NEW DELHI, June 20: Sixteen Indians stranded in violence-affected areas of Iraq have been evacuated and one of the 40 kidnapped Indians has escaped from captivity in Mosul town even as Government said it was “knocking at all doors” to rescue its citizens.

As concerns mounted for the kidnapped Indians and 46 nurses trapped in Tikrit, Government said it was making all out efforts and was in touch with a number of countries in the region besides Iraqi authorities to resolve the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting which was attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and heads of intelligence and security agencies.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the meeting reviewed the “entire dimensions” of the situation taking into consideration all facts and information available to the Government.

“We are knocking at all types of doors, front, back, trapped,” the MEA spokesperson said when asked whether negotiations had been initiated with the militants who kidnapped the Indians.

Asked whether Government was considering flying them as well as those stranded in conflict zone, he said, “when lives of our nationals are involved no option is off the table”.

He said one of the kidnapped Indians has fled from the captors and is in touch the embassy in Baghdad while all those in captivity were “safe”.

The 40 Indian construction workers were kidnapped in from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city which was seized by Sunni militants.

Eight Indians have been moved out of trouble-torn Baiji while eight others, who were working with Lanco at its project in Anbar were also evacuated. All them were first brought to Baghdad and then travelled out of the country, said the spokesperson.

The Government is in constant touch with the 46 nurses stranded in Tikrit town, which was also taken over by Sunni militants.

Akbaruddin said Indian officials were in regular touch with the nurses trapped in a hospital.

There is electricity in the hospital and arrangements for food have been made. Nobody intruded the hospital and they felt that the situation there was “quiet” as there was no gunfire, he said.

“We are making every efforts so that it is resolved at the earliest,” he said refusing to share more details on an “extremely sensitive operation”.

He said at least 120 Indians were trapped in strife-torn areas which included 46 nurses in Tikrit and those kidnapped in Mosul. 16 have already been moved out of Anbar and Baiji.

The Indian mission in Baghdad was in touch with various other diplomatic misions there to coordinate efforts to rescue the Indians.

The Government has also decided to provide financial assistance through Indian Community Welfare Fund to those Indians who are indigent and want to return to India.

India has also requested Iraq to lift restriction on the visa norm that if a person comes to the country through a port of entry then he will have to go back though the same port of entry. He said India hoped that the matter will be sorted out in a day’s time.

“This has caused some concerns to those of our nationals who have come through certain ports of entry but would like to go through other ports of entry. We have taken this up with the Iraqi authorities who are amenable to our request,” Akbaruddin said.

The issue has been taken up with Iraqi authorities so that trapped Indians can cross Iraqi border to neighbouring countries through nearest land boundary.

Instructions have also been issued to Indian missions in countries around Iraq to take up the matter with their host Governments to facilitate movement by those who wish to cross the land boundary from nearest place of their stay.

“We have informed all our missions in the region to work on this matter with their respective Governments to ensure that in case people want to cross land boundary they should be assisted,” Akbaruddin said.

The Government has also stopped issuing immigration clearance for travel to Iraq for next one month.

Emigration clearance for certain categories of Indians is required in 17 countries of which 12 are in the Gulf region including Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

On safety of kidnapped Indians, the MEA spokesperson said information collected by the Government from multiple sources have indicated that all the kidnapped Indians are “safe”.

“This information is coming to us not from one source but from a multiplicity of sources. Based on that, I can indicate to you that the Indian nationals who have been abducted remain safe,” he said.

The External Affairs Minister held a meeting earlier in the day to review the situation.

On evacuation of remaining trapped Indians, the spokesperson said the land routes are extremely difficult to use to bring anybody from the conflict zone.

“That’s a major issue in terms of bringing out people from the conflict zone. There is no issue about logistics and willingness,” he said.

The Government was also in touch with various humanitarian agencies, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and Iraqi Government to gather more information about its citizens.

Iraq is witnessing serious strife with Sunni militants, backed by Al-Qaida, capturing two key cities and marching towards Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the fighting that broke out on June 10. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 20: After Samsung and Apple, Canadian handset maker BlackBerry has jumped on the upgrade bandwagon, offering consumers a discount of Rs 5,000 on its BB10-powered ‘Z30’ in exchange for their old smartphones.

