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  • Have You Heard Of A Single Accusation Of Corruption Against Us, Asks PM Modi

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asserted that a mood of hope pervaded the country replacing hopelessness that prevailed under the UPA rule as he pitched his government as one dedicated to the poor and farmers which prevented the "loot" of public money.

    Addressing the first of his four public rallies here in Uttar Pradesh, which will have assembly polls next year, to mark the second anniversary of his government, Modi reached out to the electorate, calling himself a "UP wala" who cared for the farmers.

    Asserting that India was growing at the fastest rate, Modi said only two years ago many thought the country had "sunk".

    "They would say India has sunk and things cannot change. There was a mood of hopelessness while there is hope and enthusiasm today. Earlier there was a mood of unease, now it is about moving forward," he said.

    He also attacked the previous Congress-led government over corruption, while flagging his government's "honest" credentials.
    "Look at the newspapers and TV channels two years ago. Corruption in high places was the norm. I am now in the government and I am shocked how past governments have looted the country.

    "Are governments installed to loot? I am here to end that culture. I want to ask you have you heard of any news about our government looting even a rupee? Have even our critics managed to accuse us of corruption? Two years ago no one had the courage to come to the people and ask them for an opinion, he said.

    The Prime Minister repeatedly spoke of his "pro-poor" and "pro-farmer" schemes throughout his half-an-hour speech and took swipes at the previous Congress-led government by raising the issue of corruption and speaking of BJP s taint free governance.

    He said his government had taken a series of measures to help clear the dues of sugarcane farmers, a politically important constituency in the region, while other governments were not concerned about them.

    Recalling that in his address after he was elected the leader of the BJP-led NDA following the Lok Sabha win he had promised his government would be dedicated to the poor, Modi said every decison he had taken ever since was in that direction.

    "If you look at my work of two years, you will see one decision after the other was taken to empower the poor to fight poverty, to strengthen the poor against poverty so that they could defeat it. No poor man wants to bequeath poverty to his children. I have always tried to work for the common man," he said.

    IPS Officer Merin Joseph Perfectly Explains What's Rotten With Articles Objectifying Women

    It's in common knowledge that internet thrives on objectification of women. From endless lists on 'wardrobe malfunctions' to obsession over female stars gaining or losing weight, objectifying women is a sure-fire traffic spinner for many sites. Magazines also routinely come out with annual lists of 'hottest', 'most beautiful' stars. While most women -- especially ones in showbiz -- have not been heard complaining against being featured in such lists, IPS officer Merin Joseph is not one of them.

    So when, a vernacular daily compiled a list of India's 'most beautiful' IPS and IFS officers, Joseph promptly decided to put them in their place.

    She pointed out that how, by handpicking a few officers as the 'most beautiful', the publication has trivialised the work they are doing. She also made it clear that they would rather be appreciated for their work, not their physical appearance.

    Referring to the article, she wrote in a Facebook post: "This perfectly sums up what is wrong with the press in India, especially the vernacular press. Shameless objectification of women and propagation of patriarchal structures, reducing a lady's worth to her face value. These are bold and brave officers working in the complex bureaucratic system in India, negotiating their way through the good , bad and ugly of our body politic- and here we have a list of officers whom people can ogle at. It's seriously disgusting, constricting and very very demeaning to our identities as smart, intelligent self made women. Have you ever wondered why we never see a list of the most handsome males in the IAS and IPS ??"

    Her post got over 2000 likes and more than 200 shares in a couple of days. It was heartening to see pretty much all the commenters agreeing with the objectification of women in the media.

    AIADMK Chief Jayalalithaa Nominates 4 Members For Rajya Sabha Elections

    Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa today nominated four party leaders, including a former minister, for the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections.

    Ms Jayalalithaa announced the candidature of R Vaithilingam, housing minister in the previous AIADMK Cabinet, former Rajya Sabha member A Navaneethakrishnan, advocate A Vijayakumar and SR Balasubramanian for the biennial elections.

    Mr Vaithilingam had lost the May 16 Assembly elections from Orathanadu while Mr Balasubramanian had joined the party recently after walking out of GK Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress protesting against its decision to align with the DMDK-PWF combine for the polls.
    The tenure of six Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu will end on June 29.

