JAMMU:
Senior Congress leader Karan Singh’s two sons are among the eight new members nominated today to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council.
Governor N N Vohra nominated the members to the Council, an official spokesman said.
With the nomination of the eight more members, the strengthen of the Legislative Council has gone up to to 34.
As per the notification issued by Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Governor, in exercise of the powers vested in him under Sub-section (6) of Section 50 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, has nominated Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Ashok Khajuria, Vikramditya Singh, Romesh Arora, Saifu-Din Bhat, Ajatshatru Singh, Mohammad Khurshid Alam and Surinder Mohan Ambardar as new members to the Upper House of Jammu and Kashmir’s bicameral legislature.
Members Ajatshatru Singh and Vikramadatya Singh, Singh’s sons, have joined ruling coalition partners, BJP and PDP in the State.
Ashok Khajuria, who has been a two-time MLA, did not contest election in 2014 Assembly polls and Arora, a senior BJP leader apart from Ambardar, is a staunch RSS activist and social worker.
The total strength of the Council in 36. However, two vacancies falling under the category of Urban Local bodies, election for which could not be held for last ten years.
In the 34-member house, 11 members belongs to PDP, 8 to BJP and NC each and 7 to the Congress. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI:
Mobile calls while in roaming will be cheaper by up to 23 per cent, while sending SMSes will cost up to 75 per cent less from May 1 as regulator TRAI has slashed ceiling tariffs.
However, following this TRAI order, subscribers will not be able to avail of schemes that allowed them to make calls and send SMSes while in roaming at home circle rates.
“TRAI has reduced ceiling tariffs for national roaming calls and SMS and has mandated telecom service providers to offer a special roaming tariff plan. These changes will come into effect from May 1, 2015,” TRAI said in a statement today.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has cut the maximum or ceiling rate that a telecom operator can charge for STD calls on roaming to Rs 1.15 per minute from Rs 1.5. Similarly, national SMS rate has been reduced to 38 paise from Rs 1.5 per SMS.
Also, an operator can charge a maximum 25 paise for each local SMS instead of the current Re 1 per SMS at present.
A telecom operator can charge a maximum 80 paise per minute for a local call instead of Re 1 permitted at present.
For incoming calls during roaming, a mobile customer will be required to pay a maximum of 45 paise only per minute instead of 75 paise now.
On the other hand, in a blow to consumers, the regulator has removed the roaming tariff plan, RTP and RTP-FR, under which the consumer paid the same charges as his home circle or service area while in roaming. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI :  With the Centre and PDP expressing different views over the resettlement of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, BJP today advocated “patience” in addressing the issue.
“Patience. Centre and J&K both propose townships for Pandits. Composite or exclusive is the issue. As per CMP the community should be consulted,” BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said.
Madhav said the common minimum programme (CMP) of the PDP-BJP alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir has stated that the process of resettlement of displaced Kashmiri Pandits would begin by “taking the community into confidence”
“Protecting and fostering ethnic and religious diversity by ensuring the return of Kashmiri Pandits with dignity based on their rights as state subjects and reintegrating as well as absorbing them in the Kashmiri milieu. Reintegration will be a process that will start within the state as well as the civil society, by taking the community into confidence,” according to the CMP.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh hinted that there was no going back on the plans for separate settlement for the displaced community in the Valley as different voices on the issue emerged within PDP-BJP alliance.
“I don’t want to go into details. Whatever decision was taken by the central government for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits…The decision remains the same. We had a good talk with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (on this issue),” Singh told reporters here hours after Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed asserted in the Assembly that there were no plan for a separate cluster for the Pandits.
Clarifying his government’s stand in the Assembly, Sayeed said, “I have told the Union Home Minister that they (KPs) cannot live separately (in Kashmir Valley) and they will have to live together… I want to assure the House that we will not make any separate clusters for Kashmiri Pandits.” (AGENCIES)

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court today dismissed the detention orders of LeT leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, and ordered his release. The court was hearing a petition of Lakhvi challenging his fourth one-month detention ordered by the Okara DCO on March 14.
