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In a bid to ease the burden of heavy bags, the Meghalaya government has fixed weight limits for students of all classes and imposed restrictions on home works for classes I and II.

The government, which has set rules in pursuance to the guidelines of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, pertaining to the matter of weight of school bags and the health of children.

In a notification issued by Principal Secretary Donald P Wahlang, the schools shall not assign homework to students except those recommended by the MBOSE, ICSE or CBSE as per the guidelines formulated by the Meghalaya government.

Besides, the schools will also not be able to assign homework to students of Classes I and II.

As per the guidelines on the weight of school bags set by the government, the school bags of the students of classes I and II should not exceed 1.5 kg.

On the other hand, for students of classes Ill to V, the weight of school bags should not exceed 3 kg while for students of Classes VI to VII, the weight should not exceed 4 kg.

For students of Classes VIII to IX the weight should not exceed 4.5 kg and for students of Class X the weight has been fixed at 5 kg and can’t exceed this limit.

The government has also instructed the school authorities not to force the students to bring additional books and other materials apart from the prescribed textbooks.

“Schools should make sure that students carry only such textbooks as indicated in the time-table,” the notification said.

The state government has directed the heads of schools and teachers to “frame well designed time table for each class so that children do not have to carry too many books or notebooks to the school”.

“Reading library books and participation in games, sports, arts & culture and other creative co-curricular activities for holistic development of students must be encouraged,” the notification said.(UNI)

 Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s ambassador to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, during a meeting urged US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers to intensify pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
“We must ensure that humanitarian aid can enter soon to serve all Venezuelans, while increasing pressure against the regime,” Vecchio said according to a press release issued by his office after the meeting on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Guaido told his supporters that US humanitarian aid would be delivered on February 23. Maduro so far has refused to accept aid that the United States has delivered to neighboring Colombia, blasting it as a ploy to topple his government. Maduro said the United States should help by lifting economic sanctions.
On Monday, Christoph Harnisch, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Columbia, said his organization will not assist in delivering the goods to Venezuela because the ICRC does not consider the US assistance to be humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, the ICRC warned US officials against politicizing humanitarian assistance and delivering aid without consent of local authorities. UN spokesman Stephen Dujarric told reporters last week, referring to the crisis in Venezuela, that humanitarian action must be independent of political or military objectives.
The US government seized billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil assets after Guaido proclaimed himself the country’s president on January 23. Russia and several other countries continue to support Maduro as the country’s only legitimate democratically-elected head of state.

The 16th Lok Sabha held its last working session on Wednesday. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan hosted a lunch for media persons at her official residence here.

In informal chat with journalists, Ms Mahajan said the “single biggest” achievement of her tenure was a “lesson by itself”.

“I have been a member of the House for long….I also sat among front bench members. In the past, I might have complained against former Speakers Somnath Chatterjeeji and Meira Kumarji, that they have not given me time. But when I sat on the chair, I understood the limitations of how to take all along, do justice to each member and stick to the rules of procedures,” Ms Mahajan remarked.

To a question, she also said another positive thing she felt all along during last five years is that members – irrespective of party affiliations and age showed ‘enough love’ for her.

“I do not know about respect, that is different. But they definitely showed enough love towards me. This is something I will cherish,” said 76-year-old Ms Mahajan and eight time MP from Indore.

During the valedictory session, several members including Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped praise on her.

Mr Modi said eight of the 17 sessions of the 16th Lok Sabha had over 100 per cent productivity.

The overall productivity was recorded at over 85 per cent.

Among others Shiv Sena leader Anandrao Adsul said he would hope that in future too “Ms Mahajan should get some position higher than that of Lok Sabha Speaker”.

On this, unattached member Rajesh Ranjan Yadav remarked – “Next higher position is President of India”.

“I commend to you, Madam, that the manner in which you presided over this Lok Sabha, it has added a glorious chapter to our parliamentary history,” Biju Janata Dal floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said.

Interacting with journalists during the lunch hosted at her residence, Speaker Mahajan also shared a bit of her personal likes and dislikes. At one point of time – as she posed smilingly for snaps with most news persons – Ms Mahajan remarked: “I don’t like selfies”.

