68 years on, has nothing changed for Dalits?

Business Standard asked five eminent thinkers of Dalits issues whether anything had changed for the community in 68 years after independence. What is responsible for this change, or lack of it? Is it politics, economics or the society?

Social reform most important for amelioration of Dalits: K N Govindacharya

Ultimately, a democratic society should be considered responsible for the continuing alienation of the Dalits and the status quo of the mindset of theBharatiya elite. Read More.

All you need to know about the Zika virus

The Zika virus disease has “explosive” pandemic potential, with outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas, says an article published byThe Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Wednesday.

According to a BBC report, the World Health Organization says the virus is likely to spread across nearly all of the Americas.

The current outbreak of the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), came to light when the Pan American Health Organisation issued an alert regarding the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. 

PM Modi upset over complaints regarding customs, excise sector

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took strong exception to people's complaints and grievances related to thecustoms and excise sector and directed strict action against the officials responsible.

He also asked all Secretaries, whose departments have extensive public dealing, to set up a system for top-level monitoring of grievances immediately, a PMO statement said.

His directions came while chairing the 9th meeting ofPRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation), an IT-based multi-modal platform under which he interacts with top officials of various central departments and state governments via video conferencing.

India improves ranking at 76 in global corruption index

India has been ranked at 76th position in public sector corruption out of 168 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, improving its slot from 85 in 2014 and 94 in 2013.

Although corruption is still rife globally, many countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of the corruption index, a Trasparency International statement said on Wednesday.

Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50 points on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

Twitter curtails ad pop-ups for its VIP users

Micro-blogging website Twitter has stopped, or significantly reduced, the number of ads it displays, in a bid to ensure its "VIP" users stay engaged with the service.

Playing around with the idea since September, the micro-blogging company has made Twitter an ad-free, or nearly ad-free, experience to a small group of some of its most prominent and active users, Re/Code reported on Tuesday.

Twitter selects the no-ad or low-ad group by a variety of criteria, including the volume and reach of the tweets they generate.

Rohith Vemula suicide: Kejriwal to visit Hyderabad University today

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to visit the University of Hyderabad to meet the students after the suicide of the Dalit student, Rohith Vemula, who was expelled from the university following a tussle with students affiliated with the student wing of the BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, YSR Congress Party leader Jagan Mohan Reddy and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien have already visited the University of Hyderabad to express their solidarity with the protesting students.

Anti-pan masala campaign: SRK, Priyanka and others may lose hefty fees

For decades, Bollywood has portrayed the nobility to stand for a cause that benefits public at large. The heroism comes with a price tag too - it taught us. The real life choices may not be very dissimilar for the industry’s top paid actors either. While, Sunny Leone, the porn-star turned bollywood actor, responded positively weeks after she received a request from the Delhi government to not endorse any pan masala brand, the others, if they wish to follow suit, may have to relinquish crores as endorsementfees that they earn – appearing for pan masala brands currently.

Shah Rukh Khan – one of Bollywood’s top paid actor and brand endorser signed a deal for Rs 20 crore in 2014 to promote Pan Vilas. The choice was obvious given the TVC’s message for its target customers – for men who made it big in life on their own. The deal was said to be the highest endorsement fee charged for a single brand at that point in time by any Bollywood actor. 

Priyanka Chopra – who endorses Rajnigandha Silver Pearls – charged a premium on her standard rate of Rs 1 crore for the brand, it is learned. 

I 'will be happy' to work with Sunny Leone: Aamir Khan

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan on Wednesday spoke out in support of actress Sunny Leone, who was at the receiving end of harsh questions about her professional choices in a TV interview.

During the promotional TV interview with CNN IBN anchor Bhupendra Chaubey, Leone was asked that while she would like to work with Aamir Khan, would Aamir Khan like to work with her.

Leone faced it sportingly, and it is this spirit that has impressed Aamir.

“I think Sunny conducted herself with a lot of grace and dignity in this interview. I wish I could have said the same about the interviewer.

