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13 mysterious deaths in Bihar

  Bihar has been declared a dry state earlier this year by the elected Nitish Kumar government. Nitish Kumar had in April announced a complete ban on alcohol in the state with immediate effect, raising a debate on whether such bans actually help in solving crime and other issues in Bihar. But a case of mysterious deaths of 13 people has come to light, wherein the families of the deceased say that it was due to consumption of liquor. Relatives of the victims  mostly vegetables vendors and daily wage workers  confirmed death because of drinking liquor. Gopalganj District Magistrate Rahul Kumar, said they would wait for postmortem report to conclusively tell reasons of feath.   The district administration has formed three teams to probe reasons of the deaths. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has claimed there has been a drastic decline in percentage of crimes in the last two months after complete prohibition of alcohol was imposed in the state. "Heinous crimes have come down by 15% in last two months," he told a function in the temple town of Gaya. “We have sent blood samples for forensic examination. We are also awaiting postmortem reports. Unless we get the reports, we cannot confirm the reason of deaths,” Gopalganj district magistrate Rahul Kumar said. The DM said all cases were reported to the hospital from different areas of the district. The district administration claimed that while one death was reported after a person consumed sulfas tablets, another person was suffering from tetanus.

PV Sindhu a step away from Olympic medal

  PV Sindhu could give India its first medal at the Rio Olympics. Sindhu notched up one of the finest victories of her six-year-old badminton career on Tuesday, when she beat second-seeded Chinese shuttler Wang Yihan, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, by a 22-20, 21-19 scoreline in a women's singles quarter-final encounter at the 2016 Rio Olympics.The 21-year-old badminton player has become India's latest hope for an Olympic medal at the Rio 2016 games, after a shock win against the world number two. This Olympic quarterfinal was a gritty contest between youth and experience. Sindhu trailed for the majority of the first game and only got her nose ahead at 14 all but then just to see her one point lead slip away as the 28-year-old Wang rushed back to take a two-point lead. Asked about her initial feelings, Sindhu said: "This is also Rio Olympics, it's a very different feeling. It's one of the best moments. I hope there will be many more to come," World No 10 said after her win. She faces Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-final. A junior world champ, Okuhara will pose a big challenge to Sindhu but if the Indian plays the way she did against Wang, nothing can stop her.   Okuhara is world number six while Sindhu is seeded tenth at the Rio Olympics. Many on social media praised her achievement and voiced their hope for her to win a medal. "There were big rallies, she was attacking well. My smashes were going out initially. Even she did not leave and she was lifting everything. I was really patient and I was ready for everything, which I feel was the turning point." "I never thought I would lose this, because any moment anything can change. It was not so easy to get points, both of us fought for every point. It was very close. In the first game it was 20-all and I felt even though I was leading I never thought the game was over. She came really close, even she played brilliantly," she said.

Bank employees at lower level overpaid says Rajan

  "The middle management ranks of public sector banks are being thinned by retirements. In addition, they need experts in specific areas like project evaluation and risk management. All public sector entities across the world tend to pay more than the private sector to lower level employees, and less than the private sector to higher level employees," Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said. "This makes it hard to attract top talent, but makes it easier to attract good people at lower levels," he added.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government should reduce the differences in regulatory treatment between public sector banks and private sector banks over the medium term, central bank governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday. “Authorities should ensure their actions are institution, ownership, and technology neutral so as to ensure that the most efficient customer-oriented solutions emerge through competition,” he said speaking at a banking conclave organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).  “Some of the differences between public sector banks and private banks can be mitigated if the government pays an adequate price for mandates,” Rajan said.

3000 jobs at stake after Infosys loses RBS deal

  In the aftermath of the Britain's exit from the European Unions, the effect of it is slowly starting to show on businesses. In one of the biggest shocks, Infosys shares slumped over 3 per cent on Tuesday, following Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel a project to set up a separate bank in the United Kingdom. RBS announced last week that it will not pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), for which Infosys was a key technology partner. "Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months," Infosys said in a statement.   The cancellation of the deal is likely to hit Infosys revenue and earnings per share during the current fiscal year, analysts said. But an Infosys spokesperson clarified that these jobs are not being cut and that the employees will be reallocated to other projects. RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and the company looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programmes, they said.