Starting today, customers can now upgrade to Z30 for Rs 29,990 in exchange of an old working smartphone (a minimum cash back of Rs 5,000) under the upgrade offer valid for a limited period of 60 days, BlackBerry said.

Samsung and Apple already have similar offers on their flagship Galaxy and iPhone ranges.

Once a leader in the smartphone category, the Waterloo (Canada)-headquartered firm has witnessed a steady decline in market share, losing out to rivals Samsung, Apple and Nokia.

In the past, BlackBerry has offered price cuts on its various handsets and tablet (PlayBook) but this is the first time that it is offering an exchange offer in India.

Introduced in October 2013 at Rs 39,990, the Z30 features a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, 1.7 GHz processor with quad- core graphics, 2 GB RAM and internal memory of 16 GB (expandable up to to 64 GB). Based on its latest BB 10 operating system, the handset has an 8 MP rear camera, 2 MP front facing camera and 2,880 mAh battery.

BlackBerry, as a part of 10th anniversary celebrations in India in March, had announced a limited 60 days offer for Z30 to be available at Rs 34,990.

“We have seen a phenomenal response to our initial promotional offer on BlackBerry Z10 and are confident that we will see similar take off on the upgrade offer on Z30,” BlackBerry India Director (Distribution) Sameer Bhatia said.

Consumers are increasingly adopting smartphones with attractive price points, he added.

Z30 offers a combination of latest technology and style quotient in a single device at a compelling price point, Bhatia said, adding that the offer will run across all BlackBerry retail networks.

In March, BlackBerry had slashed the price of its Z10 handset by about 60 per cent to Rs 17,990 in two steps and received a great response.

India, the fastest growing smartphone market globally, is witnessing fierce competition with a slew of devices being launched at various price points to tap the multi-billion dollar opportunity here.

According to IDC, smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013, buoyed by affordable devices made by local firms like Micromax and Karbonn.

In Q1 2014, 17.59 million smartphones were shipped in India compared with 6.14 million in the same period of 2013.

Samsung maintained its leadership in the market with a 35 per cent market share in Q1, followed by Micromax (15 pc), Karbonn (10 pc), LAVA (6 pc) and Nokia (4 pc), according to IDC. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 20: BJP today rejected the charge that its Government was acting with vendetta in nudging the Governors appointed by previous UPA regime to step down.

“We are not working with vendetta against anyone. But those who have been political appointees, their appointees are no longer there in power. We cannot stop anyone from stepping down as per their own conscience,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.

Hussain said his party’s Government was not asking anyone to quit from their posts but reminded the political appointees that the Government at the Centre has now changed.

To a question on the Planning Commission, he said the Government is discussing the role of such institutions, which are meant for public good, but took a jibe at the panel which defined Rs 26 as the yardstick for assessing those who were considered above poverty line.

“There is a debate on the role of such organisations which were formed for the benefit of the country to do public good. The Government will address the issue,” he said.

The BJP leader also took a jibe at Congress saying its leaders have yet to realise that they are out of power now.

Attacking former Union Minister P Chidambaram for recalling the legacy “left behind” by the previous Congress Government, Hussain said the public has already “left Congress far behind” through their verdict.

“P Chidambaram is recalling the legacy and has used the word “left behind” many times in his press conference. He should understand that people of the country have left them far behind,” he said, adding “Congress cannot believe they are out of power.”

Hussain said the condition in which Congress left the country’s economy, the people are “angry” over it and have given them a lesson by throwing them out of power in which “the previous Finance Minister also had a big role to play because of the way the economy was badly handled”. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 20: In one of the biggest hikes, the cash-strapped railways today raised passenger fares by 14.2 per cent for all classes and increased freight rates by 6.5 per cent to garner Rs 8000 crore annually through the pre-budget decision.

The decision, which will come into effect from June 25 and apply on basic fare, comes nearly a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country should be ready for “tough decisions”.

Due to the hike, a passenger will now have to shell out Rs 4354 for a journey between Delhi and Kolkata by AC-I on Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani, instead of Rs 3813.

Travel by AC-II on the same train will cost Rs 2508 instead of Rs 2197 and by AC-I, it will cost Rs 1728 instead of Rs 1514.

Journey between Delhi and Mumbai by Rajdhani will cost Rs 4073 instead of Rs 3567 in AC-I, Rs 2357 instead of Rs 2064 in AC-II and Rs 1617 instead of Rs 1416 in AC-III.

