Top stories on November 9 in a capsule
INDIA
Himachal Pradesh Polls: Voting ends with 75% turnout
_______________________________________
Odd- even policy to be back in Delhi
Battling
the ‘severe’ air pollution levels in the city, the state government on Thursday
decided to bring back the car rationing, odd-even scheme for the third time,
from November 13th, 2017. Addressing the media, Transport Minister Kailash
Gehlot said “we request the people and all agencies to cooperate.” The
exemptions will be same like earlier, with penalty being
filed for violations during 8am to 8pm. Women drivers and two-wheelers will be exempted from following the rule. The National Green
Tribunal (NGT) has also directed the Delhi government to stop all construction projectsand
industrial work with immediate effect.
_______________________________________
Pradyuman case: Class XI boy confesses to crime
The Pradyuman murder case of Ryan International School in Gurugram has taken another twist. CBI had arrested a Class XI student of the school on Murder charges for the crime. The CBI has told a juvenile court that he has confessed to the crime in front of his father and an independent witness. According to the agency, the Class 11 student, believed to be weak in his studies, allegedly slit Pradyuman’s throat to get the school to declare a holiday in order to defer a scheduled parent-teacher meeting (PTM) and an examination. The court has sent the juvenile to three day custody.
_______________________________________
Chennai: IT Dept raids Jaya TV office, Sasikala’s properties
The IT Department on Thursday raided AIADMK’s TV channel, Jaya TV on suspicion of tax evasion. The officials also searched properties linked to jailed leader VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran’s . The raids, that simultaneously took place in Bengaluru, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi were apparently part of the ‘Operation Clean Money’, that aimed at flushing out illegal assets, claimed a senior taxman. Commenting on the event, Dhinakaran said, “They can search 180 places, I have no problem. If the Centre thinks they can scare us by conducting such raids, they are day-dreaming.” The raid has taken place amidst the two leaf symbol row between the two factions of AIADMK.
_______________________________________
POLITICS
“No politics for me”: Raghuram Rajan on AAP invitation
A day after reports circulated that the AAP is considering extending an invitation to former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to join the party, Rajan replied in negative. On Thursday, a statement released by Rajan’s department in University of Chicago read, “he has no plans of leaving his job at the University,” where he teaches now. The ex RBI chief, who has been vocal on his disagreement over demonetisation and his dissent for politics, is the ideal choice for AAP, who is seeking to field three non-political personalities as Rajya Sabha members. Said to be a personal move of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, the nominees have been decided to end inter party dissent between members.
_______________________________________
Congress presents Hardik Patel with options on reservations
The Congress offered three options on quota to the Hardik Patel led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) for the community in Gujarat. Conveyed by senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, the meeting concluded on options reservation in educational institutions and government jobs, confirmed PAAS member Dinesh Bambania. “The details will be kept before Hardik, legal experts and community. Only after they take a decision we will convey it accordingly to the Congress,” Bambania said. Meanwhile, maintaining discretion Sibal said the meeting was a ‘hopeful’ one. The Patidar community has been demanding reservation, in case the Congress rises to power in the upcoming assembly polls.
_______________________________________
Kerala Solar scam: Oommen Chandy charged ‘guilty'
The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan led Commission, probing the 2013 Solar scam case on Thursday, acquitted predecessor Oommen Chandy guilty of assisting a team in the crime. The report mentioned that Chandy, along with his team had ‘assisted’ the accused Saritha S Nair and her company Team Solar Energy Company of cheating 70 millions off people in the name of business partnership for installation of solar power units across Kerala. Opposition Congress, lashed out at the CM for revealing the contents of the report before tabling it in Assembly. “These are all baseless allegations against Chandy who is a very popular leader,” Congress leader Dominic Presentation said.
_______________________________________
The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan led Commission, probing the 2013 Solar scam case on Thursday, acquitted predecessor Oommen Chandy guilty of assisting a team in the crime. The report mentioned that Chandy, along with his team had ‘assisted’ the accused Saritha S Nair and her company Team Solar Energy Company of cheating 70 millions off people in the name of business partnership for installation of solar power units across Kerala. Opposition Congress, lashed out at the CM for revealing the contents of the report before tabling it in Assembly. “These are all baseless allegations against Chandy who is a very popular leader,” Congress leader Dominic Presentation said.
_______________________________________
Shiv Sena to contest elections in Gujarat
__________________________
BUSINESS
Shiv Sena to contest elections in Gujarat
Shiv Sena, in an attempt to escalate its opposition to its
ally BJP has decided to let its presence known by contesting Gujarat elections
for more than 40 seats. This move of contesting Gujarat elections is with a
motive to cause dent in BJP’s votes by winning Marathi votes as well as votes of
people who are unhappy with BJP yet believe in Hindutva. As part of the
strategy in the past few days, Thackeray has met Nationalist Congress Party
(NCP) President Sharad Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool
Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. Shiv Sena claims that it will contest
elections independently and not form alliance with any other party.
