is possible to load more and more of them on to a single rocket. Satellites that are even more small and light are becoming popular too, and are being used for a variety of space applications. When ISRO put in to orbit 10 satellites on the PSLV-C10 in June 2008, it created a world record. But the record was subsequently broken several times by Russian and American rockets.

Of 101 co-passenger satellites, 96 belong to USA, five from International customers of ISRO -- Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, respectively.

Two other Indian nano satellites, totally weighing about 1,378 kg, will also ride piggyback in the rocket. The nano-satellites belonging to international customers are being launched as part of the arrangement by Antrix Corporation Ltd (ANTRIX) the commercial arm of the ISRO. Cartosat-2 Series, which is the primary satellite, will be similar to the earlier four satellites in Cartosat-2 Series.

It was ISRO’s second successful attempt after launching 23 satellites in one go in June 2015. PSLV has first launched the 714 kg CARTOSAT-2 Series satellite for earth observation and then inject 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighing about 664 kg at lift-off into polar Sun Synchronous Orbit, about 520 km from Earth.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala Natarajan in the disproportionate assets case, in which late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa was also an accused.

Sasikala will have to surrender herself to jail for undergoing remaining part of four year jail term.

The two-judge bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy quashed the Karnataka HC verdict acquitting Sasikala, however, abated the appeal proceedings against J Jayalalithaa owing to her death on December 5 last.

The court also restored in toto the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court in Bengaluru to all the accused.

After SC's verdict, Sasikala will be unable to stand for elections for six years and hold public office.

The verdict comes in the backdrop of the ongoing power struggle within the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu between Sasikala and caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam.

Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi were accused of amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs. 66.65 crore during the late chief minister's first term from 1991 to 1996.

They were also held guilty by the trial court and sentenced to four years with a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.

The Karnataka High Court had on May 11, 2015, ruled that the AIADMK supremo's conviction by a special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as chief minister.

The Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 order, claimed that the HC had erred in computing the disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader. The Karnataka government also asked whether the high court had "erred in law" by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of 10%.

The state government had also claimed that the high court had erred in overruling preliminary objections raised by it and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party. The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.

On Monday, Sasikala had assured that she would ensure unity in the party and continue its rule for the rest of its tenure while making a scathing attack on Panneerselvam saying that he was showing attributes of a traitor against the party.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences is considering the feasibility of reviewing the user charges that have not been revised for the last over two decades.

The move comes after the Finance Ministry directed AIIMS to undertake a review and revise its user fees.

AIIMS has been presenting demands to the Government for additional allocation to the tune of Rs 300 crores, in the non-plan expenditures which are of recurring nature including salaries, consumables, maintenance and establishment expenditure every year.

The Ministry of Finance has observed that there is large deviation between the budget estimates and the revised estimates. Finance Ministry has, therefore, advised AIIMS to undertake a review of its user charges. They have not been revised since 1996," Deputy Director V Srinivas reportedly said.           

Recently, a meeting was held by AIIMS Director in which the feasibility of revising the user charges was discussed.           

At present, the AIIMS generates Rs 101 crores from user charges for OPD, diagnostic tests, radiology tests, in-patient care and room rentals.           

In 2015, in a proposal to the standing finance committee, the AIIMS administration had proposed a hike of 20 to 30 per cent on charges for different tests and diagnostic procedures.           

According to the prevailing rates, the cost of many routine tests at the institute is just Rs 10 or Rs 25.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday rejected as ablsolute lie the claims of Manipur activists Irom Sharmila that the saffron party had offered her Rs 36 crore to contest the state assembly elections against Chief Minister Ibobi Singh.

In an interview to NDTV recently, Sharmila had said that the BJP had approached her to contest against Singh and had offered Rs 36 crore.

“I was approached by the BJP to fight on their ticket in this election. Their suggestion was that to fight Ibobi, I will need 36 crores. If I have it, I should produce it, if not the centre would sanction it. On that condition, I said I will stand for elections as an independent. I don’t criticise other political parties. I just want to bring a change in the society. I want to bring the right to justice to all and ensure that the draconian AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) is withdrawn,” said Sharmila in the interview.

Reacting to Sharmila’s claim, Madhav said that his party’s entire election campaign does not cost as much as claimed by Sharmila. “Absolute lie. Our entire election campaign in MANIPUR doesn’t cost that much. She should find respectable ways of fighting elections,” tweeted Madhav.

Sharmila, however, is contest the state elections Ibobi Singh from Thoubal constituency in the Assembly elections to be held on February 15. Known for her fight against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Sharmila is a political greenhorn while Congress has been in power in Manipur for three successive terms under Ibobi Singh.

Congress on February 3 had released a list of 60 candidates for Manipur Assembly elections, with Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh contesting Thoubal seat.

In August last year, the 44-year-old Iron Lady broke her 16-year-old hunger strike, the world’s longest such campaign, and declared that she wants to become the chief minister so that she could press for repeal of the contentious AFSPA.

