NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The civil services examination will be held as per schedule on August 24, the government declared today in Parliament, while saying that consultations will be held with various parties and stakeholders on the matter after the current session.

“As for this year, there is no scope for postponement of (UPSC preliminary) examination,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said as opposition created uproar in Rajya Sabha demanding an all-party meeting immediately.

Civil services aspirants are agitating against more weightage given to English in the exam.

Naidu said the UPSC issue requires “deep” study and discussion with political parties and other stakeholders as there are both sides of the argument about the CSAT in UPSC.

“…After the session, government is ready to discuss it with all” to reach a consensus, he said, adding the government has taken a correct decision in this regard and minds of students should not be disturbed.

As members insisted for all-party meeting before August 24, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar said there is already a view among many members that it will not be possible to find a solution to the issue immediately.

“An all-party meeting has to take place to discuss wider reforms. We will inform about the date later on,” he said.

Earlier, government had announced marks of English will not be included for gradation or merit in UPSC exam.

As soon as the House met for the day, opposition parties including SP and BSP raised the issue and demanded that government should immediately call an all-party meeting to resolve the matter as it affects lakhs of students.

In the Lok Sabha, AIADMK leader M Thambidurai made a strong plea that the UPSC exam should be conducted in all regional languages to provide level-playing field to students from all over the country. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The government today introduced the Factories (Amendment) Bill amidst strong opposition by the Congress and other parties, saying it was being introduced without being circulated two

days in advance.

The Act originally enacted in 1948, aims at ensuring adequate safety measures and promoting health and welfare of workers. Changes

in the Law, which has been amended several times in the past too, have been needed in view of several developments over the past 20 years like changes in manufacturing practices, emergence of new technologies, ratification of ILO conventions and judicial decisions.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the Bill, which dealt with such an important subject, was being introduced suddenly because of which they had no time to read its provisions.   Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she had the power under Rule 19B to allow a Minister to introduce the Bill without its circulation two days in advance, and she used the power as the Minister had urged her to relax the norm in this case.

Mr Kharge said he did not challenge her ruling, but his objection was that the amendment in the Factories Act was a very important issue affecting lakhs of workers in the country so the members should be given enough time to study it without which they would not be able to discuss it.

All the Congress members and those of the ally parties rose up in their seats protesting against the introduction. However, Ms Mahajan sought to assure them that the Bill was only being introduced and discussion on it would take place later.   While the protests continued, she asked Minister of State for Labour Vishnu Deo Sai to introduce the Bill. (UNI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Security of Parliament, which was targeted by terrorists 13 years back, is set to be strengthened further with a special committee being set up today to suggest measures for it within a month.

The committee, formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, will be headed by former Union Home Secretary R K Singh and will include former Rajasthan DGP Harish Chandra Meena and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, who are also BJP members in Lok Sabha.

Sources said Joint Secretary (Security) of Lok Sabha Secretariat will be the member secretary of the panel, which has been described as ‘ad hoc’.

The committee has been asked to give its report within one month after making a comprehensive review of the existing security set-up and suggest measures to further strengthen it.

The sources said the committee would give suggestions on training, adequacy of manpower and other relevant issues. It would also review all security equipments installed and future projections for further strengthening security.

It would also suggest measures to improve coordination among relevant agencies.

The committee has also been tasked to recommend measures for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Watch and Ward, central reserve forces and Delhi Police deployed in the Parliament House precincts.

While R K Singh retired as Home Secretary last year, Satya Pal Singh superannuated as Police Commissioner of Mumbai a few months before the elections. Meena took premature retirement this year to fight the polls.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has given his no objection to the committee which comprises only Lok Sabha members.

On December 13, 2001, five terrorists in a white Ambassador car with a red beacon had stormed the Parliament complex. All the terrorists were killed in a gunfight with security forces.

After that, security of the complex was overhauled at an estimated Rs 100 crore with hi-tech gadgets like boom barriers and tyre busters being installed.

In the previous Lok Sabha, a committee on security in Parliament complex, headed by then Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, was set up in the aftermath of the pepper spray attack inside Lok Sabha by a Congress MP that sparked massive outrage.

This committee had examined security-related matters, which also included ways to prevent bringing of dangerous and life-threatening material into the chamber of the House by the Members of Parliament themselves. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The arrest of a Kerala youth for posting on social media comments critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had its echo in the Rajya Sabha today with a CPI-M member asking the government not to use the “draconian” section 66A of the IT Act as a weapon.

Under section 66A of the IT Act, sending offensive or menacing messages through electronic communication service and sending false messages to cheat, mislead or deceive people or to cause annoyance to them is punishable. The maximum punishment is three years of imprisonment with a fine.

A youth Rajeesh from Allanchery, stated to be member of CPI(M) youth wing DYFI, was arrested on Tuesday in Kerala for posting “derogatory” remarks against Modi on Facebook.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, P Rajeeve (CPI-M) said action was taken against the youth under section 66A of the IT Act.

He said earlier too the House has debated this section and then Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley had supported him on the issue and the UPA government had then promised to reconsider it but “this government is following the same path”.