New political outfit Bahujan Azad Party (BAP) which was floated a couple of years ago by 50 IITians, has announced its election symbol “SLATE” , here.

Addressing a press conference at Press Club of India on Wednesday, Naveen Kumar, an IIT passout who is leading the party from the front said that nation has invested a lot in him and he must pay back to India by serving for making India developed nation.

Accusing the BJP led government in the centre of attacking the institutions like Supreme Court and Media, he said that “India has gone 50 years back in past 5 years. This government is incapable of developing the scientific temper among the youth of this country.”

The party is slated to contest on about 100 seats from 9 states. “ We shall be contesting on all seats from Bihar” , said the former IITan.

Taking a dig at the opposition parties for relentlessly attacking the Modi government on the rafale deal, he said that the Grand alliance of Congress, TMC and other national parties should quesstion the incumbent government on the issues of unemployment.

“I reject the government in the centre but I would like to ask the grand alliance that what shall we get if they win the upcoming elections,’he said.

He also urged the youth of the country to participate in the democracy and check their leader before casting their vote.

Empowering users to make seamless digital payments in their own language, India’s largest digital payments platform, Paytm, the brand owned by One 97 Communications Limited, on Wednesday announced that its Android app now supports 11 different languages, including all major Indian vernaculars and English.
With this, Paytm has further expanded its lingual reach and has gone on to become the first digital payments major in India to offer the widest range of language options on its app, a release said here.
Within 5 years of operations, Paytm today covers around 88 per cent of Indian villages and more than 60 per cent of its users are based out of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
This new addition will further strengthen Paytm’s position as the preferred digital payments platform with support for a majority of indigenous languages.
With more than 35 per cent of its users preferring to use the app in their regional language, Hindi is the most preferred language on Paytm after English, followed by Gujarati, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and among others.
With the availability of regional languages on the app, the platform has witnessed strong growth in the number of users.
Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President, Paytm said, “Today Paytm is being used by millions of Indians for their day-to-day needs and its adoption has been consistently on the rise.”
“By providing them with more language options to choose from, we envision to further add momentum to this development and increase the convenience of our both current and prospective customers,” he added.
“We have worked really hard to provide support for all major Indian languages on our app, it’s not just about literally translating everything, but, providing the right context, which users have appreciated the most,” he said.
Recent reports – including IMAI-Kantar IMRB’s Internet in India and Google-KPMG’s Defining India’s Internet – have indicated that non-English speaking users are increasingly adopting digital services in India.
It is estimated that around 205 million Indians might join the internet if offered services in their preferred languages.
The step taken by Paytm will further increase seamless adoption for those who are yet to join the digital bandwagon and make the vision of ‘Digital India’ a reality for them, the release said.(UNI)

Skoda Auto India said that bringing back the premium Monte Carlo marque, which combines luxury and glamour with racing sports styling to its portfolio.
The premium Monte Carlo range will offer distinctive black design accents and race-inspired exquisite interiors.
The Rapid Monte Carlo will be introduced at an ex-showroom price of Rs 11.16 lakh in exclusive Flash Red colour.
Commenting on the introduction of the new Skoda Rapid Monte Carlo, Zac Hollis, director Sales, Service, and Marketing, Skoda Auto India, said, ”We are glad to re-introduce the Monte Carlo marque in India. The Rapid Monte Carlo offers a compelling combination of the brand’s emotive design, exquisite interiors, leading safety as well as intelligent connectivity features. It is positioned at the upper end of its segment and targets discerning customers who wants a premium experience.”
The car bears a black Skoda signature grille, gloss black mirrors and quartz-cut projector headlights (with chrome eyelashes) and LED daytime running lights. Other highlights are dual-tone 16-inch Clubber alloy wheels with glossy black bolt covers, the glossy black décor on the B pillars with Monte Carlo flag badge, black roof foil, black tailgate spoiler and the black grained sporty diffuser.
The Rapid Monte Carlo has a three-spoke SuperSport flat-bottom multifunction steering wheel and the gear knob has black perforated leather and red decorative stitching. There is also plush Monte Carlo leatherette seat upholstery with grey vertical stripes.
The sedan is high on advanced and intelligent connectivity features and gets the ‘Drive’ state-of-the-art 6.5-inch colour touchscreen Central Infotainment System; and SmartLink technology that supports MirrorLink, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto.
On the safety front, Skoda offers safety features like dual airbags and ABS as standard across its product portfolio. The standard safety and security equipment on the Rapid Monte Carlo include ABS, five three-point seatbelts and dual airbags. In addition, ESC is available on the DSG variant and HHC (Hill Hold Control) is
available on both AT Petrol and AT Diesel variants.
The Rapid Monte Carlo will come with the 1.5L TDI diesel engine and the 1.6L MPI petrol engine from the Skoda Rapid model range.