Rohith Vemula suicide: Fresh protests rocks campus, Yechury to visit

Fresh protests today rocked the Hyderabad Central University over the alleged suicide of Dalit student, Rohith Vemula, even as several politicians headed to the city including YSR Congress leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.

A group of students carrying placards and raising slogans protested in the tense University campus this morning.

Besides Hyderabad many cities across the country including in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai were rocked by protests yesterday. 

Aamir damaged India's brand identity, says DIPP secretary

Actor Aamir Khan damaged the “brand India” while being the brand ambassador of the celebrated ‘Incredible India’ campaign, a senior official has said.

Defending the exit of Khan from the campaign, Secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP),Amitabh Kant said the actor, by terming India an 'intolerantcountry’, worked against his role as that of a brand ambassador.

“A brand ambassador promotes a brand. People will come to India and tourist flow will increase only if the brand ambassador of 'Incredible India’ promotes the country as 'incredible’,” Kant told reporters on the sidelines of a convocation here on Monday.

India’s box office growth runs into a screen problem

Could this year end up being the worst for box office growth in India?

In April 2013, PVR’s five-screen multiplex at Grand Mall in Chennai’s Velachery was ready for business. It was, however, only in December 2015, under a court directive, that the licence to open was issued. The interest costs, that of keeping the property fully-staffed in anticipation of the licence and the opportunity cost is not something anyone at the Rs 1,485-crore PVR cares to discuss. “Capital is not a constraint (for growth), the ecosystem is,” is all Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures, says.

There are dozens of theatres like PVR, ready in various parts of the country, awaiting a licence to start. Getting permission to open a multiplex remains “the single biggest challenge to expansion,” says Rahul Puri, managing director, Mukta Arts, which owns 38 screens across the country. 

**Budget 2016: IPPAI bats for tax incentives for power sector**

In the run up to the Union Budget 2016, Indian power producers have proposed to the government a slew of tax benefits to incentivise investments in the sector.

Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) in a letter to the ministries of finance, coal and power asked the government to extend a 10-year tax holiday to companies that start power generation by March 31, 2020.
Read our full coverage on Business Standard Budget.

“Industry players have called for the extension of the sunset tax clause for power companies to include plants that provide power till March 2020 as opposed to 2017 earlier,” said the letter.

The association has also asked for minimum alternate tax to be reduced to 10 per cent. With regards to coking coal, IPPAI has asked for reduction in customs duty on it. 

Budget 2016: Easwar panel wants higher threshold & lower rates for TDS on bank deposits

Ahead of the Union Budget 2016, a committee asked to make recommendations on simplifying the current income tax (I-T) law has recommended a higher threshold for deduction of tax at source and cuts in rates, plus measures to reduce litigation.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is to be tabled on February 29.   

The 10-member panel is chaired by R V Easwar, a former high court judge. Appointed in late October 2015, its first report, 78 pages, was given on Monday. This is a draft report, issued to elicit feedback before finalisation. It focuses on simpler issues that it feels need immediate attention. Comments have been invited till the coming Saturday, after which the committee will finalise the first part of the report by January 31.

'Start-up India' the ultimate break with License Raj: Arun Jaitley

India will unveil entrepreneurial friendly taxation policies in the forthcoming budget that would help startups build new businesses for both the local market as well as global markets. This would also be the ultimate break from the license Raj, which held in shackles Indian entrepreneurs and businesses to grow, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the inaugural of the Start-up India event.
"We have already worked upon entrepreneurial friendly taxation. Some of this can be done through notification, some steps have been taken and other requires legislative consent that would be included when the finance bill is presented," said Jaitley.
"StartupIndia is the ultimate break that you have from the conventional license raj of India," the FM added.

India, Pak 'mutually' decide to defer talks

Islamabad and New Delhi on Thursday gave a rare exhibition of how consultations and mutual agreement can help steer tricky diplomatic negotiations without causing embarrassment to either side.

