News

Much of the money allocated to the project remains unspent India’s $3 billion plan to clean the holy   Ganga   river is badly behind schedule with large stretches contaminated by toxic waste and sewage, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene, according to government officials and documents seen by Reuters. Much of the money allocated to the project, a flagship initiative for Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, remains unspent, say officials from the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a government body overseeing the project. In one slide of a presentation to a top Modi aide in late January, NMCG officials marked almost the entire length of the river within three big circles to highlight “pollution in river Ganga”. SEWAGE, POLLUTION MODI TAKES CONTROL A 2018 deadline to clean the river is “impossible”, one NMCG official said. “If we want to meet the 2018 deadline, we should have commissioned plants to treat half the sewage already,” he said, re...

UP to float Farmers' Relief Bond for composite waiver amount; decision to benefit 21.5 mn farmers Within a fortnight of taking office, the   Yogi Adityanath -led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Tuesday fulfilled its key poll promise, writing off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh for about 21.5 million small and marginal farmers. The total waiver will be of Rs 36,359 crore — one of the highest-ever promised by a state. Of this, Rs 5,630 crore of NPAs, or non-performing assets, of 700,000 farmers will be immediately waived. This would not only enable these farmers to seek new loans, but also clean up the account books of the banks involved. According to the official data, there are 23 million farmers in UP, of whom about 92.5 per cent, or about 21.5 million, belong to the small and marginal segments. State Health Minister and Spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said the government would bear the entire burden, with no help from the Centre. He al...

Hyderabad-based playback singer   L.V. Revanth   was on Sunday night declared to be the winner of the season of the singing reality show 'Indian Idol'. 26-year-old Revanth, has won a prize money of Rs. 25 lakh and a contract with Universal Music. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar handed over the trophy to Revanth with other judges Anu Malik, Farah Khan and Sonu Nigam in attendance. The season finale witnessed three contestants - L.V. Revanth, Khuda Baksh and PVNS Rohit - battle it out to win the title of Indian Idol. The first runners-up was Khuda Baksh, the second runners-up was PVNS Rohit. Revanth had a terrific journey on the show by singing songs like 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage' from 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' for the semi-finals. He hails from Vishakhapatanam and is not a new comer to the world of singing as he had lent his voice to one of the biggest projects including the regional version of 'Baahubali'. His song 'Manohari' also made him...

India’s P V Sindhu (R), pictured here with her opponent Carolina Marin, celebrates after winning women’s singles final of the 'Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2017 tournament', in New Delhi India's Olympic 2016 silver medallist   P.V. Sindhu   overcame her Rio Games conqueror Carolina Marin of Spain in straight games to win her maiden India Open Superseries badminton title at a packed Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Sunday. The match-up between Sindhu and Marin was a repeat of the 2016 Rio Olympic final which saw the Spaniard taking away the gold medal in a hard-fought encounter. But in front of her home fans here, third seed Sindhu posted a 21-19, 21-16 triumph in 46 minutes to give another display of her fast-rising career. Since the Rio final, it was the second contest between the two shuttlers and the 21-year-old Hyderabadi has won both. With this win, Sindhu also equalised 5-5 in career meetings against the two-time reigning world champion. The Spanish top seed...

The 2 day long mobile carnival started on 29 March and is expiring on 30 March, 2017 Amazon India   is running a two day long mobile carnival that started on 29 March and is expiring on 30 March, 2017. In the mobile carnival, the e-commerce giant is offering deals, discounts, cashback and exchange offers on smartphones. The Amazon exclusive smartphones like OnePlus 3T, Xiaomi Redmi 4A, Coolpad Cool 1, Huawei Honor 6X etc. are also eligible in the mobile carnival. Let’s look at the major deals currently running inAmazon Mobile Carnival iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus The latest from the stable of iPhone – the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – are retailing at a discount of Rs 10,000. The iPhone 7 base model with 32 GB storage and premium model with 128 GB storage is currently available at Rs 49,999 and 59,979, respectively. The elder sibling, iPhone 7 Plus premium model with 128 GB storage is available at Rs 71,899, down from Rs 82,000. OnePlus 3T Oneplus 3T is one of the hott...

Upping the ante in the crowded compact sedan category, Tata Motors on Wednesday launched   Tata Tigor , its third product in the tax-efficient sub-four metre sedan segment. The biggest selling point for Tigor is its aggressive pricing. At Rs 4.7 lakh for the base petrol variant, Tigor is now the cheapest compact sedan in the country and even undercuts Tata’s existing models. For example, the largest-selling car in the segment - Swift Dzire - starts at Rs 5.27 lakh, while the base petrol version of Indigo CS, from the Tata stable, is priced at Rs 5.03 lakh. Besides Indigo CS, Tata Motors also sells the Zest in the segment, but has not been able to break the dominance of Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire in the category. The compact sedan and hatchback category, accounted for over 40% of car sales in January 2017, at over 114,000 units. Maruti accounted for 56,000 cars in the category, with Swift Dzire selling over 18,000 units in January 2017. The Tata Tigor 1.2-litre petrol m...

Operations have been disrupted completely for the past few days because of an atmosphere of fear Meat sellers across Uttar Pradesh (UP) launched an indefinite strike from Monday against the   Yogi Adityanath   government's crackdown on illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses. "We have decided to intensify our strike from tomorrow. All shops will remain closed. Fish sellers too have joined us and are extending support to us," Lucknow Bakra Gosht Vypar Mandal office bearer Mubeen Qureshi had said on Sunday. He said, in the wake of the crackdown, there was no question of the strike being called off anytime soon. "It will go on indefinitely," he added. Industry fears being butchered Several butcher shops and slaughterhouses across the state have complained that they are being targeted under the new dispensation. “Authorities are even closing down chicken shops,” a shop owner in Noida told   NDTV . Another said even legal abattoirs were asked to hang cur...