Construction and real estate industry should push for bringing the entire sector under the GST as early as possible to solve major problems of the sector, Group of Ministers on Real Estate under GST regime Secretary Manish Kumar Sinha suggested on Wednesday.

The group of ministers will soon meet and address all issues, Mr Sinha said while speaking at an interactive session on ‘Decoding Union Budget – A Real Estate Perspective’ organised by the FICCI.

Mr Sinha said the Government is very sensitive to this sector and doing the best it can. The government is aware of the fact that real estate is one of the key sectors, provides jobs and contributes, directly and indirectly, around 8-10 per cent to the GDP.

Mr Sinha highlighted that post-GST, tax rates have come down to 12 per cent which was 20 per cent earlier. To boost the affordable and mid-segment housing, availability of credit is essential for growth.

FICCI Real Estate Committee Chairman Sanjay Dutt said the demand in the office sector is growing strongly, but on the other hand, the demand of residential space has not seen that kind of growth and is currently where it was few years back. In order to bring back the demand, he suggested that the developers should construct, design and build houses keeping in mind the end-user.

FICCI-EY White Paper on ‘Indian Real Estate: Demystifying the new tax and regulatory environment’ was also released during the event which highlights the key tax and accounting issues impacting the real estate sector.

Hard task master Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who has been recently appointed as Congress general secretary ( Uttar Pradesh east) held a marathon 16 hours meeting on Tuesday which ended in the early hours on Wednesday and was ready within six hours to start afresh a series of meetings with party workers on Wednesday.

Waving her hand from her vehicle, Priyanka entered the Nehru Bhawan , the state headquarters of the Congress here at around 1300 hours on Wednesday to continue her second day of the meeting.

On the first day, she shared her mantra for unity with all the Congress workers, another common thread running through all her meetings was a set of questions she posed — that went largely unanswered.

She also informed the leaders that a dedicated party worker would be given priority in getting the Lok Sabha ticket and the turncoats, who ruled the roost in the past, would be ignored.

The series of meetings kick started on Tuesday with workers from Unnao constituency , where Priyanka enquired about the number of votes received from their local booth. The party workers, however, failed to answer her question.

Priyanka then popped up another question, this time, enquiring about when the last time the party workers held a meeting at their respective booths. This, once again, remained unanswered.

The party representatives were further stumped when Priyanka asked them to spell out the number of votes the Congress bagged in their respective constituencies in the last Lok Sabha polls.

When Priyanka asked a leader from Lucknow ,who contested the assembly polls on party ticket in the past elections, that how much votes was polled in his home booth, the leader could not reply.

Priyanka also wanted to know about the local issues of various constituencies and asked the workers to elucidate on their strategies to strengthen the Congress’ chances of winning the upcoming elections.

Apart from meek responses from here and there, not many were able to make any reply to the newly anointed Congress leader’s queries.

According to sources, Priyanka also kept a diary with her the entire time, in which she noted down important points and feedback from Congress workers.

However, another person also assisted Priyanka in writing down the reply of the leaders. The leaders who met Priyanka also had to fill a form before going to the meeting, in which they had to inform about the past association with the party and their work history.

On Tuesday,Priyanka, held a 16 hour marathon meeting senior leaders and office bearers of Lucknow, Unnao, Mohanlalganj, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Bahraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituencies.

Nepal will make its case for the country’s transitional justice process at the 40th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where it is expected to assuage the concerns of the international community on the completion of the remaining tasks of the homegrown peace process.