The Punjab government had previously maintained the stance that the plotter of 26/11 attacks has been detained based on ‘sensitive information’ provided by intelligence agencies. Justice Anwarul Haq had directed the government’s counsel to submit records of the information to the court, which was also presented in the Islamabad High Court in the past based on which the IHC had ordered Lakhvi’s bail. The court upheld the stance that if this sensitive information was reliable, the IHC would not have accepted Lakhvi’s bail. Therefore, the LHC ordered Lakhvi’s release based on the lack of reliability of the sensitive information provided and directed the accused to play Rs20 lakhs in surety bonds to Adiala jail. Lakhvi is among the seven persons charged with planning and helping carry out the deadly Mumbai attacks. The six other men facing trial in Adiala Jail for their alleged involvement in Mumbai attacks are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid. At the time of the attacks, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-i-Taiba (LT) that has been accused by India of carrying out the attacks in the country’s financial capital. The 2008 Mumbai attack accused, along with Zarar Shah, was allegedly the key planner of the attack that killed 166 people. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army   successfully test fired the advanced version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from Car Nicobar Island today to operationalise another regiment of the weapon system.  The Block III variant of BrahMos with steep dive capability was launched by the Army unit from a Mobile Autonomous Launcher at about 1100 hours, an official statement issued by the Army said here. The missile followed a predetermined trajectory and successfully hit the designated target on Trak Island at an extended range. Developed by BrahMos Aerospace as a joint venture between DRDO and NPO Mashinostroeyenia of Russia, the 8.4 meter long missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound and is capable of carrying conventional warheads of upto 300 kgs for a range of 290 km. Featuring a very low radar signature, it can be launched from land, ship, submarines and air platforms. BrahMos Aerospace is currently working to develop the submarine launched, air launched and  hyper-sonic version of the missile. (agencies)

MUMBAI: Prosecution today sought conviction of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on the charge of culpable homicide in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which he has been accused of ramming his car into a shop killing one person and injuring four others who were sleeping outside.
Khan was under the influence of liquor and was driving without a licence….Therefore, he had knowledge and intention that his rash and negligent act might cause a serious mishap and result in death of people, Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat argued in the court of Sessions Judge D W Deshpande.
The charge of culpable homicide attracts punishment upto ten years. The actor had sufficient knowledge and intention that by driving under the influence of liquor and without a licence it would cause death of people, the prosecutor submitted while summing up final arguments.
Knowledge and intention are the essential ingredients of the charge of ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’, Gharat said and cited three judgements to argue that this charge was made out against the accused.
The verdicts cited by him to fix Salman Khan on this charge are Mumbai’s Alistair Pereira Judgement of 2006, Delhi’s Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case of 1999 and Naresh Singh versus State of Madhya Pradesh.
The prosecutor said all these cases have a glaring similarity with the Salman Khan hit-and-run case.
Dismissing Khan’s defence that a road near the mishap spot was being repaired at the relevant time and his car ran over stones which were lying there before hitting the shutter of a shop, the prosecutor said, “if that was the case he should have been more cautious and should have reduced the speed of the vehicle.”
“The prosecution said it had proved beyond reasonable doubt its case against the accused and he should be convicted under IPC section 304 part two (culpable homicide not amounting to murder),” said Gharat in his concluding arguments.
Gharat said Alistair Pereira case and Salman Khan case were very much similar. Just like Khan, Alistair was also staying in the same area (Bandra), he was also the under the influence of liquor and was driving without a licence. As Alistair was convicted under culpable homicide charge, Khan too should be similarly held guilty, the prosecutor argued.
The prosecutor quoted Supreme Court order in the case
of Alistair Pereira, who was awarded three-year jail term.
The apex court had observed, “It is high time that law makers revisit the sentencing policy reflected in Section 304 A IPC (death due to negligence). It is true that the appellant has paid compensation of Rs 8,50,000 but no amount of compensation could relieve the family of victims from the constant agony.”
Pereira, a Mumbai youth and son of a rich businessman, had run his car over people in 2006 under the influence of liquor resulting in the death of seven persons and injuries to another eight.
The sessions court awarded him only six months’ imprisonment. However, the Bombay High Court took suo moto cognisance and awarded him three years imprisonment and slapped a Rs five lakh fine on him. The Supreme Court concurred with High Court order.
As the prosecution concluded its arguments today, the court asked Khan’s lawyer Srikant Shivade to argue his case tomorrow.
The 49-year-old actor was not present in the court but his sister, Alvira, had come to watch the proceedings.
Besides the charge of culpable homicide (section 304 part two), the actor is facing charges of causing death of one person by negligent driving (sec 279), causing hurt to persons by act endangering personal safety (sec 337) and causing damage to property (sec 427) under Indian Penal Code.
He is also facing charges under Motor Vehicles Act (driving without licence) and Bombay Prohibition Act (driving after consuming liquor).
A fresh trial is being conducted after the earlier magistrate’s court added the aggravated charge of culpable homicide. The earlier charge of rash and negligent driving provides for imprisonment upto only two years. (AGENCIES)

PUNE : Kings XI Punjab would look to adapt quickly to their new ‘home ground’ when they lock horns with former champions Rajasthan Royals in their campaign opener in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here tomorrow.