CRPF officer killed moments after unfurling India flag

  In a cruel end to an officer's life, CRPF  commandant Pramod Kumar was martyred during a gunbattle between terrorists and security personnel in downtown Srinagar on Monday. The martyred officer killed two terrorists before he was shot at in the neck. The irony here is that an hour before he was killed by terrorists in an ambush yesterday, in Jammu and Kashmir, CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled the tricolour near Nowkhatta in Srinagar. Pramod Kumar had unfurled the national flag, and given a speech where he had urged his fellow commandants to do their best and uphold the integrity of their country. Kumar had also read out a message by DG CRPF for jawans on the occasion. CRPF sources said that the news of the militants had reached the officer as the ceremony was about to conclude.   The officer along with his team had rushed to the spot, where he was shot an hour into the gun battle. Kumar, died after sustaining a bullet injury to the head. Even as he was rushed to the hospital, by noon, Kumar was declared dead. Pramod is survived by his wife, his six-year-old daughter, and 63-year-old father. Today, his last rites were performed in Jamtara in Jharkhand. According to his colleagues, Pramod was one of the finest officers who usually volunteered for such operations. Pramod Kumar was given DG's commendation disc in 2015 and commendation certificate in 2014 for "highest operational acumen".

Staring at a woman for 14 secs? You could be jailed!

  In a bizarre diktat, a Kerala bureaucrat said that if a man stares at a woman for more than 14 seconds, he can land in jail. Kerala Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh  has created a furore with his comment that he could be charged for harassment. According to Singh, if a man is found staring at a woman for more than 14 seconds, a case can be filed against him. Social media has been abuzz with the bizarre statement made by the bureaucrat. However not everyone was amused with Singh's specific definition of harassament with sports minister EP Jayarajan terming the comments as "disgusting".   Further, Singh also emphasised on how important it is for women to learn martial arts as a life skill. He prompted them to report about situations which they feel outrage their modesty. He also urged women to keep small knives and pepper sprays handy. "Do you carry a knife or chilly or pepper spray in your bags? if you don't the time is long overdue for you to do so," he reportedly told the participants while addressing a state-level empowerment programme for students at Kochi. Singh was then ADGP, Armed Forces Battalion. He had been posted there after being removed as chief vigilance officer, Kerala State Electricity Board after he upset many in the ruling party by conducting surprise raids against power thefts.

Going to Pak is like going to hell says Parrikar

  Soon after news broke that Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to attend a meeting of Saarc ministers in Pakistan next week, reflecting the sharp dip in ties between the two countries, defence minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted as saying that “going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell”. Finance Ministers of SAARC - which has eight South Asian countries as members - are to meet on the 25th and 26th in Pakistan, which said in a recent statement that it would play "a good host". Manohar Parrikar, on Tuesday in the backdrop of Pakistan’s infiltration on Monday along the Line of Control (LoC), in which 5 militants were killed, Parrikar said, “Our soldiers sent back 5 terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is same as going to hell.   He said the intruders opened firing towards the Army positions which was retaliated by the soldiers. “Two militants were killed in the initial exchange of firing while three others were killed late in the day,” the official said. Five militants were killed as the Army on Monday foiled a major infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Kashmir. “Alert troops noticed some suspicious movement along the Line of Control in Uri Sector in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district this morning and challenged the intruders,” an Army official said. A final call on Jaitley's Pakistan visit will be taken by the Prime Minister soon.

Modi to take a decision on Jaitley's Pak visit

  After the recent visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Pakistan for the SAARC summit amidst the security threats, blackout of the media while he was addressing at the SAARC summit, the centre is thinking whether to send Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the upcoming SAARC summit or not. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to attend a regional summit in Islamabad next week, said government sources. India is unhappy with the way Islamabad treated union Home Minister Rajnath Singh when he visited the Pakistani capital for a SAARC conference earlier this month. A final decision will be made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this will be followed by a formal announcement, the sources said.   Reports suggested economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das would represent India at the Saarc meet. Earlier, media reports from Pakistan claimed that the country had decided to give a "warm welcome" to Jaitley amid speculation that he was likely to visit Islamabad for the conference. Soon after news broke that Jaitley would skip the meet in Islamabad, defence minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted as saying that “going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell”.  Addressing a party meet, Parrikar said Indian troops had “sent back” five terrorists on Monday. He added: “Pakistan mein jaana aur nark mein jaana eik hi hai.” He also said Pakistan was facing the consequences of its policy of encouraging terrorism.