According to a report in The Kathmandu Post, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali is travelling to Geneva on February 23 to participate in the Human Rights Council meeting where he would assure the international community that the process of reconciliation would be smooth and sustainable and that the whole process of ‘dealing with the past’ would be credible.

“Basically my focus will be on defending the ongoing transitional justice process,” Gyawali told the Post on Tuesday, confirming his visit to Geneva.

The government is taking the Council meeting as an opportunity to try to convince the international community that Nepal is capable enough of handling the transitional justice process on its own. This comes at a time while a lobby is active to bring back the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Commission for assistance to complete the ongoing transitional justice process.

The high commissioner’s office was established on April 10, 2005, with a far-reaching mandate on human rights and it worked in Nepal for around seven years before the government bid farewell to it on March 21, 2012.

Only last month, Kathmandu-based nine foreign missions, at the initiative of the United Nations, urged the government to clarify its plans to take the transitional justice process forward in 2019 and ensure broader consultation with the stakeholders.

The international community also reminded the government about the upcoming fourth anniversary of the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed certain requirements for transitional justice processes.

On February 26, 2015, the Supreme Court had struck down the amnesty provision and said the consent of the victims was necessary for any reconciliation besides clarifying that cases which are sub judice at various courts cannot be transferred to the commissions.

The members “of the international community are also united in the view that any solution should have the needs of victims at its heart. Only then can the peace process move forward on a strong foundation, supporting Nepal in establishing a credible transitional justice process and ensuring the stability and prosperity of Nepal remain priorities for the international community,” they said.

Government officials, however, told the Post that despite the lobby, Nepal will not entertain any proposal to re-invite the OHCHR—directly or indirectly.

Even more than a decade after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006, which ended the decade-long civil war, victims who suffered at the hands of the state and the Maoist rebels are yet to get justice.

The two transitional justice bodies—formed in 2015—had their mandates extended only last week. The two bodies, however, have met with severe criticism from various quarters, including the conflict victims, for their failure to carry out their work.

The incumbent officials will remain in office till mid-April, and the government says it will replace them with new ones in a move to address the demands of the victims that the two commissions be “restructured”. Commission officials, however, have long been saying that they were hamstrung by lack of resources and required laws.

The Transitional Justice Act-2014, however, is yet to be amended in line with the 2015 Supreme Court verdict and international obligations, which has been a major cause for concern for the international community.

Gyawali said his address at the Council meeting will focus on giving an update to the international community about the current status of the transitional justice process and the government position.

Nepal is a member of the Council at present and Kathmandu has already announced its candidature for its election for another term in 2020-22.

“I will tell the international community that there will be no blanket amnesty in the cases of serious human rights violations,” Gyawali told the Post. “The war-era cases of gross human rights violations would be dealt with by the court while the entire investigation process would be victim-centric. I will inform the world that the Nepal government will respect—and adhere to—the Supreme Court’s verdict,” said Gyawali.

Officials said the government was preparing to amend the laws related to the transitional justice mechanisms.

“We have set six fundamentals for the formulation of laws,” Ramesh Dhakal, secretary at the Prime Minister’ Office, told the Post on Tuesday.

“First, what we had committed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006 to address the grievances of the victims and to complete the peace process. Second, our commitment made in various national and international forums. Third, we will consider the established norms and values of the transitional process widely. Fourth, we will also respect the Supreme Court’s verdict delivered in 2015. Fifth, we will seriously look into the victims’ concerns and grievances,” said Dhakal. “Last but not least, ours is a home-grown process and it has to be a domestically-driven process.”

In a recent briefing to the Kathmandu-based international community on February 1 also, Gyawali tried to assuage the concerns raised by the community.

“While we have noticed concerns expressed in certain quarters for the expeditious conclusion of this process, we believe that this internal matter can be resolved with our commitment and efforts,” Gyawali had told the representatives of the international missions. “If Nepali leadership can resolve unthinkable hardcore political issues to arrive at this stage, there is every reason to believe that the leadership has also the ability and willingness to complete this final leg. So trust on our commitment, willingness and capacity to close this chapter forever in the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Accord.”

International rights bodies also have long been calling for concluding the remaining tasks of the peace process—that is the completion of the transitional justice process—at the earliest and in a credible manner.