The official website of Union Home Ministry was hacked on Sunday following which the Government has blocked it.

Soon after the website was hacked, the National Informatics Centre that hosts all the Government websites, immediately blocked it for maintenance and restoration exercise, official sources said.

Teams of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) have also been pressed into service to identify the hackers and the source server through which the website was hit, the sources said.

Pakistani hackers had in January hacked the official website of the elite counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG) and defaced it with profanity-laden message against Prime Minister Narendra Modi besides other anti-India contents.

According to the latest official data, over 700 official websites of various Central and State government departments were hacked in the last four years and as many as 8,348 persons were arrested for involvement in cyber crimes during the period.

In a shocking revelation it was found that the oil sludge removed from the city’s shores during the clean-up operations were buried in pits close to the sea in fishing hamlets near Kasimedu, north of the city.

The huge oil spill on January 28 from MT Dawn Kancheepuram was due to its collision with British flagged ship BW Maple in Ennore on Kamarajar Port’s channel. It loomed as an environmental disaster as the oil and tar balls accumulated along the city’s shoreline extended up to Muttukadu in the south.

Spearheaded by the Coast Guard, the clean-up operations were carried out by a host of agencies with participation of volunteers from local fishermen and students.

Officials had said the removed oil sludge would be dumped inside the Kamarajar Port in Ennore and treated with microbes for a bio-remediation process. However, when Express visited KVK Kuppam, a fishing hamlet near Kasimedu, at least seven pits were found close to the sea in which the removed oil spill were found buried.

“We don’t know who dumped the sludge into the pits,” said a person working on contract for Dariya Shipping, the company which owns MT Dawn Kancheepuram. Seven drums, each of 20 litres capacity, were found lying on the shore.

The spot was just two km from Bharathi Nagar, the worst affected place due to the oil spill. Fishermen are worried that dumping of oil sludge would make the entire cleaning process a futile exercise. “The sludge would again mix with the sea during the high tides. This would again lead to a crisis,” said Srikanth.

On Friday, a group of fishermen from the KVK Kuppam area, led by a local councillor, stopped the clean-up operations at Bharathi Nagar, demanding the officials to first clear the dumped oil sludge. “We have not carried out any work since some local goons (referring to fishermen) stopped us from carrying out the work on Friday,” said an official of Viraj Clean Sea Enterprises, one of the companies contracted to undertake the clean-up operations by Dariya Shipping. “We have to clean the rocks by using hot water and high jet pressure cleaner. But the entire operation has been put on hold,” he said.

Meanwhile, no official from the Indian Coast Guard, the nodal agency to clean up the oil spill, could be seen at the spot. Despite repeated phone calls, senior Coast Guard officials could not be reached for comments.

When Express visited the shores along KVK Kuppam, it was full of tar balls and a thick layer of oil on the shore. “It is a cover-up and not a clean-up. Their intent is just to get the job done,” said noted environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman while hitting out at State pollution control board officials. “Where is Pollution Control Board officials who have to oversee the entire clean-up operations? If it is being done under the watch of board officials, then they are guilty. Else it is a case of negligence on their part,” said Jayaraman.

Indian Oil Corporation’s deputy general manager, (Research and Development), S K Puri, one of the two IOC scientists to supervise the treatment process in Kamarajar Port, told Express that dumping the oil sludge in pits would exponentially increase the time required for the bio-remediation process. The collected oil sludge must immediately be taken to the port for treating with microbes, he added.

“The bio-remediation process would take three to four months. But if they dump it in pits, then it would take more than two to three years to get it treated and it could pose a threat to environment,” Puri said.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who feels the Union Budget for 2017-18 is aimless and directionless, says the government should immediately cut indirect taxes across the board to revive the sagging economy. Demonetisation, he said, damaged India’s GDP growth in 2016-17 and fears that its shadow will fall on 2017-18 and some parts of 2018-19.

He also said lack of creation of jobs for the youth is a powder keg and a small spark can lead to a large explosion. Resentment may not be visible but it can be a “silent killer”. “What is the overarching goal of this budget? It is aimless and directionless,” said Chidambaram, who has presented nine Union Budgets in a span of nearly two decades. “Sometimes, you chase growth. Sometimes, you chase financial and monetary stability. Sometimes, the goal is boosting growth in a slowing economy,” he told media.

Chidambaram said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley missed an opportunity at reviving the economy hit by demonetisation. “That (cutting indirect taxes) is a tried and tested and proven method of boosting economy. He could have easily cut between 4-8 per cent (tax) across the board. “It is only up to GST time and when GST comes, GST will take over. He had a window of about 8 months to cut indirect taxes. It would come into force from 1st of February and I don’t think GST is going to come before October 1. So, he had eight full months to give a boost to economy by cutting indirect taxes,” he said.