Selfie Death: Teenager falls into 120-foot well

  In yet another case of a young life lost, a teenager fell to his death while clicking a selfie. Harish, a class 12th student, fell into a 120 feet deep well while taking a selfie and died on the spot.He was a resident of Peelamedu near Coimbatore. Police said Harish was very interested in taking selfies. After he attended the Independence Day celebrations, they went to a farm land near by and were taking selfies. He noticed a huge well dug in a field, which was nearly 120 feet deep. Harsh wanted to take a selfie while standing on the protective wall. As he leaned inside the well to show the actual depth, Harish slipped and fell into it.   Hearing the screams of Harish's friends, villagers tried to jump into the well but did not as it was too deep. Fire service rushed to the spot but were informed that Harsh had already died.  The well is close to 120 feet deep with a water level of 60 feet making it very hard to see. His friends said that he loved modelling and taking photographs. When it turned dark, flood lights were installed around the well and the rescue operations continued. A few locals said they saw a group of students taking selfies. They believe the boy slipped and fell into the well while taking a selfie. The police are interrogating three of his friends who had accompanied him on the trip.

Doctor turns a murderer;kills 6

  A medical doctor, who is supposed to save lives, has turned a murderer and killed at least 6 people and buried them in his farm house. Maharashtra doctor, arrested on the charge of kidnapping and killing an ‘aanganwadi’ worker, has confessed to murdering at least six persons by administering lethal overdoses of medicines, police saidin Satara on Monday. When 49-year-old Mangal Jedhe was reported missing on her way to Pune from Satara in Maharashtra, investigations led the police to the farmhouse of a medical doctor Santosh Pol. Police said that investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, the victim was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his (Pol's) alleged shady and criminal activities.   Pol and his associates, including nurse Jyoti Mandre, allegedly kidnapped Jedhe as she waited at the Wai bus depot and took her to Pol's farmhouse around 13 km from Wai. The following day, Pol and Mandre allegedly administered her an overdose of a lethal medicine and killed her. They buried the body at an isolated spot in the farmhouse, after which both Pol and Mandre went underground. Some of the people whose bodies have been found by the police had been missing since 2003. The police have contacted their families, but are not revealing details yet.

Telugu Badminton stars shine in Olympics

  It was a stunning performance from Telugu Badminton stars PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth to take them a step closer to their Olympic dream. Indian shuttlers booked their quarterfinals berths to keep medal hopes alive on Monday. While, Srikanth reached the quarterfinals after a thrilling win over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in his Round of 16 match, two-time World Championship bronze-medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the last-eight stage after notching up a dominating straight-game win over Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying at the Olympic Games here. The 21-year-old from Hyderabad outclassed eighth seed Tai 21-13, 21-15 in a 40-minute pre-quarterfinals clash here.   She will next face Chinese World No. 2 Wang Yihan, who is also the reigning Olympics silver medallist.Srikanth, ranked 11th in the world, topped Group H and became the second shuttler after P Kashyap in the 2012 London Games to reach the last eight in men's singles. Srikanth continued his commanding form to register a 21-19, 21-19 win over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in just 42 minutes. In a hard fought first game, both shuttlers started on an attacking note, but it was Srikanth who managed to maintain the lead with some bodyline smashes. Jorgensen, bronze medallist in the 2014 World Championships, gave a tough fight at the end but it was the Indian lad who proved superior to clinch the first game.

Did Sania Mirza hint at quitting tennis career??

"I had a knee pain and could not give my best. It was heavily strapped, and I tried my best. My movements were not smooth and were painful. It's heartbreaking loss. I also feel very bad about it," Saina said, blaming her Knee pain for her shocking exit from the ongoing Rio Olympics. The injury according to her happened during training before the Olympics and it got worse during the match. "It happened just before the Olympics about one and half weeks back. It happened during training and got aggravated after coming here," she said. Saina agreed that she was not able to move well but credited her opponent for playing well. "She played better but I was not able to move on the court. I tried for improvement but was not successful." While Tennis player Sania Mirza admitted she may have played her last Olympic Games after she and Rohan Bopanna failed in their bid to give their country its first medal of the Rio Games. The pair lost the tennis mixed doubles bronze medal play-off, going down 6-1, 7-5 to Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in just 71 minutes. “The Olympics is only ever four years. I don’t know if I will be still playing in four years,” said the 29-year-old who was on the verge of tears as she addressed the media under a sweltering Rio sun. “We didn’t play our best, but that’s sport. It’s going to take some time to get over this. We had chances and in the second set we could have won multiple times. “There’s not a lot I can say to you guys at the moment.” It was a disappointing tennis event for India in Rio.