On Monday, the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International and TRIAL International urged the Nepal government to commit to a transparent and consultative transitional justice process that complies with international law and the judgments of the Supreme Court.

Voicing concerns about the past approach to transitional justice, they called on the government to ensure that the next two months are used to get the flawed process on track. This should not become another missed opportunity to ensure that victims are provided with the justice, truth and reparation that they so desperately seek, they said in a statement. “A further one-year extension will be meaningless if measures are not taken to secure the independence and impartiality of the commissions,” said Frederick Rawski, ICJ Asia Pacific Director. “This can only be achieved through a transparent selection process driven by a genuine will to combat impunity—not just for conflict victims, but for future generations,” he added.(UNI)

The Rajasthan government on Wednesday introduced a bill to provide five per cent reservation to Gujjars and four other communities in government jobs and education.
The four other communities are Banjaras, Gadia Lohars, Raikas and Gadaria.
Energy Minister B D Kalla piloted the Rajasthan Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Amendment Bill, 2019.
Hundreds of people from the Gujjar community have been holding demonstrations since February 8 to press for their demands. Their agitation entered the sixth day on Wednesday with many community members occupying the Delhi-Mumbai tracks, disrupting train movement.
The government introduced the Bill after talks with the agitationsts failed to make in headway.
After the bill was tabled, Gujjar leaders said that they will go through the Bill and then decide on their next course of action.(UNI)

The National Film Development Corporation of India has been declared winner under the Miniratna Category-II by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
This is part of endeavour by the Ministry to felicitate select CPSEs in recognition of their exemplary work for the promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs. The performance parameters were procurement from SC/ST entrepreneurs, number of vendor development programmes for SC/ST and number of SC/ST entrepreneurs benefitted as per data uploaded on Sambandh Portal.
The NFDC, incorporated in 1975 and 100 per cent owned Central Public Sector Undertaking, was formed by the Government with the primary objective of planning and promoting an organised, efficient and integrated development of the Indian film industry.
NFDC has so far funded and produced over 300 films. These films, in various Indian languages, have been widely acclaimed and have won many national and international awards. The primary activities of NFDC are Film production – 100 per cent finance for debutant directors and co-production with foreign and Indian filmmakers, promoting Indian films at various international film festivals and markets in India and abroad. NFDC’s Film Bazar has now become one of the leading platforms for promoting and showcasing Indian cinema to the world.
NFDC is now positioned as a 360-degree integrated media service provider for the creation and dissemination of advertising communication across various electronic platforms. Ministry of Information &Broadcasting has taken the lead with a long –term objective of positioning and promoting India as a preferred destination for filmmakers across the world, by setting up the Film Facilitation office (FFO), which is part of NFDC.

Asserting that the hearing of Article 35-A cases in the Supreme Court (SC) has heightened tension in the valley, Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan said any fiddling with the Article could trigger a catastrophe in the entire South Asian region and not only in Kashmir.

Khan, who also heads the Kashmir Traders and Federation (KTMF), said revocation of Article 35-A will mean that people of all the three regions will lose their share of resources in the state, including jobs and land. “People of this state will end up like Palestinians whose land will be taken away by outsiders. We all will lose our identities. Collective and individual,” he alleged.

“When New Delhi should have been serious to take measures to improve situation through initiation of efforts for final settlement Kashmir in accordance with the aspirations of the people of the state, some hidden forces are hell bent on keeping Kashmir on the boil through such sinister petitions, while the people are being pushed towards a decisive battle,”   Khan said.

Khan said timing of cases to weaken special status of J&K look conspiring. “Instead of saying when to have a hearing on such a sensitive case, we appeal the SC to dismiss the petition so that the wild fears in the minds of already victimised people of Jammu and Kashmir end once and for all,” he said.

He maintained that the Kashmir Inc was not only speaking on behalf of the business community of the Valley alone but was making public the popular sentiment of the people of state in general. “Like other Kashmiris we have always scarified for the cause of Kashmir and we won’t mind to sacrifice everything if our existence is at stake,” he said.

The KEA chairman alleged that it was the faulty policies of the government which force the business community to speak on such issues when actually the businessmen should have been provided with a conducive environment to work.

