CBSE introduces theatre studies

Kochi: Observing that theatre is one of the strongest mediums of expression and has an important role in reinforcing the learning of other academic subjects that are taught in conventional ways, the CBSE has decided to introduce Theatre Studies as a subject in Classes XI and XII.

Theatre Studies will be introduced in Class XI from the current academic year and will be offered as an elective subject with any combination of three other electives and a language. It will have a theory paper of 70 marks and 30 marks for a case-study based project and viva voce.

“Theatre concretises issues that would otherwise remain abstract and difficult for children to grasp. It puts life back into bookish learning. Students derive many important benefits from their participation in theatre activities.

It is a journey that moves from illiteracy and oral traditions to literacy and sophisticated communications of modernity to the understanding that opens up a wide choice of worthy career options,” said Dr Sadhana Parashar, director (academic), CBSE.

Students will study theatrical forms and genres of their immediate cultural region and larger national and international contexts. The evolution of theatre from the earliest times and the social purposes it served will be part of the curriculum.

Partial Lunar eclipse to be visible on thursday night

The first of the three lunar eclipses of the year will occur on Thursday, giving astro enthusiasts all over the country an opportunity to witness the celestial event.

A tiny sliver of the Moon will be covered by the Earth's umbral shadow at maximum of the partial lunar eclipse, N Sri Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India said.

This is the third shortest partial eclipse of the Moon for the 21st century, lasting just 27 minutes.

According to NASA, the shortest partial lunar eclipse of the 21st century will be on February 13, 2082, lasting only 25.5 minutes.

NASA data also indicates that on September 28, 2034, the second shortest partial eclipse will last for 26.7 minutes. The April 25-26, 2013, partial lunar eclipse will last for 27 minutes, making it the third shortest lunar eclipse of this century.

The lunar eclipse in various phases will begin at 11.32 pm tomorrow night and end at 03.43 am on April 26.

The noticeable Umbra phase will begin at 1.22 am and end at 1.53 am. Middle of eclipse, or when it is maximum, will occur at 1.37 am, he said.

The eclipse will be visible in the region covering Australia, Asia (except N.E. part), Africa, Europe and Antarctica, Kumar said.

This year, a total of five eclipses, three lunar and two annular, will occur.

Unlike an eclipse of the sun, star gazers do not need protective eye equipment to observe a lunar eclipse, he said.

Fire at a bank in Coimbatore,4 killed

Coimbatore: Four persons, including two women, were killed and an equal number injured when a fire broke out in a multi-storeyed commercial complex here today, top officials said.

The fire broke out in the office of a private bank around 10:30 am, the reason for which is yet to be ascertained, they said. Ten to 12 fire tenders, including some from Army and Navy, were used and the fire was doused after over one-and-a-half hours.

A majority of the people were taken to safety by fire force personnel and locals who rushed to the spot to assist in rescue operations, District Collector M Karunagaran said.

While two women were injured when they jumped from the second floor, two fire force personnel sustained injuries after they fell down when the water-pipe hose got entangled in their legs, officials said. There are eight offices in the complex employing 300 people.

Axis Bank shares rises as results beat estimates

Reuters Market Eye - Axis Bank shares rise 3 percent after the bank posts better-than-expected March quarter results. Results, which came on Wednesday, showed net profit was at 15.55 billion rupees versus estimates of 12.77 billion rupees.

Other banking shares also rise with the NSE banking index trading up 1 percent. SBI rises 1.3 percent, Punjab National Bank up 1.3 percent, Union Bank gains 2.3 percent.

Investors broadly bullish on rate-sensitive stocks such as banks ahead of the RBI's monetary policy on May 3 where it is widely expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.

Raises BSE Sensex gains

The BSE benchmark Sensex extended gains for the fourth-straight day by rising nearly 144 points in early trade on Thursday on buying by funds and retailers amid a firming Asian trend.

The 30-share barometer rose by 143.72 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 19,323.08 with auto, realty and oil and gas stocks leading the gains. The index had gained over 448 points in the previous three sessions.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 40.70 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 5877.60.

Brokers said sustained buying by funds and retailers driven by a firming trend in the Asian region mainly influenced the sentiment.

Both the BSE and the NSE were remained closed on Wednesday on account of ‘Mahavir Jayanti’.

Meanwhile in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose by 0.59 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei up by 0.32 per cent in the early trade. However, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.29 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.

Bangladesh building collapse kills nearly 150 peoples,more than 1,000 injured

The number of people killed by the collapse of a building in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka rose to 147 overnight and the death toll could climb further because many people are still trapped inside, Dhaka's district police chief said on Thursday.