The two governments announced that their Foreign Secretary level talks have been postponed by a week or two.

They stressed that the talks have not been cancelled, but postponed after mutual consultations by the respective foreign secretaries. India also welcomed the visit of a Special Investigation Team from Pakistan to probe the Pathankot airbase attack of January 2 and offered "all necessary cooperation" to it.

New Delhi lauded Islamabad for having detained a dozen members of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). 

2016 starts with a bang for Mumbai

It may not be odd or even but Mumbai has started the New Year with a bang, in its own style. According to state government officials, at least four major infrastructure projects have been cleared and are about to take off.

Among the projects to have received what officials are calling "final clearance" is the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), a project that was conceived over two decades ago. The MTHL will be a six lane bridge - 16 kilometres in the sea and 6 kilometres on land - and is expected to cost over Rs 17,000 crore. (WAR ROOM PROJECTS)

Planners say the project will benefit over 20 million residents of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by providing a direct link between interline and mainline. It will help those commuting between South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. It will also help divert traffic from South Mumbai to the new airport at Navi Mumbai, reducing congestion at the arterial roads.

Three hit $1.6 bn US Powerball jackpot

Several people shared a bonanza of $1.6 billion (1.47 billion euros) Wednesday in the US Powerball lottery, officials and reports said, after millions tuned in to see the fate of the world-record jackpot live on TV.
The winning numbers were 4, 8, 19, 27 and 34, with a 10 as the so-called Powerball number.
Lottery fever gripped the country, with people frantically checking their $2 slips to see if they had won the world-record lottery.
"We have a winner in California! A jackpot-winning ticket was sold in Chino Hills. We're still awaiting results from other states," California Lottery tweeted.
Local television showed swarms of people, many cheering, descending on the Los Angeles convenience store where the California ticket was sold.

Jakarta explosions: 4 attackers dead, including 2 suicide bombers

Four people suspected of being behind the gunfire and serial explosions in the Indonesian capital Jakarta today are dead, including two who were allegedly suicide bombers, police said.
Two civilians are also confirmed as having died, taking the total death toll in the attacks to six, Deputy National Police Chief Budi Gunawan told reporters.
Two attackers were killed in a shootout with police, while two others were suicide bombers, he said.
Of the two recent civilian deaths, one was a foreigner, Gunawan said.
Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal added that five police personnel, one foreign civilian and four Indonesian civilians were injured, he said.
Witnesses said at least one gunman had attacked a cafe in the city centre -- near a cluster of embassies -- shooting at bystanders, as a series of explosions rocked the area.

Govt may announce new interest rates on small savings schemes soon

The government is soon likely to announce rationalised interest rates on small savings schemes, enabling banks transmit the policy rate reduction by the Reserve Bank of India to borrowers.

According to sources, the finance ministry Arun Jaitley is seriously considering the suggestions made by various stakeholders, including banks and other ministries, and brought up during the pre-budget meetings with leading economists and experts, suggesting lower small savings rate.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced on September 29 that the Centre would review small savings schemes, rationalising and aligning their interest rates with the central bank's regime. This was the same day when RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had cut policy rate by 50 basis points (bps) from 7.25 per cent to 6.75 per cent, bringing it to a total cut of 125 basis points for the calendar year 2015.

Budget 2016, Banks want govt to focus on public spending over fiscal deficit road map

Banks and financial institutions pitched for a delay in the fiscal deficit road map and for more focus on greater public spending to ensure economic revival, at a Budget 2016 meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday.
The institutions also wanted incentives to encourage cashless transactions through debit/credit cards and rationalisation of interest rate of small savings schemes.
Read our full coverage on Union Budget
The two-hour meeting saw heads of the country's public and private sector banks - including State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, LIC, IIFCL, IDBI Bank, NABARD, Citi Bank and L&T Finance Holdings - discuss key measures that could be introduced in the Budget 2016-17 to ensure economic growth revival.

Women beating her sick and helpless 70-year-old mother-in-laws.