Supporting the stand of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) and the Kashmir’s civil society on the issue, the Kashmir Inc said it was a collective responsibility of every sane individual to be extra cautious.(UNI)

A Bill which seeks to amend the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951 and make the trust which runs the memorial, ‘apolitical’ was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Piloting the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said, ‘Our main concern is that the trustee of the memorial trust should not be president of any political party.’

He also announced that Rs 24 crore have been allocated for improvement of the Jallianwala Bagh memorial

The Bill which seeks to “delete” the President of the political party as a Trustee, was introduced in the

Lok Sabha on December 28 last year.

Earlier, moving the Bill for consideration, the Minister said the 100 years of Jallianwala Bagh massacre will be observed on April 13, 2019.

The Minister said at present, in the composition of the trust, certain inconsistencies have been noticed.

He said the term of nominated Trustees is five years and there was no provision in the Act to terminate a nominated Trustee before the expiry of his term.

In view of the absence of designated Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Trustee being a party specific, it was felt necessary to amend the said Act to make it ‘apolitical’ and also to provide for termination of nominated Trustees before the expiry of their term.

The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2018, provides to delete ‘the President of the Indian National Congress’ as a Trustee, to make ‘ the Leader of Opposition recognised as such in the House of the People or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then, the Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in that House’ a Trustee, in place of ‘the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha’ and to confer power upon the Central Government to terminate the term of a nominated trustee before the expiry of the period of his term without assigning any reason.

Congress member Shashi Tharoor, AITC member Sugata Bose, BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal , Shiv Sena member Arvind Ganpat Sawant, CPI (M) member MB Rajesh and SAD member Prem Singh Chandumajra also took part in the discussion on the Bill.

The Bill was passed after the Minister’s reply.(UNI)

Alleging that New Delhi is trying to divide Muslims on regional lines and in different sects in Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said ‘the Centre was playing with fire by implementing BJP’s agenda through Governor Satya Pal Malik’.

“When PDP was in coalition government with the BJP in J&K, it didn’t allow them (BJP) to implement their agenda in J&K,”   Mehbooba, who was the chief minister of the state, said while addressing a press conference at her Gupkar residence here on Wednesday.

She alleged now the Centre was implementing BJP’s agenda through its appointed Governor in the state.

“By various orders passed by the Governor, the Centre is trying to divide Muslims on regional lines and in different sects (Shia and Sunni). The Centre is playing with fire. There is a notion that they want to disempower the Muslims of the state,”  Mehbooba said.

Hitting out at the Governor,   Mehbooba said that the people’s sentiments were not taken into consideration while taking decision to create a separate division for the Ladakh region. “The decisions taken by Governor are against the sentiments of Kashmir. This is a Muslim majority state and the government has to keep the sentiments of the people, both majority and minority communities, here, into consideration,” she said.

“The government has ignored Chenab valley. Central government has hand in these decisions,” she added.

Reacting on agitation following setting up of the administrative headquarters of newly-created Ladakh division in Leh, Ms Mehbooba demanded rotational headquarters between Kargil and Leh to calm down the protesters and to accommodate the aspirations of people of the region.

The PDP president said the BJP didn’t allow her party to implement the Forest Act which is applicable across the country.

“BJP didn’t allow us to implement the Forest Act which is applicable across the country. Somehow they want to alienate the Muslim majority of the state,” she alleged.(UNI)

Well known Kannada Film Producer Jayashridevi passed away following brief illness at Apollo hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

She was 60. She was survived by her adopted son Vasu.

Ms Jayashtridevi had produced films like Bhavani, Nammura Mandara Hoove, Amruta Varshini, Sri Manjunatha, Nishabdha, Kona Eeedite and other popular films. She was also executive producer of recently released Mukunda Murari.

Actors, Producers, Directors including Mr Shivarajkumar belonging to Sandalwood have condoled the death of Ms Jayashridevi. The last rites will take at Yelahanka in the city tomorrow.