“Reconsider 66A, which is a draconian rule, which is ultra vires to the Constitution and against Freedom of Speech and Expression…Do not use this as a weapon against innocent youths” who express their views openly, he said.

Rajeeve also pointed out that earlier also an engineering student was arrested for criticising the Prime Minister on Facebook.

Noting that while every newspaper and television channel has the right to criticise the Prime Minister and the government, this draconian IT rule goes beyond Constitutional provisions and makes even a critical post a crime.

A number of Opposition members associated themselves with Rajeeve.

Renuka Chowdhary (Cong) said two television channels in Telangana have been “arbitrarily shut down for last six weeks” as they were critical of the state government.

TRS member K Keshav Rao strongly objected to Chowdhary’s remarks leading to a war of words between the two for quite sometime. TRS has a government in Telangana. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 8: Baking a cake in a coffee mug within a few minutes is not something everybody is familiar with, but a quick online search throws up plenty of such recipes, which delight cooking amateurs and seasoned chefs alike.

More Indians search for “How-to” recipes online and the country is pegged number one among those viewing cooking videos according to video sharing site YouTube, which lists food among its top five popular categories.

Homemakers, amateur cooks and professional chefs have also blazed ahead as some of the top global contributors of cooking content, says the site, which hosted some popular and creative cooking talent here recently.

Nisha Madhulika, 54, from Noida and Gayatri Sharma, 40, from Mumbai, both homemakers gained recognition for their cooking blogs and videos that have attracted wide viewers. They are among those listed by YouTube as ‘Top Chefs’.

Madhulika speaks in Hindi to showcases delicious vegetarian recipes in her video tutorials, which have over four crore views.

“My passion for cooking led to start my food and cooking website in 2007, and with help of my son and husband I started my YouTube channel in 2011. By doing what I love I have now created an identity for myself and my viewers tell me that am an inspiration for many homemakers in India,” says Madhulika.

The homemaker cites Gujarati dish Undhiyu as a personal favourite and her most searched recipes include “cooker mein cake”, “tawa pe pizza” and rasagullas.

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, one of the better known names in the domestic food industry, Sanjay Thumma, best known as “VahChef” for his YouTube recipes channel with over 185 million views, as well as Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, a professional chef with over 25 years of experience are among the popular celebrity chefs.

Based on watchtime, two of the global top ten YouTube food channels come from India. Similarly, four of the top ten most watched YouTube food channels in Asia are also from India, making domestic creators some of the top cooking content contributors on the site in Asia and around the world.

“Food and cooking videos are thriving on YouTube, with cooking content being amongst the top ten most watched categories globally. In India, it’s amongst the top five most watched categories,” says Gautam Anand, Director, Content and Operations, YouTube Asia-Pacific.

Anand says a 40 per cent year-over-year growth in viewership for food and cooking videos has been observed on the video sharing website.

Sanjay Thumma says he launched in 2007 a recipe channel, which demonstrates mainly Indian and some international food styles of cooking.

“I was in US, running four restaurants, but I wanted to do something that would inspire people to enjoy fresh home-cooked food. YouTube helped me to live the dream of inspiring people all over the world to enjoy homemade food” says Thumma.

While content in Hindi and English are popular, vernacular languages have also seen growth. Chef Gayatri Sharma for instance creates her content in Telugu.

Gayatri says she created her YouTube channel in 2008 to encourage people to make homemade food. She concentrated on tutorial videos intended mainly for students living in hostels who didn’t know how to cook.

Personally her tomato chutney is a favourite, tutorials on bread pizza and rosagullas are a hit among youngsters and women respectively.

As a source of cooking information and entertainment in the last year alone, India topped the world where people searched for “Recipes” on YouTube, followed by UAE, Qatar, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, US and the UK.

North Indian dishes rank at the top searched recipes followed by South Indian dishes, Chinese and Italian according to data compiled by the videosharing site for the last six months this year.

Chicken curries have been found to be the most popular followed by biryani, paneer curries and recipes for cakes and pizzas. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: A Delhi court, which had issued summons against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others, today deferred till August 28 hearing in the case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the matter pertaining to acquisition of National Herald daily.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha postponed the matter after the counsel appearing for Sonia Gandhi and others informed the court that Delhi High Court had yesterday stayed the criminal proceedings pending before the trial court till August 13.

Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, who appeared for Sonia, Rahul and others, told the court that summons have not been served on accused Sam Pitroda as he stays in the USA now.

Swamy requested the court to hand over the summons issued against Pitroda to him so that he could serve it on him.

The court permitted Swamy’s contention and fixed the matter for hearing on August 28.

In a reprieve for Sonia, Rahul and others, the high court had yesterday stayed till August 13 the criminal proceedings before the trial court against them.

“Renotify the matters on August 13. Till that time, the impugned order dated June 26, 2014 of the trial court against the accused shall remain stayed,” Justice V P Vaish had said.

The stay had come as a relief to Sonia, Rahul and others including Congress treasurer Moti Lal Vora, General Secretary Oscar Fernandes, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey who were asked to appear before the trial court today.