"The death toll could go up as many are still trapped under the rubble," Habibur Rahman said, a day after the collapse of the eight-storey building on the outskirts of Dhaka that housed several garment factories.

Officials said on Wednesday more than 1,000 people had been injured in the accident.

An eight-story building that housed garment factories and shops collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday. One fireman said about 2,000 people were in the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km outside Dhaka, when its upper floors slammed onto those below.

At the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, a frantic effort was underway to find and rescue victims. Television reports showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled out by firefighters and troops.

Doctors at local hospitals said they were unable to cope with the number of victims brought in.

The building collapse, which follows a November fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory on the outskirts of Dhaka that killed 112 people, has compounded concerns about worker safety and low wages in Bangladesh.

The two major incidents, and a third in January that killed seven people, could taint Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost products and services and call attention to Western retailers and other companies that obtain products from the country. But industry people and worker's groups in the United States say the lure of cheap manufacturing costs will keep retailers and buyers turning to Bangladesh.

Beware of internet virus that steals bankaccount and password

NEW DELHI: A new virus has been found to be "spreading widely" in the Indian cyberspace which cleverly steals bank account details and passwords of the user once it is clicked. 

Country's cyber security sleuths have alerted Internet users in the country about the new and suspected variant of malware family called 'Win32/Ramnit'. 

"Ramnit worm spreads by infecting or modifying files existing on target systems such as (EXE, dll or html) and creating a new section so as to modify the entry point to that section," an advisory issued by country's premier cyber security agency -- Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) -- said. 

The malware, the advisory states, "steals credentials like file transfer protocol passwords, bank account logins, infects removable media, changes browser settings and downloads and executes arbitrary files". 

The virus is so deadly and potent, cyber sleuths say, that it has ability to hide itself from anti-virus solutions and acquires various aliases to attack a genuine system or Internet-based connection which works to play emails and other user services. 

The virus is such lethal in its operations that it "infects the removable media by copying itself to its recycle bin and creates an autorun.inf file," the advisory said. 

Once the system is infected, the malware injects its code into windows executables, html files or dlls to communicate with its command and control server, thereby compromising the security of the online system. 

The agency has also advised some counter measures in this regard. 

The combat steps against this virus stipulate that users should not download and open attachments in emails received from untrusted users or unexpectedly received from trusted users, one should exercise caution while visiting links to web pages and users should not visit untrusted websites. 

"Enable firewall at desktop and gateway level and disable ports that are not required, avoid downloading pirated software, keep up-to-date patches and fixes on the operating system and application softwares and keep up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware signatures at desktop and gateway level," the advisory stated.

TCS,Infosys and Wipro accused of abusing H-1B system

WASHINGTON:Amidst Congressional debate on the comprehensive immigration reform, a top US Senator has accused big Indian IT companies - TCS, Infosys and Wipro - of abusing the H-1B visa system.

"There are some specific abuses of H-1B," Senator Richard Durbin, said during a Congressional hearing on immigration reform by the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, during which the lawmakers discussed threadbare the H-1B visa issues.

In fact, Senator Durbin went on to brand the top Indian IT companies as outsourcing firms.

"These outsourcing firms like Infosys, Wipro, Tata and others -- Americans would be shocked to know that the H-1B visas are not going to Microsoft; they're going to these firms, largely in India, who are finding workers, engineers, who will work at low wages in the US for three years and pay a fee to Infosys or these companies," Durbin alleged.

"I think that is an abuse of what we're trying to achieve here. Most people would think, well, Microsoft needs these folks, and they'd be shocked to know that most of the H-1B visas are not going to companies like yours; they're going to these outsourcing companies," Durbin alleged.

He said this during the hearing in which two Indian Americans testified before the committee and supported the allegations of the Senator against Indian IT firms.

Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president, legal and corporate affairs, Microsoft, too supported the Senator on the issue.

"I personally think it's important that we both recognise the need for these firms to evolve their business model -- I've had these conversations myself with them in India -- that encourages them to focus on hiring more people in the US," he told lawmakers in response to a question.

The proposed comprehensive immigration bill if passed by the Congress and signed into law by the US President would bar companies from hiring people on H-1B visa if 50 per cent of their employees are not Americans.

The US India Business Council and Confederation of Indian Industry have opposed such a move and said that this is against the spirit of India US strategic relationship.

