National - The Digital Indian

Mar102017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Security of Indian citizens matter of serious concern for government: MEA

National

India raised the killing of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in a hate attack in Kansas with US authorities in “very strong terms”, a top official said on Thursday, adding that the security of Indians and persons of Indian origin is a matter of serious concern for the Indian government. On a day the issue featured in a major way in Parliament and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the Lok Sabha that the government is taking the issue very seriously, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a briefing that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar was conveyed by US officials during his talks in Washington that the attack on Kuchibhotla and another Indian in the February 22 incident was an “individual case”. Baglay said that the Indian Consulate reached out to the fami...

Mar102017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

President Office returns Delhi’s minimum wages amendment bill

Delhi

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday informed the house that President Pranab Mukherjee has returned the Minimum Wages (Delhi) amendment bill 2015 to the house for reconsideration. “I received a letter today (Thursday) from LG dated March 8 through which I (was) apprised that the President has returned the Minimum Wages (Delhi) amendment bill 2015 to the house for reconsideration,” Goel informed the house. Meanwhile, Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said the bill may be discussed in the assembly again and sent back to the President. “This draft bill will have no bearing on the minimum wages hike that we implemented last week but the bill was to ensure that the private companies which employ labourers implement the wage hike,” Rai told the house. To take action again...

Mar102017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

India lauds Jordan’s exceptional humanitarian assistance in hosting refugees

National

President Pranab Mukherjee has called for “urgent collective action” in order to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from which no country is immune. Mukherjee said this while interacting with visiting Chief of Royal Court of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Fayez Al-Tarawneh who called on him yesterday at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President said India attaches great value to its ties with Jordan. “India appreciates Jordan’s proactive role under the leadership of King Abdullah on regional issues, especially towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and addressing the scourge of terrorism that has affected our regions and the world,” he said. Mukherjee added no country is safe from terrorism and urgent collective action is needed to eradicate it. The President said Indi...

Mar72017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Pakistan cries ‘espionage’ after India installed its tallest flag in Attari

National

Pakistan is reportedly not happy with India yesterday installing what is its tallest and heaviest flag that can be seen from Lahore. The flag was installed very close to the India-Pakistan border in Attari . This installation is 110 metres high, 24 metres wide and weighs 55 tons. The cost to make it - a whopping Rs 3.5 crore. Islamabad believes India could use this giant flag for espionage purposes, ANI reported. Pakistan's Rangers have also reportedly conveyed its unhappiness to the Border Security Force and asked India to move the flag away from the border. This flag was a project of the Amritsar Improvement Trust Authority of the Punjab government. Punjab minister Arun Joshi told reporters it was his dream project. https://twitter.com/defencealerts/status/838646036826554368 ...

Mar62017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Electronic Voting Machines tamper proof: SECM

Maharashtra

Dismissing claims of the opposition parties, the State Election Commission of Maharashtra (SECM) has said that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are tamper proof. The congress and NCP had alleged of possible tampering and manipulations in the EVMs in the recent elections to 10 Municipal Corporations and 25 Zilla Parishads in the state. Both the parties had received a drubbing in the recently held polls, including that for the Mumbai civic body. "The Supreme Court too in its ruling in 2014 had ruled that the EVMs used in elections are tamper proof," Election Commissioner J S Saharia said. In the recently concluded civic elections, the SECM had put to use 68,943 control units and 1,22,431 ballot units (collectively commonly referred to as EVMs) across 43,160 polling booths. The SECM...

Mar62017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Kota’s airport appears to be meant for political leaders: BJP MLA Bhawani Singh

Rajasthan

Expressing displeasure over the lack of air connectivity to Kota, Rajasthan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Bhawani Singh Rajawat has suggested not to let the aircraft of VIPs, including that of Prime Minister to land in the area. “Kota’s airport appears to be meant for political leaders and not people of Kota as only small aircraft of political leaders can land her. Till airport for public is not built in Kota, we should not let even the Prime Minister’s aircraft to land here,” Rajawat said at the inauguration of a post office passport seva kendra (POPSK) here. Rajawat had earlier courted controversies for his statements. After an altercation between BJP workers, led by party MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal and policemen in Kota on February 19, Rajawat said he would have wrung the nec...

Mar62017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

India installs its tallest flag in Attari

Punjab

A 360-foot-high (110 metres) flag post, said to be the country's tallest, was inaugurated at the Indo-Pak Attari Border, just a stone's throw from Pakistan. Punjab Minister Anil Joshi inaugurated the country's largest tricolour on the tallest flag post - measuring 110 metres in length, 24 metres in width and 55 tons in weight. Built at an approximate cost of Rs 3.50 crore, the post was a project of the Amritsar Improvement Trust Authority of the Punjab Government. "With the model code of conduct for the assembly elections being in place in the state, the minister got special permission from the Election Commission for the inauguration, officials said. The flag post, installed at the border, became an attraction for thousands of tourists who had reached there to watch the Beatin...

Mar22017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

India set to become home to largest Muslim population by 2050: Report

National

Delhi: The Muslim population in India is expected to surpass 300 million by 2050, which will make it the country with most Muslims in the world, according to the findings of Pew Research Center. A majority of Muslims worldwide (62%) live in the Asia-Pacific region, with large populations in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey. Currently, Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population. The report also notes that Islam is the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity and also the fastest growing religion. Should the demographic trend continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians, by the end of this century. Demographic projections estimate that Muslims will make up 2.1% of the US population by the year 2050. This w...

Mar22017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Soon, Aadhaar will be must for booking train tickets online

National

The Railways will soon move towards Aadhaar-based online ticketing system to prevent touts from blocking a bulk of tickets, end fraudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation. Aadhaar number has been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets from April 1. A three-month trial run for this is going on. As per the new business plan 2017-18, unveiled by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today, besides the Aadhaar-based ticketing system, the Railways will move towards cashless ticketing system by installing 6,000 point-of-sale machines and 1,000 automatic ticket vending machines across the country. An integrated ticketing app will also be launched by May to promote cashless transaction. “Aadhaar number will be required for one-time registration at the IRCTC ti...

Mar22017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

HDFC, ICICI, Axis bank to start charging Rs 150 for cash transactions

National

Some banks, including HDFC Bank, have begun charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month. The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from Wednesday, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular. The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective from Wednesday, the circular added. In case of several banks, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, these charges came into effect early in January and are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others, including HDFC Bank, today onwards. Th...