The Congress leaders have challenged the lower court’s summoning orders against them on a complaint of Swamy alleging cheating and misappropriation of funds in the acquisition of the daily by Young Indian(YI).

Pitroda is the only accused who, so far, has not moved the high court as the summons has not been served on him.

The high court has now fixed the matter for further hearing on August 13 when the counsel for Suman Dubey and Swamy will argue their case.

While summoning the six as accused in the case, the trial court had held that Swamy has established a prima facie case of cheating, misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust against them.

Swamy had accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which YI obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which the Associated Journals Limited had owed to the Congress party.

The accused persons were summoned under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Highway projects under PPP mode are embroiled in tolling issues, lack of equity with developers and delays in land acquisition, the government said today.

“Identified bottlenecks in execution of projects faced by NHAI under PPP mode” include delays in land acquisition and green nods, lack of equity with developers and reduced traffic growth among others, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was executing 158 projects under public private partnership (PPP) mode at present which are under various stages of development.

He said NHAI has executed 84 projects under the mode but at present the PPP mode was not feasible due to general economic slowdown, lack of suitable empowerment to NHAI and grey areas in model concession agreement with developers.

Last month Gadkari had said that as many as 189 projects with a cost of Rs 1,80,000 crore were stuck due to problems in land acquisition, delays in forest and environment clearances, non-transfer of defence land and hurdles in rail overbridges and PPP model was not feasible due to a host of issues “created by the previous government.”

The government would roll on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) model for a few years.

Unlike PPP model where the private sector has to fund the road building, in the EPC model, the government funds a highway, with private firms designing and building the road.

He had also said that 11 projects under PPP by previous regime which are stuck for two years will be rolled under EPC. (PTI)

MUMBAI, Aug 7: Actor Irrfan Khan, who has made his presence felt in Hollywood with some big projects, feels the time has come when Indian films and filmmakers start inspiring the world with their talent and stories.

“We keep looking to Hollywood cinema for inspirations. But I feel, it is time that we start inspiring them as we have great stories and talented people here,” Irrfan told reporters here at the DVD launch of Ritesh Batra’s ‘The Lunchbox’, last evening.

The 47-year-old actor said he was happy for his ‘The Lunchbox’ co-star Nimrat Kaur, who will feature in American TV series ‘Homeland’.

“I have come to know that Nimrat is doing ‘Homeland’, it is a great achievement. When you go to other countries, the working atmosphere.. The set up is different from what we do here. It is altogether a different experience,” he said.

While the National Award-winning actor has carved a niche for himself in Hindi film industry, he managed to get noticed globally with his performances in films like ‘A Mighty Heart’, ‘The Namesake’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ and ‘Life of Pi’.

Irrfan’s next Hollywood venture is the fourth installment of the hit ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise, titled ‘Jurassic World’.

“I have just completed ‘Jurassic World’. Other actors (Indian) getting more opportunities there (Hollywood), it is a sign of growth for our industry,” he said.

He will be seen next with actress Kangana Ranaut in director Sai Kabir’s next ‘Divine Lovers’.

Meanwhile, when asked if an actor like him benefits by working with a superstar like Shah Rukh Khan (in 2009 film ‘Billu’), Irrfan said, “My experience working with him was good. He had clarity on how the film will be made and positioned. He treated that film as his own film even though he was not playing the lead role.”

On reports of ‘The Lunchbox’ doing equally good business overseas, just as a Shah Rukh Khan film, the ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ actor said films are not just about box office collection but engaging the audience.

He said ‘The Lunchbox’ engaged and entertained foreigners as an Indian film, which was great.

The entire team of ‘The Lunchbox’ including Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and director Ritesh Batra were also present at the event.

Meanwhile, Nawazzuddin Siddiqui, who essayed the villain’s role in Salman Khan starrer ‘Kick’ said he was elated with the movie doing Rs 200 crore business and hoped success of ‘Kick’ will benefit his other films. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Over 40 crore people living in eight crore households have not got electricity and the government is making all efforts to give them power connection as early as possible, Lok Sabha was told today.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal said during Question Hour that it was “very unfortunate” that eight crore households in the country do not have power connection and this means 40 crore population are still deprived off electricity.

“Even 65 years after Independence such a large number of population does not have electricity. We have to do a lot of work. We have to remove all anomalies and as soon as possible we have to provide electricity to every household,” he said.

Goyal said a substantive amount of funds have been given to all states under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) but implementation of the scheme in many states were not completed yet due to various reasons, including non- availability of land to set up sub-station.

“Centre’s role is very limited in implementation of RGGVY. We cannot micro-manage everything. It is the state government which has to implement the scheme,” he said.

The Minister said the total number of unelectrified villages in the country is 12,468 of which 6,882 villages are in Bihar, 3,144 villages in Odisha and 1,009 villages in Assam.

Goyal said in order to cover the villages, the RGGVY has been continued in the 12th five-year plan and 13th five-year plan covering all census villages and habitations with population of more than 100.

“As per the scheme guidelines, the stipulated period of completion of electrification work is 24 months from the date of award of contract by the respective implementing agencies,” he said. (PTI)