Daily News (In Short)-18-August-2015

#* PM Modi announces Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for poll-bound Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday presented a package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for poll-bound Bihar saying it will change the fate of the state.

"I promise you I will implement this package fully. If we want to solve people's problems then the only way ahead is development," said Modi while addressing a rally in Arrah.

"Along with Rs 1.25 lakh crore package, an additional Rs 40,000 crore will also be spent on the state," said Modi as the crowd cheered.

In the course of his speech, Modi also taunted chief minister Nitish Kumar once again and questioned his stand on the status on the state.

"When I called Bihar a Bimaru state, Nitish Kumar became upset. Now I agree with Nitish Kumar that Bihar is not a Bimaru state," said Modi taking a dig at the CM.

"I will the happiest if Bihar stops being counted as one of the Bimaru states," he said.

Earlier, Modi, who has already addressed two election rallies in Muzaffarpur and Gaya ahead of the Bihar assembly polls, inaugurated highway projects involving an investment of Rs 6,200 crore in the state.

Modi also laid the foundation stone of a four-lane road connecting Patna and Buxar in Arrah, the district headquarters of Bhojpur, about 60 km from Patna, before addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Saharsa district in flood-prone Kosi region. The project that had been pending for a long time. It is one of the key road projects of the state and will cost an estimated Rs 2,200-crore.

Expectations were high that the PM will announce a special package for the state in another attempt to power up his party's campaign for the assembly elections due by October.

Sources said the modalities of the package have already been worked out and it could go beyond Rs 1 lakh crore, which will include several new and pending projects for power, roads, bridges, railway schemes, besides food and software technology parks.

In July, Modi had said in Patna that the Centre will sanction the economic package he had promised Bihar, but added he would not make the announcement at an appropriate time.

"Before the Lok Sabha polls, I promised Rs 50,000 crore for Bihar (if elected)... I will fulfill my promise and announce the package at the right time. And it will go much beyond what was promised, as I have now realised that Rs 50,000-crore will not help realise Bihar of my dream. I will announce it at the appropriate time. I will come to Bihar again after monsoon session ends," Modi had said.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, like Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Sushil Kumar Modi, had claimed that Modi will announce the special package for Bihar on Tuesday.

Bihar chief minister Kumar, who has repeatedly demanded a special category status for Bihar and said anything less won't help it develop, remained sceptical saying he had heard nothing new about the package so far and will wait for details before saying anything about it.

"First of all it's a clear-cut violation of cooperative federalism that the state government has been kept in the dark, while BJP leaders are making statements about PM's special package for the state. But, whatever I have heard so far there seems nothing new in the proposed special package," Kumar told reporters in the state capital.

"I am waiting to see whether the special package will have new projects or merely repackaging of the old ones," he said on Monday.

Kumar, who is already engaged in a war of words with the Prime Minister, said the four-lane highways from Buxar to Patna for which the PM would lay foundation stone was approved by the previous UPA government.

Accusing Modi of not fulfilling any promises he had made on the eve of the general elections last year, Kumar said, "Nobody is questioning his potential to make speeches. But, where is the delivery of any of the promises made during poll so far?"

The CM signalled that the special category status would be one of the important issues of the secular alliance in the Bihar poll and said it's the demand of every citizen of Bihar.

Kumar said that Bihar was maintaining a growth rate of about 10% without any help from outside and if special status were granted it could make a big jump.

#* Poll | Abu Dhabi statement: Can India pressurise Pak on terror?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks during an address at a Dubai stadium and a joint statement issued at the end of his two-day tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were seen as a veiled message for Pakistan, which India accuses of backing terrorist groups.

“We (India and the UAE) have spoken in one voice against terrorism,” Modi said without naming Pakistan. “Those who can understand will understand ...We are victims of terrorism for 40 years. Many innocent people have lost their lives,” he said. “Those who indulge in terrorism must be punished. That is the message resonating here today,” he said and emphasised that the era when the nomenclature of “good and bad terrorism” was acceptable was over.