__________________________
Karnataka approves 1st trade union for IT industry
In a major development in India’s Silicon Valley, the Karnataka labour commission has approved the formation of a Karnataka State IT/ ITES employees union (KITU) under the Trade Union’s act, 1926 and Karnataka Trade Unions regulations, 1958. Karnataka’s capital Bangalore is the hub of Indian Information Technology companies, and this move would help the employees in proper redressal of their grievances. According to industry experts, IT service companies may layoff 12,000 – 15,000 employees in the coming months. Bangalore alone has 1.5 million people working for these industries, while a total of 4 million people work for IT companies in India.
________________
Gold demand dips to an 8- year low
Low demand for the yellow metal in India has dragged the world gold demand down by 9% to 915 tonnes, hitting an 8-year low for the commodity. According to the World Gold council, gold demand in the September quarter was down by 9% from the demand in the same period last year, and fell 12% on a yearly basis (worldwide). In India, after three consecutive quarters of growth, demand for gold jewellery fell by 25% year-on-year to 114.9 tonnes in the third quarter of 2017. Jewelery demand fell by a sharp 3% in the last three months in India.
__________________________
__________________________
RBI has no more space to store notes
The Reserve Bank of India has cut down printing of currency notes to its lowest in five years. It is not because of digitisation and a lack of demand for them, but because the Apex bank’s treasury has no more space left for new notes. The order of the RBI now stands at 21 billion notes against the order of 28 billion pieces in the last year. According to the latest RBI data, currency in circulation as of 13 October stood at Rs15.3 trillion, which is just 10% lower than a year ago. Investment demand for gold was down 28% year-on-year at 241.2 tonnes.
_________________________
_________________________
Sensex, Nifty gain after three-day losing streak
Indian benchmark indices closed on positive notes on Thursday as investors’ anticipated good news ahead of the results of the GST council meet. The Sensex, which had lost 512 points in the previous two sessions, gained 32 points to close at 33,250 after trading between 33,463 and 33,111. The Nifty ended flat, up 5 points at 10,308. Intra-day, it touched a high of 10,368 and a low of 10,266. The market also showed some positivity on Tata Motor’s quarter 2 profits, which rose three-fold, the company’s highest in three years. The automakers’ profit stood at 2,483 crores, against the Bloomberg estimates of 1,850 crores.
________________________
Indian benchmark indices closed on positive notes on Thursday as investors’ anticipated good news ahead of the results of the GST council meet. The Sensex, which had lost 512 points in the previous two sessions, gained 32 points to close at 33,250 after trading between 33,463 and 33,111. The Nifty ended flat, up 5 points at 10,308. Intra-day, it touched a high of 10,368 and a low of 10,266. The market also showed some positivity on Tata Motor’s quarter 2 profits, which rose three-fold, the company’s highest in three years. The automakers’ profit stood at 2,483 crores, against the Bloomberg estimates of 1,850 crores.
________________________
Insurance policies must be linked to Aadhaar
The Insurance regulatory and development authority (IRDA) on Wednseday evening made Aadhaar card mandatory for obtaining every insurance policy. Citing the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, IRDAI said the Centre had, on June 1, notified the same making Aaadhar and PAN/Form 60 mandatory for availing financial services, including insurance. There are 24 life insurance companies and 33 general insurers (including standalone health insurance firms) operating in the country. Life insurers are also banned from settling claims in cash. The amount would go to their bank accounts, which is now linked to Aadhaar as well.
_______________________________________
BUZZ
The Insurance regulatory and development authority (IRDA) on Wednseday evening made Aadhaar card mandatory for obtaining every insurance policy. Citing the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, IRDAI said the Centre had, on June 1, notified the same making Aaadhar and PAN/Form 60 mandatory for availing financial services, including insurance. There are 24 life insurance companies and 33 general insurers (including standalone health insurance firms) operating in the country. Life insurers are also banned from settling claims in cash. The amount would go to their bank accounts, which is now linked to Aadhaar as well.
_______________________________________
Kohli earns Rs 3.2 crore for every Instagram post
Virat Kohli has once again showed how big a marketing giant he is after Forbes revealed that the Indian captain earns 3.2 crore per Instagram post. Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo earns the same figure as Kohli but the list is topped by comedian Kevin Hart who charges 6.4 crores per post. Kohli is one of the most followed athletes on social media with over 71 million followers on that of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Earlier, Kohli became the only cricketer to be featured in Forbes list of athletes with top brand value where he stood 7th.