A woman was caught mercilessly beating up her 70-year-old mother-in-law and trying to strangle her with a cloth at her home in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. A CCTV installed by her estranged husband recorded the brutality.

The woman Sangeeta Jain has been arrested on charges of attempt to murder after her husband showed the shocking video to the police.

The video captured on January 5 shows Sangeeta first hitting the elderly woman Raj Rani Jain and then trying to strangle her with a cloth. Read More.

PM to address youth on Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended wishes to 'venerable' Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary.

"I salute the venerable SwamiVivekananda on his birth anniversary," said Prime Minister Modi on Twitter.

He also said that he will address the National Youth Festival in Chhattisgarh via video conference today.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi at the 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications, had recalled Swami Vivekananda and praised him for sharing India's ancient wisdom with the world.

We need to solve Indian problems in an Indian way: Ratan Tata & Gene Block

Starting with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Tata Trusts will be launching a series of initiatives in India on exchange of big ideas. Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, known for his passion for innovation, wants to get top global universities to ideate with Indian counterparts in fields as diverse as biosciences, material sciences and aerospace. In conversation with Jyoti Mukul,Ratan Tata and Gene Block, chancellor, UCLA, share the details of the first such global forum on sustainable energy. Edited excerpts:

In recent times, we have seen court directives on diesel vehicles, the Union government announcement to leap frog into Euro VI norms and the Delhi government's effort towards road rationing. Will such decisions force newer technology innovations and investment, especially by automobile firms?

Ratan Tata: One way of supporting economic growth in the country is by finding solutions on long-term energy. Using new technology and renewable materials to ensure sustainability in the years to come is a must for economic growth. That is the box we chose to be here today.

Hope brightens for Indo-Pak Jan 15 talks after arrest of some Pathankot suspects

The January 15 India-Pakistan foreign secretary level talks seemed on track after Pakistan made some arrests related to the Pathankot air base terror attack.

The Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also ordered the setting up of a high-profile joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the leads given by India that allegedly link the Pathankot air base attackers with Pakistan.

The decision to set up the JIT was set up at a meeting that Sharif chaired. Reports quoted unnamed sources in the Pakistan government who claimed that the Army was no board Sharif’s decision.

Pakistani security agencies raided places in Gujranwala, Jhelum and Bahawalpur districts and an unspecified number of people were arrested. The JIT comprises Intelligence Bureau, Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency and Police.

Facebook has blocked some of our ads, says Hike Messenger

Home-grown Hike Messenger has accused Facebook of blocking an option in its advertisements which lets people visit the chatting application’s website.

Run by Kavin Mittal, son of Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal, Hike competes with Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Hike is owned by a joint venture of Bharti and Japan’s SoftBank.

“Advertisers have, among other options, the option to ‘send people to your website’. A few weeks back, we were suddenly blocked from using this option while we were able to use other non action-led options,” a Hike spokesperson told PTI.

The spokesperson added they assumed it was a technical glitch but when the team wrote to Facebook, the social networking giant said Hike would not be able to run the ads.

Hat-trick for 'The Revenant', DiCaprio best actor at Golden Globes

Period survival drama The Revenant emerged as the big winner at the 73rd Golden Globes, scoring a hat-trick by taking home trophies for best picture drama, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director.

The movie saw off competition from Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, and Spotlight.

The biggest snub of the night was to lesbian romance Carol which returned empty handed despite five nominations.

Considered to be a precursor to the Oscars, Globes win has upped DiCaprio's chances of winning his first Academy award for the true-story inspired role of frontiersman Hugh Glass in The Revenant, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

The 41-year-old actor said it was an incredible honour to win as he acknowledged fellow nominees, his director and co-star Tom Hardy.

Tinder update: All you need to know for better user experience

US-based dating app Tinder has chosen India as the first overseas country from where it will launch its international operations, three years after the app came to India. The office, which will be set up in Delhi, will be headed by Taru Kapoor.