“Good terrorist, bad terrorist, good Taliban, bad Taliban, this won’t work. A decision has to be taken: Are you with terrorism or humanity?” Modi said during his hour-long speech.

This will help India corner fugitives such as Dawood Ibrahim, who is believed to be holed up in Pakistan and owns properties in the UAE.

Modi’s comments came days ahead of talks between the National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan on terrorism-related issues in New Delhi on August 23.

India is likely to present a dossier of evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in recent militant attacks during the meeting.

Mohammad Naveed, a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist arrested during a deadly attack at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, has told investigators he belongs to Faisalabad city in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Pakistan has rejected India’s charges regarding recent terror attacks and sought more information.

#* Thai junta chief says Bangkok bomb blast 'suspect' has been identified

Bangkok: Thailand's junta chief on Tuesday said authorities are hunting a male "suspect" seen on CCTV footage near the scene of a bombing that claimed at least 21 lives in Bangkok and wounded scores more.
"Today there is a suspect who appeared on CCTV but it's not clear... we are looking for this guy," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said, adding he was believed to be from an "anti-government group based in Thailand's northeast" -- the heartland of the anti-coup Red Shirt movement.
A bomb blast hit Bangkok outside the Erawan shrine. APA bomb blast hit Bangkok outside the Erawan shrine. AP
Since 2006 Bangkok has witnessed repeated rounds of deadly political violence, flanked by two coups. Until Monday though, foreigners had rarely been caught up in the bloodshed.
The most recent coup in 2014 toppled the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra after months of disruptive street protests.
Thailand is also fighting a decade-long insurgency in its southernmost Muslim-majority provinces that border Malaysia, which has seen more than 6,400 people killed, mostly civilians.
Prayut's comments suggest the investigation is shifting towards anti-government groups loyal to the ousted Shinawatra family, rather than the southern Muslim militants.
The Red Shirts are a grassroots network of the rural and urban poor, particularly from the country's northeast, that support Yingluck and her ousted prime minister brother Thaksin Shinawatra.
Authorities have blamed them for a string of small explosions in Bangkok earlier this year, a charge their leadership has strongly denied.
They were also initially blamed by authorities for a car bomb on the resort island of Koh Samui earlier this year, but police were later forced to backtrack and subsequently blamed insurgents for that attack.
While hardcore Red Shirts have been known to launch attacks on security forces or government buildings, they have never before carried out a mass casualty bombing.
Thailand's Islamist insurgents are also not know to target foreigners and have also largely kept their violent attacks to the three Muslim-majority provinces in the country's south.

#* Security increased after email threatens to blow up Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has recently received an e-mail which threatened to blow up the Supreme Court building, sources were quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times on Tuesday. The email has been forwarded to the Delhi Police.
According to this report in the NDTV, security measures have been increased in and around the court since the letter surfaced last weekend. "The letter, which was found by security guards in the backyard of the judge's home in Delhi, said in Hindi: 'irrespective of the protection you may avail, we will eliminate you.'
Supreme Court. ReutersSupreme Court. Reuters
As per the report, the Union Home Ministry and intelligence agencies were also informed about the threatening email.
"We have received an email in which anti-national elements have threatened a bomb attack at the Supreme Court. We have forwarded the matter to our elite special cell for further probe. It could be a prank but we are not taking any chances," a senior officer, who also confirmed the receipt of the email, was quoted as saying by the HT report.
Earlier this month, Supreme Court judge Justice Dipak Misra, who handed down the death penalty to 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon, received an anonymous threat letter at his residence in Tughlaq Road area.
The letter threatened Misra would be killed even if he was provided security cover.
Justice Misra has been provided a bullet proof vehicle while commandos from central paramilitary force have been deployed at his residence.

#* First Lady Suvra Mukherjee passes away

India’s First Lady Suvra Mukherjee passed away on Tuesday morning at 10.51 am. Wife of President Pranab Mukherjee, she had been ill for sometime and had complained of respiratory problems recently.