_______________________________________
Legal notice against Nawazuddin Siddiqui by ex-girlfriend
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s ex-girlfriend Sunita Rajwar has sent a
legal notice of Rs 2 crore to him for tarnishing her image. Nawazuddin had
allegedly fudged details about his break up with Sunita in his memoir ‘An
Ordinary Life’. He had to apologise and even withdraw his book for the same.
However Sunita has demanded the amount as compensation for mental agony and
tarnishing her image. The seven-page legal notice notifies Nawazuddin, his
co-author Rituparna Chatterjee and publishers Sanjiv Gupta (Penguin Random
House India Pvt. Ltd.) and Aroon Purie (Thomson Press India Ltd.).
Varun Dhawan files police complaint against fan
‘Judwaa 2’ actor Varun Dhawan was recently stalked and
harassed by a female fan. He started receiving WhatsApp messages from a female
fan on his personal number which he initially ignored. However he blocked the
number when the messages became more frequent. The fan did not take it well and
started sending him messages from different numbers and an anonymous caller
even called Varun and threatened him that the girl will commit suicide if he
does not reply to her messages. Annoyed by her obsession he filed an FIR with
Santacruz police. The Santacruz police has filed a non-cognizable offence
complaint under IPC section 506, which is punishment for criminal intimidation.
_____________________
TECH
Virat Kohli has once again showed how big a marketing giant he is after Forbes revealed that the Indian captain earns 3.2 crore per Instagram post. Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo earns the same figure as Kohli but the list is topped by comedian Kevin Hart who charges 6.4 crores per post. Kohli is one of the most followed athletes on social media with over 71 million followers on that of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Earlier, Kohli became the only cricketer to be featured in Forbes list of athletes with top brand value where he stood 7th.
_______________________________________
Legal notice against Nawazuddin Siddiqui by ex-girlfriend
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s ex-girlfriend Sunita Rajwar has sent a
legal notice of Rs 2 crore to him for tarnishing her image. Nawazuddin had
allegedly fudged details about his break up with Sunita in his memoir ‘An
Ordinary Life’. He had to apologise and even withdraw his book for the same.
However Sunita has demanded the amount as compensation for mental agony and
tarnishing her image. The seven-page legal notice notifies Nawazuddin, his
co-author Rituparna Chatterjee and publishers Sanjiv Gupta (Penguin Random
House India Pvt. Ltd.) and Aroon Purie (Thomson Press India Ltd.).
_______________________________________
Varun Dhawan files police complaint against fan
‘Judwaa 2’ actor Varun Dhawan was recently stalked and
harassed by a female fan. He started receiving WhatsApp messages from a female
fan on his personal number which he initially ignored. However he blocked the
number when the messages became more frequent. The fan did not take it well and
started sending him messages from different numbers and an anonymous caller
even called Varun and threatened him that the girl will commit suicide if he
does not reply to her messages. Annoyed by her obsession he filed an FIR with
Santacruz police. The Santacruz police has filed a non-cognizable offence
complaint under IPC section 506, which is punishment for criminal intimidation.
_____________________
TECH
Pokemon Go developer to launch Harry Potter AR game
Gaming firm Niantic saw a fortune of success with the launch of its AR game Pokemon Go. The game had a tremendous fan following in India too. Now Niantic are taking it one step ahead and have partnered with Warner Bros to launch Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The new AR game is scheduled to release in 2018 and is certainly going to go down well with the millions of Potterheads across the world.
_______________________________________
Gaming firm Niantic saw a fortune of success with the launch of its AR game Pokemon Go. The game had a tremendous fan following in India too. Now Niantic are taking it one step ahead and have partnered with Warner Bros to launch Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The new AR game is scheduled to release in 2018 and is certainly going to go down well with the millions of Potterheads across the world.
_______________________________________
Send nude pics to combat revenge porn: Facebook
Facebook has started an experimental setup in Sydney to combat revenge porn. Revenge porn can be defined as an intimate image or video being shared without his/her partner’s consent. Adults who have shared any explicit content online can report to the Australian government’s eSafety Commission by submitting the shared content. The explicit shared content will be sent via a safe messenger to Facebook. Facebook will then create a unique digital fingerprint that will block any further distribution on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
Facebook has started an experimental setup in Sydney to combat revenge porn. Revenge porn can be defined as an intimate image or video being shared without his/her partner’s consent. Adults who have shared any explicit content online can report to the Australian government’s eSafety Commission by submitting the shared content. The explicit shared content will be sent via a safe messenger to Facebook. Facebook will then create a unique digital fingerprint that will block any further distribution on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