Dipa comes 4th in Gymnastics at Olympics

Dipa Karmakar missed a podium finish by a whisker at the Rio 2016 Olympics. "Dipa Karmakar, you are my hero," are the exact words tweeted by shooting great Abhinav Bindra after the Indian gymnast finished more than a creditable fourth in the vault final at the Rio Olympics on Sunday. With a score of 15.006 - well past her previous best - and missed a bronze medal by 0.150 points. Dipa was at second place after her second attempt at the Produnova but slipped to fourth after the final contestant, American Simone Biles, put in an outstanding performance to win gold with a score of 15.966. To go where no Indian had gone before is a story in itself, and no one can begrudge Dipa her result. Dipa herself was disappointed to miss out on the medal but said wins and losses were part and parcel of the sport. She added that her focus will now be to improve and get better for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. “I am happy with my performance but I am very disappointed that I missed out on a medal. But at the end, this is a sport, winning and losing is a part of it. I will now focus on Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” she told reporters. Social media was abuzz with Dipa's name throughout Sunday, ahead of the final in Rio de Janeiro, but the 23-year-old became a top trend on Twitter and other social networking platforms when she was participating in the summit clash and after that too. Tributes, congratulatory messages and praises poured in after the Tripura girl made India proud.  

Bolt makes history; gets Hat-trick of Olympic Golds

Usain Bolt thrilled his ecstatic fans with a hat tricks of medals at the Olympics. Usain Bolt wrote another chapter in his remarkable Olympic story by winning the 100m final for a record third straight summer Games. "The triple-triple is definitely on. I told you guys I was going to do it, so stay tuned. Two more to go," said Bolt after a 9.81- second win kept him in line to win a third straight Olympic gold medal hat-trick, following 100m, 200m, and 4x100m gold medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games. "I felt very good after the semis. I wanted togo faster, but the turnaround time of one hour and 20 minutes was challenging," added Bolt, who finished ahead of American Justin Gatlin, 9.89, and Canadian Andre de Grasse, 9.91. "Definitely it's one of my finest wins and the third one. I'm happy with the execution," he said. The victory left Bolt standing alone in the 120-year history of sprinting in the modern Olympic games. No other athlete man or woman has won three consecutive individual Olympic sprint titles. It also leaves Bolt on track to complete an incredible "triple-triple" of clinching 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles for a third consecutive Olympics. Bolt's win his 18th gold in Olympic and world championships since 2008 averted what might have been a public relations disaster for the drug-tarnished world of track and field.

Modi speaks on Surajya,Pak,Govt initiatives and more

I have tried to adopt the strategy of 'Reform, Perform and Transform'; tried to avoid populism, said the Prime Minister while addressing the nation from Red Fort on the occasion of Independence day. Modi said, his government had managed not only to change people's mindsets towards state-run enterprises but also helped companies like Air India, BSNL and Shipping Corp to make operational profits. "Air India was notorious for incurring losses. My government succeeded in bringing Air India back to a situation where it is logging operational profits. Public sector companies were always seen as ones that make losses and eventually close down. We changed this mindset. We managed to bring several public sector companies out of the woods," he said. The onus is on the 125 crore people of India to convert this 'Swaraj' into 'Surajya'. From Parliament to panchayats, gram pradhans to the prime minister, everyone has to fulfill their responsibilites. Only then will the dream of surajya come true. He said that in the case of Shipping Corp of India, no one thought it could ever make profits. The Prime Minister said, his government had decided to complete around 118 projects worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore of previous government which were pending for years. "My government was giving importance to the projects started by the previous government and had created a group to review the pending programmes," he added. It's easy to keep account of the work done by the government, but it is difficult to have in-depth knowledge of those initiatives. Today, more than 'Karya', I want to talk about 'Karya Sanskriti' of the government he said.

