New Delhi, Jan 25 : Differently-abled people, who are unable to stand, will have to display “maximum attentiveness” while persons with hearing disabilities and those visually challenged will have to stand up when the national anthem is played at cinema halls or at a public function.
These are part of the “Guidelines for visually challenged to show respect to National Anthem” issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on the eve of Republic Day.
The only category for which there is some relaxation is people with intellectual disabilities.
Last November, the Supreme Court had ordered cinema halls to mandatorily play the national anthem before screening of a film and that the audience must stand in respect.
However, it modified its order on December 9 exempting disabled people. But the court also said while the physically- disabled need not stand up they will have to “show conduct” of respect for the national anthem.
The Centre later said there will be a separate set of guidelines issued for the differently abled.
According to details made public by the ministry today, “Persons with locomotor disabilities with lower limbs affected and wheel chair user who are not capable of standing shall may position himself/herself to the extent of maximum attentiveness and alertness with or without the help of appropriate aids and appliances.
“If the person with disability is on crutch, he/she should become stable (non-mobile) to the extent of maximum alertness,” said a statement issued by the Ministry.
Persons with hearing disabilities (deaf or hard of hearing) will have to stand with attentiveness, according to the guidelines.
The guidelines also require the owner/organiser to ensure that there “is appropriate indication on the screen that the national anthem is being played or sung so that a person with hearing disability doesn’t miss the auditory cues”.
“Persons with blindness and low vision shall stand up in respect of national anthem.
“The persons with intellectual disabilities will have behavioural problem like flapping of the hands, creaming, shouting, abnormal body movements, difficulty in performing practical task etc.
The public is required to be sensitised so as to avoid any unwarranted incident against persons with intellectual disabilities and they are not being harassed.
US President Donald Trump spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn-in as the 45th President of America. President Trump had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Modi is the fifth foreign leader Trump have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, an official said on condition of anonymity that they had ‘a great conversation’.
On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto.
On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump.
During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power.
At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India’s fast growth rate and Modi’s bureaucratic and economic reforms.
“Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend,” Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey.”I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi,” he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. “India is key and a key strategic ally,” he had said.
New Delhi : A Rs 1,000 subsidy for purchase of smartphones by non-tax assesses and small merchants and a cash transaction tax on withdrawals of Rs 50,000 and above in banks have been recommended by a Chief Ministers’ panel today to encourage digital payments.
The Chief Ministers’ Panel report, which was submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by committee representative Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu, has also made a case of lower/zero merchant discount rate (MDR) for all digital payments to government entities and cap on cash in all type of big ticket transactions.
The ‘Merchant Discount Rate’ is charged to a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card services.
The committee comprising Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also asked the Centre to promote Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) by incentivising and not charging MDR.
The other recommendations include tax incentives for micro ATMs, biometric sensors etc. and tax refund for consumers using digital payment up to a certain proportion of annual income.
When asked how sure he was about incorporation of these recommendations in the forthcoming budget on February 1, Naidu said, “I am very confident about that.”
Explaining about advantage of digital payments, he said that there are lots of cost of handling physical currency because of its printing, movement and security while there is no such cost for digital currency.
Naidu also elaborated that with the increase of volume of digital transitions, the cost will reduce and there is huge opportunity in India because non-cash payment transitions by non-banks per capita per annum is 11 in the country as compared to 26 in China, 728 in Singapore, 355 in the UK, 142 in Brazil, 70 in South Africa and 32 in Mexico.
Similarly, the report highlights that the number of (cashless) pay points per million people are 1,080 in India as against 31,096 in Singapore, 30,078 in the UK, 25,241 in Brazil, 7,267 in South Africa, 7,189 in Mexico and 16,602 in China.
The panel made a case for relief in prospective taxes for encouraging merchants to accept digital payments and no retrospective taxation to Merchants doing digital transactions.
It also suggested that for Aadhaar Pay, Biometric (FP & Iris) sensors should be provided at 50 per cent subsidy to all merchant points.
The panel said in its interim report that all payment banks and banking correspondents should be made interoperable through AEPS and also provide infrastructure for 1,54,000 post offices by way of interoperable Aadhaar enabled Micro-ATMs.