    AIADMK's Navaneethakrishnan, AW Rabi Bernard and PH Paul Manoj Pandian and DMK's KP Ramalingam and S Thangavelu and former Union minister and Congress leader Sudarsana Natchiappan are those who will be retiring next month.

    Out of the six members, Navaneethakrishnan was elected in 2014 and others in 2010. He filled the vacancy caused by the disqualification of DMK's TM Selvaganapathi.

    India to get its indigenously-built Supercomputer by 2017

    India will have its indigenously-built supercomputer next year in the month of August, as confirmed by the officials of Minister of Science and Technology. The building of supercomputer is a part of the government’s Rs. 4,500 crore programme, approved in March last year.

    The project is supervised by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing that built India’s first supercomputer ‘Param’. It is aimed at taking India to the elite league of nations who have made similar advancements in the field of technology.

    The supercomputing mission started by the Government of India is aimed at building 80 supercomputers in the next seven years. Some of the supercomputers will be imported, and the rest will be built indigenously.
    “The first supercomputer will come up by August 2017”, stated Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology. “We are working on how to control heat”, he added. The secretary also explained that the cost of power to run this supercomputer alone will be Rs. 1,000 crore and will be kept in different institutes across the country. These supercomputers offer various features like weather forecast, climate modelling, discoveries of drugs and many others, Ashutosh added.

    Currently, countries like US, China, Japan and the European Union hold a significant share of the top supercomputing machines in the world.

    With the indigenously-built supercomputer, Prime Minister’s vision of “Make in India” is taking shape as different sectors of science and technology are coming forward to contribute to this mission, and projecting India as their new incubation hub.

    The new Supercomputer is an endeavor by the Indian Government as a part of five years long project, aimed to proliferate the momentum of research and application.

    Maharashtra HSC results out today, SSC likely on May 31

    The wait for students, who appeared for the Maharashtra state education board examinations, has finally come to an end. Results of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams will be declared online on Wednesday, while that of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) is likely to be declared on May 31.

    The HSC exam results will be announced online at 1pm and mark sheets will be distributed in junior colleges on June 3.

    “We are announcing the results earlier than usual so that students failing in exams can apply for the supplementary exams in July,” said Gangadhar Mhamane, chairperson, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).

    More than 13 lakh students from across the state, including 3.2 lakh from Mumbai division, took the HSC exams, which were conducted between February and March this year. More than 17 lakh students had appeared for the SSC exams in the state and 3.7 lakh in the division.

    During the exam, question papers of the HSC book keeping and accountancy paper held on March 4, was leaked on social media, nearly 30 minutes before the paper was distributed to the examinees. But the board refused to conduct a re-exam claiming the paper did not reach a large number of students.

    Science students are anxious about their performance in physics as they found the paper tough to crack. Several students had rung up the board helpline after the paper, inquiring about the minimum marks required to clear it. The paper was based on the new syllabus introduced a couple of years ago. Students found the paper lengthy and difficult. Close to 85,546 students had appeared for the paper from the Mumbai division, which includes Thane, Raigad and Palghar.

    Special students were also given more concessions during the exams this year. For the first time this year, the board had allowed special students to avail of adult writers, if they were unable to find younger ones. This provision was introduced after autistic students’ kin moved the Bombay high court, as younger writers were unable to communicate with the students

    AB de Villiers epitomises Royal Challengers Bangalore’s never-say-die spirit of IPL 2016

    Dhawal Kulkarni’s sensational opening burst of fast bowling rocked Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to their very core but somebody had obviously forgotten to inform AB de Villiers that Gujarat Lions (GL) were in control of the game.

    RCB had lost five wickets in five overs (5.3 overs to be precise) and had literally gone belly-up, but the unflappable ABD soaked up the pressure, carved up the attack and turned the tables magnificently to power his team into the final of the IPL with a four-wicket win.

    Earlier, the light drizzle at the innings change-over had sent RCB into a tizzy as they chased of a modest target of 159. “The skipper Virat Kohli was a bundle of energy at the break telling us how to overcome that and plan the chase. I told him ‘look Virat, you’re the thinker. Me, I’d just play it as it comes,” revealed ABD at the media briefing after the match.