Ms Mukherjee was born on September 17, 1940 in Jessore (now in Bangladesh) and married Pranab Mukherjee on July 13, 1957. A graduate, Ms Mukherjee was an ardent fan of India’s national poet, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.

She was a vocalist of Rabindra Sangeet and performed in the poet’s dance-dramas for long years not only in different parts of India, but also in Europe, Asia and Africa. Ms Mukherjee founded the Geetanjali Troupe, whose mission is to propagate Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy as expressed through his songs and dance-dramas. She was the guiding force behind all productions of the Troupe.

The late first lady was also a highly talented painter who had many group and solo exhibitions to her credit. She considered her mother who was herself a painter as the source of her creative inspiration and her works won critical acclaim.

Ms Mukherjee has written two books: Chokher Aloey which is a personal account of her close interaction with Smt. Indira Gandhi and Chena Achenai Chin - a travelogue recounting her visit to China.

She is survived by her husband, the President of India and three children - Abhijit Mukherjee, Indrajit Mukherjee and Sharmistha Mukherjee.

#* Escalation at LoC: Kashmiris want underground bunkers to survive regular crossfire

As guns continue to roar across the Line of Control in J&K with fresh ceasefire violations reported on Monday, residents living in the line of fire by Pakistani army want a permanent solution to their agonies: Underground Bunkers.
Balakote village in Poonch sector, which has seen a surge in violence after Pakistan's Independence Day celebrations on August 14, is a scene of terrifying devastation. The air in the village is laden with sorrow and uncertainty. The recent firing, allegedly by Pakistani Army, left six people dead and more than two dozen injured in this sector, located some 250 kilometers from the winter capital, Jammu.
Residents say more than hundred shells have landed inside the village since August 14, many of them boring through the rooftops of their homes, giving them little time to escape. The only hope of survival for the traumatised people is to abandon their homes and migrate to "safer places", which can mean anything from the cover of a fir tree to the wall of an abandoned bunker.
A proposal was sent by Jammu and Kashmir government on February 23 this year to the Centre for setting up 20,125 bunkers in the villages close to the LoC in Kashmir and International Border. Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had told the state assembly that the proposal would cover a population of 4,02,455 souls at an estimated cost of Rs 1006.25 crores. About 448 border villages were identified to be covered in the proposals.
Representational image. Image courtesy- ReutersRepresentational image. Image courtesy- Reuters
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pawan Kotwal, who has been monitoring the situation since the beginning of the recent ceasefire violation, told Firstpost on Monday that the Centre government has mooted a pilot project for the construction of underground bunkers.
“The Centre has already approved a project of Rs 60 lakhs as a pilot project to set up underground bunkers in Jammu. Presently there are no bunkers in Poonch region and I am sure if more bunkers are constructed, they would save lives,” Kotwal said.
While people living in these border villages have been dying due to cross-border firing for over two decades, neither the government nor any NGO has constructed a single bunker in this area, unlike the International Border, where residents were given financial assistance by various organisations to construct such bunkers.
“We sometimes sit under the shade of the wall or behind the the hillock to escape bullets and bombs but it doesn’t prevent deaths. Many people have died even after taking cover,” Ajmal Shah, a resident of Balakote, told FirstPost.
On Monday morning, the armies of Pakistan and India resorted to firing and shelling across the LoC in Saujiyan sector of Poonch district, leaving four civilians injured. This was the eighth straight day of firing, which has already claimed the life of six people and dozens more have been injured.
“Fifteen houses have been damaged in fresh firing, apart from injuries to some civilian,” a resident of Sabzian area said over phone.
At many places across the LoC in Jammu, residents had constructed underground bunkers on their own, using them whenever the firing would occur. The affected families would often slink into these narrow openings with men, women and children all squeezing into a small space; few could afford to spread out on the ground for sleeping.
However, these bunkers became defunct as they were left unused for nearly 10 years during which a fragile peace prevailed in the region and got slowly filled up on their own. Irfan Khan, son of the slain sarparach, Karamatullah Khan, of Balakote village, who was killed in Saturday's shelling, regrets that although there are many areas along the IB in Jammu where underground bunkers were constructed, not even a single such bunker was built by government or any NGO.
“If they would have helped us in constructing underground bunkers, many lives would have been saved. These bunkers are life savers in times of shelling,” he told FirstPost.
Although a ceasefire agreement reached between India and Pakistan in 2003 had provided the much-needed relief to the residents of these villages along the LoC, the calm was broken in January 2013 which was followed by killings of India soldiers in Poonch.
The fragile nature of the peace has always taken a toll on the people living along this troubled region by either displacing them internally or making them paranoid and sick, denying them even the right to perform last rites of those who become prey of violence.
“We could not perform the last rites of my father for five hours," Irfan, the slain sarpanch's father said, "We were not able to even mourn for him because of the continuous exchange of gunfire”