Over the past few days thousands of desperate civilians have been fleeing a fresh outbreak of violence in South Sudan’s Equatoria state, seeking safety in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), many “suffering from trauma.”
Some 5,000 people have settled in several villages along the border near the town of Ingbokolo in Ituri province in north-eastern DRC, the United Nations Refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
“Most are women, children and the elderly” said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch, explaining that they have been arriving by foot “exhausted, hungry and thirsty”.
“Among them are people suffering malaria or other illnesses” he continued, noting that many of those traumatized have “witnessed violent incidents, including armed men reportedly murdering and raping civilians and looting villages”.
According to reports, the violence has displaced another 8,000 people inside South Sudan, near the town of Yei.
The clashes started on 19 January between the army and a rebel group known as the National Salvation Front, UNHCR says, blocking humanitarian access to affected areas. The conflict in South Sudan has created over 2.2 million refugees since 2013.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, reported that an armed group in South Sudan released 119 children on Tuesday in the south-west town of Yambio, who had been held captive by the militia group known as the South Sudan National Liberation Movement (SSLM), which signed a peace agreement with the Government in 2016.
Of the newly-released, 48 were girls, with the youngest child being 10-years-old. More than 3,100 children being held by armed groups have now been freed.
“Every child no longer with an armed group represents a childhood restored and a future regained,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
During the process, each child was registered and provided with a certificate stating they were no longer affiliated with the group. They then met social workers, health workers and education specialists, so their immediate needs could be assessed.
UNICEF said that for each released child given help, one vulnerable child and their family from the host community receiving them, is also being supported to foster acceptance and promote a boost the chances of successful reintegration.
“More and more children are being freed from armed groups and armed forces in South Sudan, and while this is an encouraging development, there is a long way to go before all of the more than 19,000 children still in their ranks are returned to their families,” asserted Ms Fore.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which requires governments to meet the basic needs of children and to help them reach their full potential, according to the UNICEF chief.
“Five months after the signing of a peace agreement, UNICEF calls on all parties to South Sudan’s conflict to recommit themselves to upholding these rights and to ensuring that children are never soldiers,” concluded   Fore.(UNI)

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill which seeks to provide severe punishment and heavy pecuniary fines for chit fund operators and fraudsters, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The legislation is aimed to help innocuous investors not to fall into the trappings of fraudsters and chit fund operators those played havoc with poor and middle class people in West Bengal and few other eastern states.

The Union cabinet last week had given its green signal to the fresh amendments those provide for severe punishment and heavy pecuniary fines for such operatives to act as deterrent.

The Bill would significantly also provide for ‘attachment’ of properties and assets by the Competent Authority, and subsequent realisation of assets for repayment to depositors, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said.

He said enough safeguards have been made so that provisions of the law are not misused.

The minister said when rules are framed, the details of the same would be put in the public domain.

Earlier, in a pleasant surprise for the ruling side, the Congress and CPI-M supported the Bill and also sought to corner Trinamool Congress vis-a-vis chit fund scams in eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha.

The Bill also has adequate provisions for disgorgement or ‘repayment of deposits’ in cases where such schemes indulge in raising the deposits ‘illegally’.

Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Md Salim of CPI-M lashed out the Trinamool Congress for their alleged nexus with the chit fund operators.

‘Madam Speaker, there are always some corrupt people in all the parties but this Trinamool Congress is entirely a party of corrupt people,’ said Mr Salim.

‘Mamata Banerjee has come to power with this chit fund money,’ he said.

Mr Salim’s remarks were greeted by repeated thumping of desks and applause by the ruling party members including Mr Goyal.

He said ‘half-a-dozen’ Trinamoool members who are raising slogans in the House ‘should have been in Bhubaneswar jail’.

‘People who are sitting here, should have been in jail,’ he said, adding the notorious fraudsters have looted thousands of poor people in the state.

Speaking before him, Congress member Mr Chowdhury supported the Bill moved by Finance Minister Mr Goyal, and said ‘Those who looted Bengal, are ruling in the state and come here.’

BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and TRS leader A P Jithender Reddy cautioned the government that certain provisions of the Bill could be misused.

Mr Mahtab suggested there should be a formal regulatory body and states and the Centre should work together to deal with the menace.

The CBI has lodged about 166 cases in the last four years in chit funds and multi-crore scams, with the maximum in West Bengal and Odisha, sources said.