    And how marvellously it came to him on a night when RCB had been literally brought to their knees. The home team were reeling at 29 for 5 and later 68 for 6 but, as GL’s Dwayne Smith summed up after the match, the visitors being in control was an illusion and “not while De Villiers was still at the wicket.”

    In a team flush with match-winners, what made ABD special, particularly in a match like this, was the ability to suss the situation and, more importantly, to be able to play accordingly.
    “I felt when we were bowling that 160 would be a difficult score to chase on this pitch. It was a peculiar one with the ball not really coming on to the bat,” he said.

    One such delivery accounted for the wicket of RCB’s prolific run-machine Kohli. The batsman, conscious of impending rains which had already hit a few parts of the city and hence wary of the Duckworth- Lewis Rain rule which would kick in after the completion of five overs, did not attempt to play himself in as he customarily does. He went after a widish delivery but succeeded in only dragging the ball onto his stumps. GL were ecstatic with the dismissal while the capacity crowd was stunned into silence. RCB’s hero who had amassed a mind-boggling 913 runs this season had been dismissed for a second-ball duck. They simply could not comprehend that.

    In Kulkarni’s next over Gayle was similarly dismissed, this time while playing a wild heave off the front foot. The consistent KL Rahul was prised out first ball by a peach of a delivery and with Shane Watson (1) and Sachin Baby (0) too sent packing, the wheels had literally come off RCB’s run chase.

    Or so we thought. All the while, and even when Stuart Binny (21, 15b, 2x4, 1x6) took the lead in a crucial 39-run sixth wicket partnership, ABD was biding his time and sizing up the pitch and bowlers.

    “As soon as Iqbal Abdullah came into bat and played out an over I realised that he was up to the task. Sometimes you get that feeling. The way his eyes lit up and the manner in which he shaped up, I knew I did not have to tell him anything. In fact he was counselling me. It was obvious that he had been in such tough situations before,” said ABD singing praises of RCB’s unexpected man of the hour who had shared that match-winning unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 91 runs in 8.4 overs.

    The South African master batsmen had kept RCB in the fight with the odd boundary even as he ran his singles and twos with gusto. The tiny left-handed Abdullah too had wasted no time in squeezing the ball into the gaps and giving the strike back to ABD.

    At the end of the 14th over with RCB at 96 for six and requiring to score at 11 runs per over, ABD said Kohli had sent word not to leave it to the end and that he feared it could rain any moment. This was just the trigger for the master blaster. The crowd simply went berserk and the bowlers withered as he went hammer and tongs at the attack as only he can. Lofted drives, pull shots off the front and back foot, reverse sweeps -- this was vintage ABD stamping his authority on the opposition in no uncertain terms. Abdullah too chipped in with a flurry of boundaries as RCB raced home in style.

    Camel Bites Owner's Head Off After Being Made To Stand In Heat All Day In Rajasthan

    A camel, who was tied outside its owner's house in the heat all day, killed him when the man finally remembered to untie the animal. The incident was reported in Barmer in Rajasthan on Saturday. It reportedly took 25 villagers six hours to calm the animal down.
    Temperatures in Rajasthan broke past records last Friday. The highest temperature in Barmer on Saturday, when the camel remained outside in the heat with its legs tied, was about 43 degrees celsius.

    According to a report in The Times of India, the owner, Urjaram, had forgotten to untie his camel during the day, and suddenly remembered while he was entertaining guests at home. When he went out to untie the camel, it attacked him, picking him up by the neck and throwing him in the ground. A villager told TOI that the camel chewed the owner's body and severed his head in the process.

    Air Ambulance Crash Lands Near Najafgarh, 5 Injured

    An air ambulance carrying seven people on board crash-landed in a field in Kair village, Najafgarh near Delhi on Tuesday.

    According to reports, the Alchemist Airlines Air Ambulance had taken off from Patna and was on its to Delhi when it crashed at around 2:45 pm.
    News18 reported that the crash took place minutes before the plane would have landed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is situated six nautical miles from the crash site.

    Both the engines for the Alchemist Airways' C-90 Beechking aircraft failed one after the other, which forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in a field, reported NDTV.