Tinder’s India operations will focus on establishing the brand within the country, steering explosive user growth and increasing user engagement by focusing on needs of the local user.

According to Tinder, in just three years of its launch, more than 10 billion matches have been made around the world on the app. These matches have led to friends, dates and relationships.

For those who are yet to explore the app, below are a few highlighted features (some newly added) of Tin

Netflix in India: All you need to know about getting started

US-based streaming video service Netflix has now launched services in India. The service will allow access to TV shows and movies, along with award-winning Netflix original series and documentaries.

The service has launched with three tiers of pricing available per month – basic at Rs 500, standard at Rs 650 and premium at Rs 800.

For those already excited about the services, here is a complete beginner’s guide to Netflix:

How does free trial work?




Netflix offers new users a month of free trial before they can subscribe themselves for regular services. Users can sign up for the service on the site by creating an account for themselves. The sign up will require users to share their credit/debit card details for future usage. Once an account is created, users will gain unlimited access to movies, TV shows and documentaries, which can be live streamed using the internet.

Mehbooba Mufti likely to be first woman CM of J&K

Mehbooba Mufti is likely to be the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir as she has emerged as the unanimous choice for the post following the death of incumbent, and her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today.

"As far as PDP is concerned, we are unanimous that Mehbooba shall succeed Mufti Sahib," senior PDP leader and Lok Sabha member Muzaffar Hussain Baig told reporters.

ALSO READ: J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passes away

However, Mehbooba's ascent to the post of the Chief Minister would require approval of BJP, the junior coalition partner in the state government.

Netflix may face tough competition, but content volume holds key

The wait for Indian audiences is finally over as the American content producer and distributor, Netflix, announced its entry into India at the CES 2016 on Wednesday. The over-the-top (OTT) giant announced expansion to 130 countries simultaneously, including India. There are three tiers of pricing available per month — basic at Rs 500, standard at Rs 650 and premium at Rs 800.

Whispers about Netflix entering India had been growing over time and existing Indian players had been priming up for the event, weighing strengths and weaknesses on their part, and more importantly, for Netflix.

Pricing was going to be the main issue, felt industry players, since in India, paying for content online is still very rare.

Aamir Khan out of Incredible India

Film actor and producer Aamir Khan will cease to be the face of Incredible India, the signature advertising campaign for the tourism ministry to promote India globally, the government confirmed Wednesday late evening, after many twists and turns.

Khan, recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards, has been the ambassador for Incredible India since 2009, when the Congress-led government was in power. And, had continued since the current government took power in 2014.

The current decision is being attributed to Khan’s recent remark on "rising intolerance in India" but the government tried to distance itself from that controversy. The tourism ministry spoke in many voices through the day on the subject. In the evening, minister of state for aviation and tourism Mahesh Sharma confirmed the development through a tweet, often used as the official medium of communication by this government.

J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passes away

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away at the AIIMS hospital in New Delhi earlier on Thursday. Sayeed, the chief of the People’s Democratic PArty (PDP), part of the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir was admitted in AIIMS for the past 14 days and was on ventilator support.

79-year-old Sayeed, detected with sepsis, decreased blood counts and pneumonia, was admitted to the hospital on December 24, with complains of neck pain and fever.

Since then, he continued to be in the Intensive Care Unit of AIIMS with his platelets dropped dangerously low.

Sayeed took over as chief minister of PDP-BJP coalition on March 1 last year.

Sharif calls Modi on Pathankot attack, assures action

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday called up his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi regarding the terror attack on the PathankotIndian Air Force base and assured that prompt and decisive action will be taken against the terrorists involved, an official statement here said.

Sharif phoned up Modi from Sri Lanka, where he is on a three-day official visit.

The terrorists launched the assault on Indian air base in Pathankot that killed 7 Indian security personnel and injured 22.

In a latest statement, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said six militants who attacked Pathankot air base have been confirmed killed, adding that a four-day-old operation to secure the compound was still under way.