#* Monsoon concerns: Moody's cuts India’s 2015 GDP growth forecast to 7%

Mumbai: Moody's Investors Service cut its forecast for India’s economic growth to around 7 percent this year from 7.5 percent because of lower-than-expected rainfall in the ongoing monsoon season, the ratings agency said on Tuesday.
Moody's maintained its forecast of around 7.5 percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2016, but pointed to risks ahead that include delays in the government’s reform plans.
Moody's rates India at its lowest investment grade rating of “Baa3” with a “positive” outlook.
Reuters imageReuters image
"As a net importer of commodities, India’s growth outlook benefits from the fall in commodity prices over the past year. It is also little affected by demand from China and more generally slower global trade growth. We have revised our GDP growth forecast down to around 7%, in light of a drier than average monsoon although rainfall was not as low as feared at the start of the season," Moody's said in a press release.
It has maintained its forecast for 2016 at 7.5%. "Economic activity will continue to strengthen on the back of a gradual implementation of reforms that foster domestic and foreign investment. Consumption growth will continue to be supported by large income gains as inflation has fallen to relatively low levels by the country’s past standards and favourable demographics," it said.
Barring a large shock to commodity prices or food inflation, Moody's thinks that the central bank’s inflation targets are achievable.
"Maintaining inflation at lower levels than in the past will support real incomes and spending. As long as the central bank’s objective is credible, it will also foster investment by providing more visibility about future revenue growth and margins," it has said.
It sees an accommodative fiscal policy stance supporting growth in 2015-16. The budget focuses on sustained economic growth as a driver of narrower deficits.
Rains below normal
The MeT office had yesterday said the country's monsoon deficit at 10 percent as of now is likely to worsen and hit the kharif crop in the coming days, especially in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pra desh, Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The MeT department has projected 16 per cent deficiency in the remaining two months of the four-month season, that is, in August and September.
"The rainfall shortage is about 10 per cent as of now. The deficit is expected to widen further to 12 per cent by the end of the season," Laxman Singh Rathore, Director-General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) told PTI.
Sowing for kharif crops like pulses and oilseeds has remained robust on the back of improved rains in June and some good spells in July. However, the monsoon's performance in August-September would be crucial for this year's kharif output.
As per the official data, kharif crops have been sown in 890.82 lakh hectares till August 14 of the season, as against 863.61 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.
Separately, a Reuters report earlier today said that corporate India may be heading for its fourth consecutive drop in quarterly net profit as companies battle cheap imports and delay investments to expand capacity due to high interest rates.
This prolonged slump would make it tougher for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to hold to its plan to accelerate economic growth to over 8 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2016, from 7.3 percent the previous year.
The collective net profit of 80 Indian companies, each with a market value of more than $100 million, fell 8 percent in the April-June quarter, year-on-year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

#* Google’s new Nexus phone image leaks on the net

The image of Google’s new Nexus phone has been leaked on the internet. According to The Verge, the images were posted on the Nexus Indonesia Google+ community.
In May, the reports suggested that Google was working with partners Huawei and LG to produce two new Nexus phones, a 5.7-inch Huawei device and a 5.2-inch model with LG.
The Google’s new Nexus image shows the back of a white Nexus device. At the base is a sticker featuring a small red circle that appears to be LG’s logo, suggesting that the phone is the LG device.
It also features a bulging camera, laser focus and dual-LED flash.
At the top is a camera and underneath it is a similarly sized circle that looks to be the fingerprint scanner.
The image resembles renders of the supposed LG device leaked late last week with a rounded back and a camera.
There is no solid date set for either phone’s launch.