PM sends a strong message to Pak from Red fort

Marking the Independence day today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent our a strong message to the neighbouring country, Pakistan. He said, "That is the nature of India. But on the other hand, look at those who glorify terrorists. What kind of people glorify terrorists? What kind of people celebrate when people are killed?", while addressing the nation. "People of Balochistan,Gilgit and PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," Modi said on Monday in his Indepedene day speech. The PM was referring to his speech from two days ago when he slammed Pakistan for the atrocities againts the Baloch community there. Modi had said "the time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Baluchistan and PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir)". "In Parliament there were tears for all the innocents killed in Peshawar in the terror attack there by Pakistanis. Indian children were traumatized. This is the example of our humanity, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists," the PM said in his Independence Day speech on Monday.  While greeting the on the occasion of 70th Independence Day, just ahead of his third address to the nation from the historic Red Fort, he said, “Hum Cheeson ko talna nai…takrana jantey hai (We believe in facing challenges rather than ignoring it). 

Govt data says 90% Indians don't own a vehicle

On a very regular basis one gets stuck in a huge traffic jam, with hundreds of vehicles being added to the roads everyday, the traffic situation is just getting worse. But the government data says otherwise. Government data shows that nearly 90% of Indians don't own a vehicle. This points to the need to scale up public transport, both to provide affordable travel options to such citizens and to prevent them from buying private vehicles and adding to the traffic chaos. Government is preparing a roadmap to revitalise state public transport bodies as part of its new scheme ‘Move in India’. According to government estimates, there are 18.64 crore vehicles in the country, including two-wheelers. Of these, 18 lakh are buses, which include a large number of mini buses and those owned by schools and other educational institutions. Worryingly, only around 1.6 lakh buses are owned by state road transport undertakings, which serve as the main mode of mass road transport across states. Under the scheme, they will get more funds. "They will be able to procure more buses using the money and take measures to improve their efficiency. Those bringing reforms and doing well will get incentive of more funds," said a transport ministry source.

Zika virus scare for Indian female wrestler at Olympics

Babita Kumari, the Indian wrestler who will be competing in the upcoming wrestling event at the Rio Olympics is on the road to recovery after a Zika Virus scare. According to reports, Babita, who competes in women's 53kg Freestyle, developed high fever and severe body ache, and was immediately attended by the contingent doctors and the physiotherapists. After examining the 26-year-old grappler, the doctors gave her medicines, which helped in bringing the fever down. " Babita developed fever but now she is fine and has also started training," WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar. Babita, who belongs to the famous Phogat family, is expected to recover completely and attain full fitness before she takes the mat in her maiden Olympic Games on 18 August. Other two women wrestlers in the fray are Babita's cousin Vinesh Phogat (48kg) and Sakshi Malik (58kg). Babita was lucky to have acquired a berth at the Rio Games as Mongolia's Sumiya Erdenechimeg, who had defeated her at the Asian Olympic qualifier, failed a dope test. 

Indian Women growing taller than Indian men

According to a recently conducted study, it has been revealed that in the last 100 years between 1914 and 2014, the average height of Indian men increased by 3 cm to reach 165 cm (5 ft 5 inches) while women grew taller by 5 cm to become 153 cm (5 feet 1 inch). The study led by scientists from Imperial College, London and conducted by more than 800 researchers involved 1,470 earlier studies covering over 18.6 million participants in 200 countries. Most countries have shown an increase in height over the past century, with Iranian men and South Korean women shooting up most-by 16.5cm and 20.2cm. But the once-tall Americans-placed third among men and fourth among women in 1914-slipped to 37th and 42nd place in 2014. Overall, the ten tallest nations in 2014 were dominated by European countries, and featured no English-speaking nation. "Factors such as good nutrition, clean water supply, avoidance of childhood infections, and a mother's health during pregnancy affect how much these children grow. We believe that the relatively small gains in height in India are likely to be due to some or all of these factors," a researcher said. They also added “Our data shows that children aged between 5 and 13 years are on average 5.5cm to 7.5cm taller than their parents at the same age 30 years ago. Obviously, they are still in a growing phase and the difference will increase. These changes are comparable to or greater than those seen in developed countries at a similar stage of socio-economic development about 50 years ago,”