The Royals, who have three 2015 World Cup winners in Shane Watson, Steven Smith and Jame Faulkner, would look to Chris Morris, their costliest buy at Rs 1.4 crore, for a positive start. Morris was bought for his all-round skills and will be expected to partner Faulkner in that department.
With the ball, Morris produced a record performance for Lions in the Ram Slam T20 last year. But a big challenge for Royals would be adapting to a new home after their actual home ground of Jaipur was taken off the roster owing to the dispute in the Rajasthan Cricket Association.
With captain Watson and Stuart Binny playing all-round roles as well, chief coach Paddy Upton feels Morris’ inclusion gives Royals a lot of options.
They have also brought in two leg-spinners in Dinesh Salunkhe and Pardeep Sahu, and could play decisive roles for the team in this format.
Smith, meanwhile, comes in to the IPL on the back of an awe-inspiring performance in the year gone by. He has scored 2096 runs in 31 international matches across all formats at a brilliant average of 69.86, which includes eight hundreds.
During this period, he captained Australia’s Test side and was their leading run-scorer (402 at an average of 67, including an unbeaten fifty in the final) in a winning World Cup campaign.
Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey, who did not get to spend much time in the middle last season, aggregated 257 runs at a strike rate of 135.26.
But it was Glenn Maxwell – 552 runs at a strike rate of 187.75 – who was the team’s trump card in the previous IPL. In the company of South African dasher David Miller and the Indian trio of Virender Sehwag, Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha, Maxwell could well be the key to the team’s fortunes this season as well. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI : Here comes a good news for rail passengers with the Railways launching train wake-up alert call and train destination alarm call as a pilot initiative. The service will be promoted as a joint initiative by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of Railways and Bharat BPO, a railway official said. The wake-up alarm call facility will be available on voice call 139 (IVR) and through customer service agent while train destination alert call is available on voice call 139 (IVR) and through agent assistance and on SMS 139.
On voice call-139, option 7 leads to a sequence of steps wherein the user enters required data such as PNR number, STD code of station and station name to set the wake-up alarm. When the call is transferred to that agent, the agent sets the alarm on the system with the necessary user inputs. Wake-up alarm call will be played through an outbound call 30 minutes before the train reaching destination station. The system will check current position of train before sending wake-up alarm call, the official said. In case, the train is late by more than 30 minutes, wake-up alarm call will also be delayed by 30 minutes and the same will be followed every time.
Similarly, the train destination alert call provides an option to rail passenger to set an alert or pre-information call about the reaching his destination. For this, people have to follow the same procedure. Besides the voice call, the passenger can also choose for the destination alert on SMS mode with required inputs like PNR, train number, train destination name and others. (AGENCIES)

BERLIN : Passive smoking is not only harmful to humans, it also affects plants which can take up nicotine from cigarette smoke and contaminated soil, according to a new study.
The findings may explain why high concentrations of nicotine are often found in spices, herbal teas and medicinal plants, despite the fact that this alkaloid is no longer permitted in insecticides, researchers said.
Previously, nicotine was frequently used as an insecticide until it was banned by the European Union in 2009 because of its toxicity, researchers said.
However, a large number of food crops and plant-derived products still contain very high levels of nicotine.
Dirk Selmar and colleagues at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, wanted to find out whether there are other reasons at play than the possible illegal use of nicotine-containing insecticides.
They used peppermint plants (Mentha x piperita), which contain minimal traces of nicotine, in a series of mulching and fumigation experiments.
“Tremendously elevated nicotine levels were detected after fumigation with cigarette smoke,” said Selmar.
Selmar’s team is also the first to show that peppermint plants can actually take up high concentrations of nicotine from contaminated soils.
The team analysed plants in soil mulched with cigarette tobacco for more than nine days to find that the resulting nicotine concentrations in them were several times higher than the maximum residue level set by European authorities.
The researchers found a drastic decrease in nicotine concentration as time progressed. This is likely because the nicotine is taken up by the roots of the peppermint plants and processed in their leaves.
“Our results suggest that the widespread occurrence of nicotine in medicinal, spice and food plants may, at least in part, be due to other nicotine sources apart from the illegal use of insecticides,” said Selmar.
Researchers said the results have a tremendous relevance for basic science: they prove that substances, such as alkaloids, can be transferred from one plant, after its death, to another.
Such “horizontal transfer of natural products” sheds light on the hitherto unexplained success behind farming practices such as crop rotation and the co-cultivation of certain vegetables, researchers said. (AGENCIES)