PM must appear before JPC on 2Gscam:Yaswant sinha

NEW DELHI:In the backdrop of former telecom minister A Raja telling the JPC that he took major decisions after consulting the Prime Minister, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday asked Manmohan Singh to appear before the panel, saying his silence will "confirm" his involvement in the 2G scam.

"Is it not time Mr Prime Minister that you speak on these issues by appearing before the JPC?" Sinha, a member of the joint parliamentary committee probing the 2G issue, said in his latest letter to the Prime Minister.

"You had said in your letter of April 2 (to Sinha) that you had nothing to hide. Your deafening silence on the allegations made by your own colleague in the Cabinet completely disapproves the stand you had taken," he wrote.

Sinha said the Prime Minister should appear before the JPC as the allegations levelled by Raja "constitute a set of serious allegations of your personal involvement in the 2G scam".

His letter comes a day before the JPC meeting convened to adopt the controversial draft report which gives clean chit to the Prime Minister and finance minister P Chidambaram.

"Your silence will confirm the worst fear of the people of India that you were fully involved in the 2G scam and if Raja is guilty, so are you," he wrote.

Hinting at a stormy meeting of the committee on Thursday, Sinha said, "Under the leadership of your party member P C Chacko, the JPC is facing the risk of a complete stalemate, if not total destruction."

In a statement to the JPC, Raja had said on Monday that he took "every major decision", including entry fee and non auction of spectrum, after consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.

"I took no unilateral decisions. Every major decision of mine was taken after consultation first with the DoT officers and thereafter with the Hon'ble PM, FM (finance minister P Chidambaram) and EAM (then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee who was heading a GoM on vacation of spectrum)," he had said.

Raja's statement to the JPC came after the draft report of the 30-member committee indicted him of misleading the Prime Minister on decisions taken with regard to 2G spectrum allocation.

Earthquake in New Delhi

NEW DELHI:Tremors were felt in north India, including the national capital and adjoining satellite townships, on Wednesday afternoon, the second such occurrence in nine days.

The quake, measuring 5.7 on the Richter Scale at 2:51pm, was epicentred in southern Afghanistan, the MeT Department said. The quake took place 6.6km down the surface.

The tremors were felt in the capital, Gurgaon and Noida. There were no immediate reports of any casualty or injury.

Tremors were also felt in Srinagar and adjoining areas but there was no report of any casualty, officials said.

In Srinagar, the tremor lasted a few seconds, prompting people to rush out of buildings for safety.

On April 16, tremors were felt in north India following a quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale on Pakistan-Iran border.

Bangladesh Building collapse killing over 70 peoples & injures hundreds

DHAKA:An eight-story block housing factories and a shopping centre collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing more than 70 people and injuring hundreds, a government official said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the morning at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped inside. 

One fireman told Reuters that about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at a factory in an industrial suburb of Dhaka.

"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives of those still inside. 

"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said Sohra Begum a worker at one of the garment factories.

M.M. Niazuddin, the government's health secretary, told Reuters that at least 76 people were confirmed dead. Another official said hundreds were being treated for injuries.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations. Dozens died when a garment factory collapsed in the same area eight years ago.

MLA's assets are raised 9 crore in 5 years

Bengaluru:Elected representatives of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly are growing richer every five years. Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) and Democratic Reforms, after analysing the average assets of 175 MLAs who are contesting the polls again, have found that between 2008 when the last assembly polls were held and 2013, the average growth in assets is a whopping Rs 9.27 crore!

The KEW released figures on the assets of each MLA of all three major parties in the state. The average assets of the 179 MLAs fielded by the three parties in 2008 was Rs 10.59 crore. The average assets declared by these MLAs in 2013 was Rs. 19.87 crore—a jump of Rs 9.27 crore. In percentage terms, the growth in assets of the 179 MLAs was 88%.

For example, between 2008 and 2013, the assets of Congress candidate from Kanakapura D.K. Shivakumar increased by Rs 175.91 crore. Mr. Shivakumar has declared Rs. 75.59 crore assets in 2008 and has now declared Rs. 251.50 crore assets.

The assets of Congress candidate from Govindrajanagar, Priya Krishna have increased by Rs 143.36 crore. He declared assets of Rs 767.61 core in 2008 and declared assets worth Rs 910.98 crore in 2013. The wealth of another Congress candidate Santhosh Lad from Kalaghatagi, has increased by Rs 124.85 crore.

The candidate who registered the highest percentage growth is Congress candidate(Bantwal) Ramanath Rai followed by sports minister Appachu Ranjan.