Naidu also suggested insurance for all digital transactions to safeguard the interest of people going cashless.
Cabinet on Tuesday approved a pension scheme for senior citizens under which insurance behemoth LIC will provide a guaranteed return of 8 per cent for 10 years, as part of government’s social security and financial inclusion programme.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its post-facto approval for launching of Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017), an official statement said. “The scheme will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of return of 8 per cent per annum for ten years, with an option to opt for pension on a monthly/ quarterly/half yearly and annual basis,” it said.
The scheme will be implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the current financial year to provide social security during old age and protect elderly persons aged 60 years and above against a future fall in their interest income due to uncertain market conditions. The differential return — the difference between the return generated by state-owned LIC and the assured return of 8 per cent per annum would be borne by the government as subsidy on an annual basis.
VPBY-2017 is proposed to be open for subscription for a period of one year from the date of launch, the statement said. The pension scheme, the release said is a part of government s commitment for financial inclusion and social security.
New Delhi, Jan 24 : Political parties received Rs 7,833 crore funding from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2014-15, which is 69 per cent of their total income, with Congress and BJP witnessing maximum income from such sources, says a report.
National and regional political parties received Rs 11,367.34 crore of total income during this period, as per a report by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Income of political parties from known donors was Rs 1,835.63 crore, which is 16 per cent of their total income.
Also, total income of political parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc) stood at Rs 1,698.73 crore or 15 per cent.
As per the ADR report, during the 11 years, 83 per cent of total income of Indian National Congress (INC) amounting to Rs 3,323.39 crore and 65 per cent of total income of BJP amounting to Rs 2,125.91 crore came from unknown sources.
Among the regional parties, Rs 766.27 crore or 94 per cent of total income of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rs 88.06 crore or 86 per cent of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) came from unknown sources.
Income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313 per cent, from Rs 274.13 crore during 2004-05 to Rs 1,130.92 crore during 2014-15, ADR said.
Income of regional parties from unknown sources also increased by 652 per cent from Rs 37.393 crore to Rs 281.01 crore.
Among all the national and regional parties considered, BSP is the only party to consistently declare receiving nil donations above Rs 20,000 between 2004-05 and 2014-15 thus 100 per cent of the party’s donations came from unknown sources, it said.
Total income of the party increased by 2,057 per cent from Rs 5.19 crore to Rs 111.96 crore, as per ADR.
INC has the highest total income of Rs 3,982.09 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, this is 42.92 per cent of the total income of the 6 parties during the same time.
BJP has the second highest income of Rs 3,272.63 crore which is 35.27 per cent of the total income of the 6 national parties.
Total declared income of regional parties between 2004-05 and 2014-15 was Rs 2,089.04 crore. SP has the highest total income of Rs 819.1 crore followed by DMK with Rs 203.02 crore and AIADMK with Rs 165.01 crore.
Total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the 6 national parties was Rs 1,405.19 crore. BJP tops the list and has declared a total of Rs 917.86 crore as received through voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000.
Total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the regional parties was Rs 430.42 crore. DMK tops the list and has declared a total of Rs 129.83 crore as received via voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 but the party has not filed its donations report for the financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a “self-proclaimed Chief Justice of Indian politics”, the BJP today said as it accused him of denigrating credibility of the Election Commission and the voting process by his bribery remarks.
“Kejriwal wants to be Delhi Chief Minister on odd days, Punjab Chief Minister on even days and Goa Chief Minister on holidays. But, now when his desire to become Chief Ministers of three states at the same time has shattered, he is frustrated and saying all this,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
The Aam Aadmi Party supremo had stirred up a hornet’s nest during an election rally in Goa earlier this month where he had asked people to accept money offered by the political parties, but vote for AAP only.
By asking voters to accept bribe, Kejriwal is instigating the people towards corruption, against which his entire politics is based, Patra told reporters here.
“Kejriwal, a self-proclaimed Chief Justice of Indian politics who also has a constitution bench of corrupt ministers, has again and again repeated his bribery remarks.
By doing this he is not only denigrating the credibility of Election Commission but also the entire voting process,” he said.
The EC had later censured him for his reported remarks in poll-bound Goa, saying his statement amounted to abetting and promoting electoral offence of bribery.