#* Google will now help you get solar on your roof

Google, which has long funded big solar and wind projects around the world, is stepping into the solar industry in a more web-based and traditionally Google-style way. On Monday, Google unveiled a site called Project Sunroof that lets people Google their address and find how much sun their roof gets, as well as the options in their area for buying new solar panels.

It’s a drop dead simple site, and was created by one of Google’s Boston-based engineers, Carl Elkin, in his 20% time (the free time that Google gives employees to work on projects they’re interested in). The site — which is only available in San Francisco, Boston and Fresno currently — uses data from Google Earth, including high resolution aerial mapping data, to factor in little details like roof orientation, shade from trees, and local weather.

Despite its simple nature, I think Project Sunroof is an example of the kinds of projects that Google  GOOG 0.44%  should do more of. Google has spent close to $2 billion on clean energy projects globally, which is very important, but any company with deep pockets and a commitment to clean energy could do that. Very few companies have the depth of data and information, combined with the experience of creating user-friendly products, like Google does.While solar panels are cheaper than ever before, it’s the so-called “soft costs” — sales, marketing, and permitting — that account for the majority of that. With its trove of information, Google could use data to help reduce the price even more.

Project Sunroof includes solar installers like Vivint Solar, SolarCity, and SunPower. If Google can attract users to its new service, it could send substantial sales leads to these companies.

Google marks the section of the site where it lists the solar installers as “sponsored.” So Google either is currently — or eventually can be — paid by the installer to get listed there. But I don’t have any details about the financial arrangements Google could be requesting.

The U.S. solar industry is growing rapidly. There are more than 20 gigawatts of solar panels now installed in the U.S. and more than 1 gigawatt is being installed each quarter. One gigawatt is about the size of a large natural gas or coal plant. Another 50 gigawatts of solar panels are expected to come online in the U.S. by 2020.

The downside of Project Sunroof is that there are startups like Geostellar that already offer these types of roof mapping services to both the public, for free, and to solar installers for a fee. Sungevity is another large company that’s built a strong business off of using public data to help drive lead generation in the solar industry. Pretty Visible is a new startup, out of the Oakland-based incubator SfunCube, which takes a community-focused web approach to solar information.

Google’s introduction of this free site could cause some headaches, or at least some changes, for companies trying to make money off of similar services.

#* India's new dossier on Dawood Ibrahm lists 4 new 'ISI safe houses'

New Delhi: The Modi government has prepared a new dossier on India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim with evidence that the underworld don is staying in Pakistan under the protection of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.

The Indian intelligenec agencies have listed four new safe houses, where the underworld don has been staying since 2012.

According to the daily, the fresh dossier says one of the four 'safe house' is located at Muree, which is 20 kms away from Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

In 2012, New Delhi had given Islamabad a list of three places where Dawood had stayed.

The report says that out of seven, most of the 'safe houses' are based in Karachi.

The NDA government is expected to hand over the fresh dossier to Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz when he meets his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in New Delhi later this month.

Earlier in August, it was reported that Yakub Wali Mohammad Khan alias Yeda Yakub, one of the key accused in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, died of heart attack in Pakistan's port city Karachi.

Yeda, considered to be a close associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, died of a massive heart attack.

The Narendra Modi-led government has repeatedly said that Dawood is in Pakistan and that India is determined to bring him back.

Pakistan has denied time and again the fugitive's presence on its soil.

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