Declining assets

Interestingly, the assets of eight MLAs including higher education minister C.T. Ravi decreased in five years. Mr Ravi had declared assets of Rs 7.85 crore in 2008 and has now declared wealth worth Rs 3.59 crore.

Posting a depreciation

The assets of B.K. Sangam­eshwar, the Congress rebel candidate from Bhadravati was Rs. 5.83 crore in 2008 while in 2013, he declared assets worth Rs 1.66 crore.

Urvasi come's back on to the screen

Veteran actress Urvasi, who has acted in all four south Indian languages is back on the big screen after a brief hiatus, playing the central character in the film Pechiakka Marumagan.

While she plays Pechiakka, director Tarun Gopi dons the role of her marumagan. Urvasi will be seen playing an uneducated village woman who cares more for human relationships than materialistic comforts, a role she says that comes once in a lifetime.

“When director Balakumar approached me and narrated the emotional family drama, I was totally floored with the way my character was written. You rarely come across such roles and I just grabbed it without any apprehension,” she says to DC. 

Demand for seperate Rayalaseema

Kurnool:With TRS calling the shots in Telangana region, another sub regional party is in the offing. This time around it is Rayalaseema that is going to be the bone of contention.



Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy of Rayalaseema Parirakshna Samithi said that he will be floating a political party to achieve separate Rayalaseema.
The new party will have Rayalaseema as the main plank, he told media here today. Rajasekhar Reddy has been a strong votary of separate Rayalaseema.

Three smartphone satellites in to Space successfully

Washington: NASA has successfully launched three smartphones into space to snap images of the Earth, and the handsets may prove to be the cheapest satellites ever flown into space.

Each smartphone is housed in a standard cubesat structure, measuring about 4 inches square. The smartphone acts as the satellite's onboard computer. Its sensors are used for attitude determination and its camera for Earth observation.

The smartphones destined to become low-cost satellites rode to space on Sunday aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corporation's Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia.

The trio of "PhoneSats" is operating in orbit, and may prove to be the lowest-cost satellites ever flown in space.

The goal of NASA's PhoneSat mission is to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a capable, yet very inexpensive, satellite.

Transmissions from all three PhoneSats have been received at multiple ground stations on Earth, indicating they are operating normally.

The PhoneSat team at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, will continue to monitor the satellites in the coming days. The satellites are expected to remain in orbit for as long as two weeks.

"Smartphones offer a wealth of potential capabilities for flying small, low-cost, powerful satellites for atmospheric or Earth science, communications, or other space-born applications," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology.

They also may open space to a whole new generation of commercial, academic and citizen-space users," Gazarik said.

Satellites consisting mainly of the smartphones will send information about their health via radio back to Earth in an effort to demonstrate they can work as satellites in space. The spacecraft also will attempt to take pictures of Earth using their cameras.

Amateur radio operators around the world can participate in the mission by monitoring transmissions and retrieving image data from the three satellites.

NASA's off-the-shelf PhoneSats already have many of the systems needed for a satellite, including fast processors, versatile operating systems, multiple miniature sensors, high-resolution cameras, GPS receivers and several radios.

NASA engineers kept the total cost of the components for the three prototype satellites in the PhoneSat project between USD 3,500 and USD 7,000 by using primarily commercial hardware and keeping the design and mission objectives to a minimum.

The hardware for this mission is the Google-HTC Nexus One smartphone running the Android operating system.

NASA added items a satellite needs that the smartphones do not have - a larger, external lithium-ion battery bank and a more powerful radio for messages it sends from space. The smartphone's ability to send and receive calls and text messages has been disabled.

Sachin born to Bat

New Delhi: Record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar turns 40 on Wednesday with no plans to retire despite media speculation and recent form suggesting that age is finally catching up with the "Little Master".

Test and one-day cricket's greatest run-scorer approaches the game with undiminished enthusiasm and insists he has much to offer despite slipping from the dizzying heights he reached earlier in his 24-year career.

"People have been talking about my retirement since 2005, but that does not worry me at all," Tendulkar chided reporters at a promotional event in New Delhi last week.

"Your job is to write, my job is to play. I will stick to my job and you stick to yours."

Tendulkar, afforded almost religious status in India, burst onto the world cricket scene as a 16-year-old in 1989 and has played a record 198 Tests and 463 one-dayers, scoring an unprecedented 100 international hundreds.

He was singled out by Don Bradman but the Australian legend's Test average is one of the few marks that Tendulkar has not been able to threaten, with his 15,837 runs coming at 53.86. Bradman averaged 99.94.