But despite the EC’s notice, the Delhi Chief Minister had reportedly reiterated his bribery remarks.
Meanwhile, earlier today, the AAP convener in a letter to EC claimed that his remarks were aimed at containing graft and sought a review of its order to allow him to repeat the comments.
Kathmandu, Jan 23 : Nepal government has launched a 10-year-plan to cut dependence on vegetable imports from India and make the land-locked country self-reliant in food.
Vegetable imports from India have continued to increase even despite the far-western region seeing a rise in commercial vegetable farming, a local media report has said.
According to the report, the region imports vegetables worth 55 billion rupees every year from India.
Exports volume, however, was negligible.
Potatoes worth 370 million rupees was imported annually.
Green vegetable imports stand at 180 million rupees, according to the Regional Plant Quarantine at Gadda Chauki – the second important border trading point with India after Birgunj.
According to District Agriculture Development Office (DADO), vegetable is cultivated on 4,450 hectares in Kanchanpur and the output is 56,000 metric tonnes annually.
Belauri, Krishnapur, Jhalari, Mahendranagar and Mahakali are some of the major vegetable producing areas in Nepal.
However, the production barely meets the local demand.
India exports around 25,000 metric tonnes of vegetables annually, the report in The Kathmandu Post said.
“More than 50 per cent of the imports is consumed in Kanchanpur district,” said Yagya Raj Joshi, senior agricultural development officer at DADO. “Reaming is consumed in Banke, Kailai and other hilly districts of the far west.”
In a bid to decrease reliance on imports, the government has launched a 10-year scheme to boost domestic production.
Starting this fiscal year, the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project has envisioned adopting modern farm techniques to boost productivity, and making the country self-reliant in food, it said.
The government has aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in wheat and vegetables by this fiscal year, and in paddy and potato in two years.
It has targeted making the country self-sufficient in maize and fish by the next three years, and in fruits like bananas, papaya and litchi by four years. By its end, the project envisages becoming self-sufficient in fruits like kiwi, apple and orange.
Aden : Air strikes and heavy clashes between rebel and pro-government forces in Yemen had killed at least 66 people in 24 hours, medics and security sources said today.
Air raids by a Saudi-led coalition and fighting near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait killed at least 52 fighters among Shiite Huthi rebels and allied troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said. Fourteen members of pro-government forces were also killed.
Chennai/Madurai: Jallikattu was conducted in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Sunday even as protests continued at Alanganallur in Madurai where people refused to hold the famous sport seeking a “permanent solution”, forcing chief Minister O Panneerselvam to leave for Chennai without inaugurating it.
Panneerselvam had yesterday said he would inaugurate the bull taming sport at Alanganallur, famous for holding jallikattu events, at 10 AM.
Groups of protesters continued to stay put at several locations in the state, including the Marina Beach at Chennai, epicentre of the stir for the last six days. The protesters are seeking a permanent solution for holding the sport, besides a ban on animal rights group PETA.
As protesters demanded a permanent solution for holding the sport and raised slogans that ordinance was only a temporary measure, Panneerselvam said: the “State’s jallikattu ordinance route is permanent, robust and sustainable, will be made into a law in the coming Assembly session.”
He reiterated that there was no ban following the promulgation of the ordinance.
The Chief Minister said the ordinance will be replaced by a law after bringing in a bill in the Assembly session, beginning at Chennai tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters at Madurai before leaving for Chennai, Panneerselvam said,”The ban on jallikattu has been removed completely, the sport will be held at Alanganallur, on a date decided by local people.”
He said jallikattu was held in all parts of Tamil Nadu with the local adminstration and police taking all stipulated measures to hold the sport.
Continuing blockades and agitations here at Alanganallur and Tamukkam grounds, besides neighbouring Natham Kovilpatti in Dindigul, put a question mark over Panneerselvam inaugurating jallikattu.
Panneerselvam, who had announced that he would inaugurate jallikattu at Alanganallur, had to stay back in a hotel here following the stir there by protesters who demanded a permanent measure to be in place.
Following that, Panneerselvam was expected to inaugurate jallikattu at Natham Kovilpatti in Dindigul. However, protests erupted there too placing the same demand for a “permanent solution.”.