    Among the seven people on board, five were reported to have been injured and were being rushed to the hospital.

    India's ruling BJP wins power in northeast, expands influence

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party declared victory on Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam, an election boost that will help his right-wing nationalist government rebuild some momentum after poll losses last year.

    Grabbing power in Assam, one of five states electing new assemblies, would be a first for the Bharatiya Janata Party in India's volatile northeast, a sign its political influence is expanding beyond its traditional northern and western belt.

    The BJP led in the races for 81 of the 126 seats in Assam where clear trends had been set, unofficial tallies compiled by television broadcasters showed.

    The opposition Congress Party, which has ruled the state assembly since 2001, trailed with 26 seats.

    Modi called the Assam victory an "exceptional win" on Twitter and congratulated his party leaders.

    Elsewhere, tallies by television channels showed popular regional parties heading for victory in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the BJP has a small presence and was not expected to win.

    Modi called the chief ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to congratulate them, he said on Twitter.

    "The BJP had nothing to lose in these elections, only something to gain," said Manoj Joshi, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation. "And they have gained. It shows the momentum is still with them."

    Counting of votes from the five states began at 0230 GMT and complete results are expected later on Thursday.

    POLARISING CAMPAIGN

    The BJP waged a polarising campaign in Assam, an underdeveloped state rife with ethnic and religious tension, and vowed to disenfranchise millions of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants, to curry favour among discontented Hindus.

    Modi took a less prominent role in elections this year after a bad loss in a November poll in the eastern state of Bihar that turned into a referendum on his personal leadership. His party also lost in the capital New Delhi early last year.

    "The people of Assam have accepted our winning combination. This is going to be a great victory," BJP chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal told Indian television, as supporters gathered in the state capital, Guwahati.

    Victory in Assam, while symbolic, will have little impact on Modi's ability to control the upper house of parliament, where his party lacks a majority and the opposition has stymied key economic reforms.

    But the prospect of Congress weakened further by the state vote will raise his party's hopes for its bitter foe to be less resistant to the legislation.

    Unofficial counts showed a Congress-led coalition was headed for defeat at the hands of leftist parties in Kerala.

    (Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in GUWAHATI and Sujoy Dhar in KOLKATA; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)

    Aizawl has highest incidence of cancer in men: Report

    The latest cancer data, released on Wednesday, shows that Aizawl in Mizoram has the highest incidence of cancer in men, while Papumpare in Arunachal Pradesh accounted for maximum cases in women. While north-eastern States have traditionally reported high incidence of cancer compared to the rest of the country, the latest data reveals that the cancer burden in the north-east is among the highest in the world.

    Tobacco problem

    “The enormity of the tobacco problem in the north-east is reflected in the cancer registry. North-eastern States now have among the highest cancer burned in the world. In the case of stomach cancer, Chennai had the highest incidence before we set up a registry in Aizawl. Now, we have data showing Aizawl to have 10 times the incidence of Chennai,” said Dr G.K. Rath, chief of the National Cancer Institute.

    In terms of sites, lung cancer is the leading cause among men while breast cancer is the leading cause among women. The total estimated burden of cancer for 2016 is 14.5 lakh new cases, going up to 17.3 lakh cases by 2020. The number of deaths due to cancer for 2016 is estimated to be around 7.36 lakh, going up to 8.8 lakh by 2020.

    The data was released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), collected by its Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) programme.

    “This data is important to help us plan and prioritise health care services for patients. The north-eastern States have a peculiar burden of cancer and we need to address it with a State-specific intervention,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General, ICMR.

    Among men, the top five sites of cancer were lung — which accounted for 10 per cent of the cases; stomach with 7.6 per cent cases; prostate with 7 per cent cases and oesophagus with 6 per cent cases and brain with 5 per cent cases. For women, breast had 27.5 per cent cases; cervix uteri with 12.3 per cent cases; ovary with 5.3 per cent cases; thyroid with 4 per cent cases and mouth with 3.9 per cent cases.

    Lung cancer in women

    The radical increase in colon cancer for men and cervix uteri for women was noticed. “There is no significant increase in breast and lung cancer but we see a sharp increase in lung cancer among women, clearly a result of more women taking up smoking,” added Dr. Rath.

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