The earlier version of the Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on July 18, 2018.

The push for a new law to deal with ponzi operators in seen as a political significant step as the BJP has intensified its political tussle against Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress, specially after a big fracas on February 3 when Kolkata police personnel had stopped CBI from meeting and questioning Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar.(UNI)

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday took up the bill that seeks to tighten noose on fraudsters and chit fund operators and in a rather surprise move, the government initiatives were strongly supported by Congress and CPI-M members amid thumping of desks by the treasury benches.

Speaking on the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Md Salim of CPI-M lashed out the Trinamool Congress for their alleged nexus with the chit fund operators.

‘Madam Speaker, there are always some corrupt people in all the parties but this Trinamool Congress is entirely a party of corrupt people,’ said Mr Salim, whose party was ousted in West Bengal by the Mamata Banerjee led party in 2011.

‘Mamata Banerjee has come to power with this chit fund money,’ he said.

Mr Salim’s remarks were greeted by repeated thumping of desks and applause by the ruling party members including Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.

He said ‘half-a-dozen’ Trinamoool members who are raising slogans in the House ‘should have been in Bhubaneswar jail’.

‘People who are sitting here, should have been in jail,’ he said, adding the notorious fraudsters have looted thousands of poor people in the state.

Speaking before him, Congress member Mr Chowdhury supported the Bill moved by Finance Minister Mr Goyal, and said ‘Those who looted Bengal, are ruling in the state and come here.’

‘Chor machaye shor (wrongdoers are making noise)’, he said in reference to Trinamool Congress members sloganeering and raising placards and maintained ‘loot ka chhoot nahi hone denge ‘.

Piloting the Bill, Mr Goyal said the kind of opposition and ruckus being created here showed that some parties are against enactment of the law which will deal with chit fund fraudsters.(UNI)

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Junnar Tehsil farmers will be jointly organising ‘Grape Festival’ in Golegaon (Lenyadri) in Pune district between February 16 and 19.

The festival is being organised with the help of grape farmers of Junnar tehsil and MTDC Resort Malshej Ghat, a release said.
Tourists can participate at any day in this festival, which is organised on the border of Thane and Pune districts.
To participate in the event, the tourists will have to reach MTDC Resort at Malshej Ghat at 1000 hrs. Tourists can visit the grape orchard of Golegaon. The tourists will be given information about plucking of grapes, its packing and its selling methods. Tourists can go straight away to the orchard and taste grapes.
The tourists will be allowed to walk in farm lands and they can sit in the farm lands and enjoy the food too.

They will also visit the vineyard, where they can get information about the process of preparing wine. After this, at 1630 hrs, the tourists can visit Mushroom garden along with the Gramin Bachat Samuh (Rural Savings Group). The tourist can get information about mushroom crop and its sale.
In order to reach all these places, admission fee for each person is Rs 50. Vehicles, which are arranged by MTDC, will go to these places. (UNI)

NATO is not planning to deploy new ground-based nuclear weapons in Europe even after the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) becomes invalid following US withdrawal, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said Wednesday.
“We will now discuss how to respond to new Russian missiles. But we have no plans to deploy new ground-based systems with nuclear weapons in Europe,” the official told Sueddeutsche Zeitung ahead of the meeting during which the alliance would discuss possible steps to take after the INF suspension.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera expressed the belief on Wednesday that his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, would be ousted within days.
“Within days, Maduro’s dictatorship will cease to exist. The people of Venezuela have opened door to freedom and democracy, with courage and happiness. Now they should move toward a free and prosperous country that lives in peace. All the democrats across the world share this happiness,” Pinera posted on Twitter.
Earlier in February, Colombian President Ivan Duque equally voiced the belief that Maduro, with whom he has long been at loggerheads, would soon lose his post.
Tensions in Venezuela escalated when Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-led parliament, declared himself interim president on January 23, disputing Maduro’s re-election, which took place last year. Guaido’s declaration was almost immediately recognized by the United States and some of its allies. EU states were expected to issue a joint statement recognizing Guaido, but Italy vetoed the motion, according to a Sputnik source.
Russia, China, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and several other states have said that they supported Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.