However, questions over his future mounted when he struggled for a year to score the ton he needed to take him to 100 centuries. He finally achieved the landmark against Bangladesh in Dhaka in March 2012.

Tendulkar, who decided not to play Twenty20 internationals after just one match in 2006, announced his retirement from one-day cricket last December in a bid to prolong his glittering Test career.

But his form in the five-day format has also dipped by his own stellar standards. He has scored just 1,145 runs in 21 Tests at an average of 31.80 since being part of India's World Cup-winning team two years ago.

And Tendulkar has not added to his tally of 51 Test centuries since making 146 against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2011.

But despite his struggles with the bat, the veteran is refusing to follow fellow modern greats such as compatriot Rahul Dravid and Australia's Ricky Ponting into retirement.

Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to reach the 10,000-run milestone in Tests, suggested last year that Tendulkar's reflexes were on the slide. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh also feels he is past his best.

"He is not playing up to his standards," Waugh said last week. "But he himself has to decide (on retirement)."

When India succumbed to a Test series defeat against England at home in December, former skipper Sourav Ganguly backed calls for Tendulkar to quit.

"He is getting a long rope because of what he has achieved," Ganguly was quoted as saying by London's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "As somebody watching it from outside, Tendulkar is not performing.

"And I think if I were Tendulkar, I would go (retire)."

But Kapil Dev, another ex-India skipper, says Tendulkar is fit and hungry for success even after so many years of gruelling cricket. "Sachin passes on both counts. He could go on for years if he wanted to," he told AFP.

Six months ago, Tendulkar admitted in a television interview that retirement had crossed his mind, but said he would take it series by series before making a final call.

"I am 39-plus and it is not abnormal for me to think of retirement," he said. "I will go by what my heart says. At this moment, my heart says I am OK."

There has been speculation in the media over whether Tendulkar will play in India's next Test outing -- a three-match away series against world number one side South Africa starting late in the year.

There is even talk of organising two home Tests against an unknown opponent before the tour of South Africa to enable Tendulkar to bow out with 200 appearances in a farewell series.

But few would be surprised if the player, described by former India coach Gary Kirsten as cricket's "greatest role model", bats on at the top level.

As many as 102 cricketers have played Test matches after hitting 40, the oldest being Englishman Wilfred Rhodes, who was 52 when he took on the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1930.

Tendulkar, who last year accepted a government offer to take up a nominated seat in India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, has never revealed what he wants to post-retirement.

"It is going to be hard because I have not experienced anything close to what I might go through when I retire," Tendulkar said in a recent television interview.

"I cannot relate this moment with any other moment in my life."

Guarenteed oppurtunities in Polytechnic

Vijayawada: Guaranteed opportunities in campus placement drives and feasibility to take up engineering after the course completion has made the polytechnic diploma courses the best alternative for the Class X students besides the regular Intermediate course.

The demand for the three-year diploma courses in polytechnic is increasing year after year as a majority of the industries offer jobs, especially in civil, mechanical and computer departments. It was once the most chosen course by the rural students but now the students from urban areas are also opting for it as there are vast opportunities in the industries that seek skill-based students with real-time industry knowledge.

Ch. Clinton, a polytechnic second year student, said that they are given industry-based training in this course as per the curriculum and the student has to develop personal skills and soft skills so that getting selected in national companies in the campus drives would be easy.

In-charge principal of Government Polytechnic College, Vijayawada, G. Sai Prasad Raju, said that there is a lot of demand for the course now. They received more than 6,000 applications so far from the district itself and the number would increase by the last date for submission of applications. The college registered 100 per cent placements in mechanical department and highest placements in civil departments last year.

The feasibility of joining engineering second year directly after the completion of polytechnic diploma in respective streams is also making students opt for polytechnic. Every engineering department in all the engineering colleges admits a maximum of eight polytechnic diploma holders through E-cet as lateral entry. Also, observing the demand for polytechnic courses many private colleges are coming up with different industry-oriented courses.

India to be global diesel engine hub for Honda

Kolkata: Honda Cars India Ltd will export diesel engine components to Asian and European markets from India, besides lining up three-four new models of cars with diesel engines to boost its sales.

“We will export diesel engine components to Europe and South East Asian markets from India. This fiscal, the target is Rs 500 crore against Rs 332 crore registered in 2012-13,“ Honda Cars India senior vice president, Jnaneswar Sen said here on Monday at the launch of its new sedan, Amaze, in the city.