Asked if the finance minister should still cut indirect taxes now that the Budget has been presented, he said, “Yes, he should. Even now it is not too late.” Chidambaram said slashing indirect taxes would push consumption and in turn perk up production.

“If you cut indirect taxes by 4-8 per cent, there is going to be a revenue loss, I am not denying that. But just imagine the signal that would have gone to both producers and consumers. And if consumption rises much above the level of the cut, some of the cut will be made up. The idea is to boost consumption which in turn will boost production,” he said.

Chidambaram disputed the government’s contention that the Budget has stepped up investment. “It is not correct. Total expenditure of the government as a proportion of GDP has fallen. Look at the number for the three years 2015-16, 2016-17 Revised Estimate and 2017-18 Budget Estimate. Total expenditure was 13.09 (per cent of GDP), increased to 13.36, but falls to 12.74 in BE of next year. That is a decline of 0.62 per cent and 0.62 per cent of the GDP represents about Rs 90,000 crore.

“Why did you cut back expenditure as a proportion of GDP by about Rs 90,000 crore that could have been used for enhancing spending on infrastructure as well as on social welfare schemes… expenditure in several social welfare schemes as proportion of GDP has fallen. You don’t look at absolute number, absolute number will look larger but as proportion of GDP, it has fallen,” he said.

Chidamabram further said the government should not have reduced expenditure as percentage of GDP and it should have spent on projects and schemes that stimulate the economy. On demonetisation, he said, it is now universally accepted it has damaged GDP in the current year – from 7.6 per cent in 2015-16 to 6.9 per cent as RBI says or 6.75 per cent as Economic Survey says or 6.6 per cent as IMF says or 6.0 per cent as CMIE says. “It is now common ground that the GDP has been affected. The damage is one percentage or more. This will not stop with 2016-17. The shadow of demonetisation will fall on 2018-19 also. 2017-18 definitely and part of 2018-19,” he said. He said 75 per cent of all small, micro and medium enterprises have shut down post junking of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

“And if you shut down an industry or business, revival is not easy. He has to go through several hoops again. From going and stabilising credit with banks, beginning with that he has to go through hoops all over again,” Chidambaram said. Jaitley, he said, did not make any revised estimate of direct tax collection for 2016-17 and has kept both personal income tax and corporate tax receipts at the same level to the last digit of the budgetary estimates.

On indirect taxes, the finance minister made an additional gain of Rs 16,000 crore in service tax, but lost Rs 13,000 crore in Customs revenue, Chidambaram said, adding that the only gain made was in excise duty of Rs 69,000 crore. “Which means he has sought to tax the people of India on diesel and petroleum to get this additional (about) Rs 70,000 crore,” he said.

Talking of the present global situation, he said most countries of the world have slowed down or are in a recession. Even the mighty Chinese economy has slowed. “There are only four engines of growth -- one is government expenditure, other is exports, third is private investment and fourth is private consumption. “Of the four engines, three engines are not firing at all. The fourth engine of private consumption suffered a serious damage after demonetisation. Which is the engine you can rev up today? The only engine you can rev up today is government expenditure. The other three engines are sputtering. Therefore, I advocate that you must step up government expenditure,” he said.

AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala left for the resort in Kuvathoor outside Chennai to meet party MLAs on Sunday evening, in hopes of achieving a breakthrough in her quest to capture power in Tamil Nadu.

The visit, a second in as many days, came on a day when five more MPs landed at chief minister O Panneerselvam’s residence in Chennai to join the rebel rank.

On Sunday morning, four Lok Sabha members - Jaisingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee (Thoothukudi), B Senguttuvan (Vellore), RP Marutharaja (Perambalur) and S Rajendran (Villupuram) – and Rajya Sabha member R Lakshmanan had joined Panneerselvam.

Panneerselvam has seven MLAs with him along with the support of ten MPs (eight Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha). Insiders from Panneerselvam camp claim they will eventually win over as many as 45 out of the total 50 AIADMK members in both houses of the Parliament.

“My support is reflective of the people's choice, a collective decision that was taken on basis of self-respect. The post of the chief minister is won by winning people’s affection, as OPS has done,” said Lakshmanan.

Joining him in addressing the gathering, Rajendran said he, like others, faced questions in their districts about who among Panneerselvam and Sasikala they supported. “The people told us OPS is their choice,” said Rajendran.

There also are a large number of youngsters volunteering at the rebel HQ. However, they denied any political affiliation. They were there just to ensure Sasikala did not assume power, they said.

The faction backing Sasikala had warned of taking its displeasure to a different level if the governor delayed the decision any further.

“The governor has accepted Panneerselvam’s resignation and the MLAs of the party unanimously elected Sasikala as the legislature party leader. Now, the governor should invite her to form the next government,” said senior leader R Vaithilingam.

“We are waiting for his reply. If nothing comes by this evening, the general secretary will announce the next move, whether to approach the court or to agitate,” he added.