Travel between Delhi and Chennai by Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani will now cost Rs 4673 instead of Rs 5430 in AC-I, Rs 3129 instead of Rs 2740 in AC-II and Rs 2119 instead of Rs 1856 in AC-III.

Today’s decision marks implementation of an announcement of May 16, the day Lok Labha election results came, when the hike was announced but put on hold immediately.

In a flip-flop, the Ministry first announced that today’s hike will be implemented with immediate effect but later changed it to June 25, saying the officials needed time to execute it.

Announcing the decision, less than a month after the NDA Government took over, Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda said, “I was forced to implement the order that was done by my predecessor. I am only withdrawing the withholding order.”

He said the interim budget presented by the previous Government had assumed certain revenues on the basis of the proposed hike that was announced on May 16.

“Meeting the annual expenditure would not be possible unless the revised rates as finalised by previous Government is implemented, hence order of withdrawing implementation of revised fare and freight has been withdrawn,” said the Railway Ministry, which is incurring a loss of about Rs 900 crore per month in passenger segment.

“Accordingly, the revised passenger fare and freight rates and freight structure rationalization will come into effect from June 25, 2014,” it said in a statement.

The Railway Budget will be presented in Parliament in the first week of next month.

While a flat 10 per cent has been announced in all classes, an additional 4.2 per cent increase under fuel adjustment component (FAC)-linked revision scheme will be effected on passenger fares, taking the upper revision of fares to 14.2 per cent, an official said.

The Railways had earlier issued a notification on May 16 effecting hike in passenger fare by 14.2 per cent across the board and freight charges by 6.5 per cent from May 20. This was followed up with an official press release.

The May 16 fare hike decision, which had raised eyebrows as it came in the midst of Lok Sabha election results, led to a scurry of activities in Rail Bhawan on that day and the Railway Board went into a huddle to discuss its fallout.

Soon after, the red-faced Railway Ministry had put the decision on hold, saying the matter related to the revision will be left to the next Government.

The then Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge came out with a statement directing the Board to leave the decision on the hike to the new Government.

“It is now informed that under the directions of the Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge, the decision on the proposed hike in the freight charges and passenger fares have been kept pended till further advice for placing this proposal before the new Government,” the statement said.

A fresh notification was issued later, stating that the “revision of fares with effect from May 20 should be pended till further advice.” (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 20: Five foreign satellites will be launched by India under commercial agreements on June 30, space agency ISRO said today.

The indigenous PSLV-C23 rocket will carry a 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite ‘SPOT-7’ as the main payload. It will also carry 14 kg AISAT of Germany, NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and two NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) satellites of Canada, each weighing 15 kgs, and the 7 kg VELOX-1 of Singapore, it said.

These five satellites will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota under commercial arrangements that ANTRIX, the marketing arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has entered into with the respective foreign agencies.

“All the five satellites have been integrated with PSLV-C23 and the final phase of checks is progressing. The Mission Readiness Review (MRR) Committee and the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) are meeting on June 27 to review the progress of pre-launch activities.

“After the clearance from LAB, the 49-hour countdown for the mission will commence at 08:49 AM on June 28,” ISRO spokesperson B R Guruprasad said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 20: In an unpopular decision, railway passenger fare was today increased by 14.2 per cent in all classes while freight charge was hiked by 6.5 per cent with effect from today.

The decision of the Railways today restores an announcement of May 16, the day Lok Sabha election results came, when the same hike was effected but immediately put on hold.

The Railways had then issued a notification effecting hike in passenger fare by 14.2 per cent across the board and freight charges by 6.5 per cent from May 20. This was followed up with an official press release.

The May 16 fare hike decision, which had raised eyebrows as it came in the midst of Lok Sabha election results, led to a scurry of activities in Rail Bhawan on that day and the Railway Board went into a huddle to discuss its fallout.

Soon after, the red-faced Railway Ministry had put the decision on hold, saying the matter related to the revision will be left to the next government.

The then Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge came out with a statement directing the Board to leave the decision on the hike to the new government.

“It is now informed that under the directions of the Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge, the decision on the proposed hike in the freight charges and passenger fares have been kept pended till further advice for placing this proposal before the new government,” the statement said.

A fresh notification was issued later, stating that the “revision of fares with effect from May 20 should be pended till further advice.” (PTI)