Sen said the company remains optimistic about the success story of diesel cars. Though the decision to remove the subsidies on diesel by India took us by surprise but demand for diesel cars will continue, he said.

He said the four new models in compact SUV -seven seater multi-purpose vehicle, new Jazz and new City — expected to be launched in the next twothree years, may be introduced with 1.5 or 1.6 litre diesel engines along with petrol variant.

He did not wish to predict on the volatile car market, but said the capacity of the company in India will double to 2.4 lakh units with the new Rajasthan plant built at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore, which is expected to become operational by mid 2014.

Earlier, during the launch of Amaze in Hyderabad, Sen had said, “The government should create a level playing field for the auto industry in the country. The India-EU free trade agreement is going to remove that level playing field. Europe (automobile market) is not growing now. It is only de-growing.

It is very easy for some of them to sell the same cars here,” he said on the proposed India-EU free trade agreement.

Five year old-rape victim serious in Madhya Pradesh being shifted to Nagpur

Seoni, Madhya Pradesh: A five-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by a 35-year-old man in Ghansour town, is being shifted to Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra in an air ambulance as her condition remains serious.

"After taking the consent of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, we are shifting the victim from Jabalpur to Nagpur tonight by air ambulance as she continues to be in serious condition," Minister of State for School Education and in-charge of Seoni district, Nanabhai Mahod said.

Chouhan has sanctioned Rs two lakh from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for providing proper treatment to the victim and directed the officials concerned to ensure proper care of the victim.

The minor girl was allegedly raped by Firoz Khan, who works in a private power plant, on April 17 after luring her with chocolate, police said. He then dumped her at a farm.

The girl's parents found her unconscious the next morning, following which she was rushed to the Government Medical College, Jabalpur, they said.

"Her condition is serious...she is yet to regain consciousness," a police official said.

Enraged over the incident, people in Ghansour town observed a bandh today and submitted a memorandum to the sub divisional magistrate demanding immediate arrest and strict action against the accused who is absconding.

Ghansour Police Station in-charge R D Barti said a case under Sec 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC was registered against Khan and police teams have been sent to Delhi and Bihar to trace him.

Public Relation Officer of Seoni district, Ghanshyam Sirsam said the private power plant company is bearing the entire expenses of the girl's treatment and its management also announced to provide a suitable job to the victim's father. 

Over the loss assessment begins

Rajahmundry: Paddy and horticulture crops like banana and mango suffered damage causing heartburn to farmers and tenant farmers following the rainfall accompanied with gales during the last two days in several parts of the Godavari districts.

In West Godavari, paddy lodging was reported in about 16,000 hectares. Paddy heaps in about 4,400 hectares and paddy sheaves in about 11,000 hectares were damaged due to the rains.
Stagnation of rain water was reported in about 5,000 hectares. The areas affected include Kalla, Bhimavaram, Palacole, Achanta, Narasapuram and Yelamanchali mandals.

Agriculture authorities said that out of paddy sown in about 1.78 lakh hectares during the Rabi season, the crop was harvested in about 1.2 lakh hectares, about 65 per cent and the damage to the crop reported in the remaining 50 hectares. The paddy is of 1010 variety and under the influence of gales, it suffered grain shattering.

On the other hand, the farmers in the district got good yields and on an average, they reaped 40 to 50 bags of paddy per acre during Rabi against the targeted 36 bags. The authorities attribute such a good yield to the better water management practices adopted by the farmers.

West Godavari agriculture joint director V.D.V. Krupadas said, “As there is respite in the rainfall and prevailing dry spell in the last several hours, there is a good chance for the lodged paddy to recover and the extent of damage minimised.”

Banana crop suffered damage in about 160 hectares in mandals including Achanta, Kamavarapukota, Pedavegi, Dendulur and Kovvur. Horticulture authorities say that the crop was 90 per cent of the crop was already harvested.

Mango orchards suffered fruit falling due to the gales Chinthalapudi, Dwaraka Tirumala, Jangareddygudem and Gopalapuram mandals. About 40 per cent of the crop in the district was harvested.

In East Godavari, paddy lodging was reported in about 33,000 hectares, area falling under Amalapuram, Tuni and Sankhavaram mandals based on preliminary reports.

Following prevalence of a dry spell in the last several hours, the agriculture authorities maintain that the extent of damage to paddy might be less. With regard to horticulture crops, banana suffered damage in about 20 hectares, mainly in Prathipadu and Pitapuram mandals.

Fruit drop in mango reported at Jaggampeta and other areas in the district and the authorities maintain the extent of loss will be to the tune of 30 per cent.