Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers denounced the statement of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh who alleged that the financial mess of the state was inherited loss from the previous BJP regime.In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Industries minister Bikram Singh and Forest minister Govind Singh Thakur said that the poor financial management, unplanned and wasteful expenditure by the previous Congress government have resulted in un-mindful borrowings.

They said that this has burdened the state with a loan of over Rs 46,500 crore and instead of accepting their mistakes, the Congress leader was playing the blame-game and blaming the previous BJP government for the financial mess of the state.

They said that it was the previous Congress government, which had pushed the state into the financial mess and that the Congress government during its tenure appointed over 45 people as Chairman and Vice-chairman of various Boards and Corporations.

Everyone close to the then CM was rewarded with plum posts of Chairman and Vice-chairman, which resulted into wasteful and unnecessary expenditure of crores of Rupees annually, they said.

“Not only this, the previous Congress government made various announcements at the fag-end of its tenure without any financial provisions,” they added.

They said that with an eye on the Assembly elections, the previous Congress government announced the unemployment allowance to the youths of the state.

“Out of lakhs of unemployed youth in the state, only a few thousands were provided this much hyped allowance.

The former CM created Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam just to adjust his son as its Chairman,” they charged, adding that the Rs 500 Crore Skill Development Allowance Scheme was not implemented effectively in the state, as only 1.5 lakh youth were trained during the last five years against the target of 5 lakh youths.

Days after the Fortis Hospital, Gurgaon, allegedly overcharged the family of a seven-year-old girl who died of dengue, Haryana government on Monday decided to promulgate the Ordinance for Adoption of Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 enacted by Central Government for registration and regulation of all clinical establishments.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister (CM), Manohar Lal Khattar.

The finance minister, Abhimanyu, said a decision to this effect was necessitated because at present, there is no legislation in the State to regulate and register the clinical establishments in order to ensure minimum standards of facilities and services for providing quality health care.

The Ordinance will cover the clinical establishments having more than 50 beds.

The effective implementation of the Act will ensure that clinical establishments in the State adopt ethical medical practises in treatment and patient care. Effective action can be taken against clinical establishments indulging in fraudulent or unethical practises under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010. The Act will also ensure quality care and treatment to the patients at fair and affordable price.

Various stakeholders including Indian Medical Association, Haryana had urged that small clinical establishments having upto 50 beds capacity be exempted initially from applicability of the Act as at present they lack the capacity and preparedness to comply with the provisions of the Act. Such establishments are usually managed by single doctor and it shall be difficult for them to fulfill the requirements of the Act.

Haryana government has decided to form a new Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) namely Haryana State Financial Services Limited to act as an in-house treasury manager for efficient management of surplus funds of state public enterprises and autonomous bodies of the state.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet which held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, on Tuesday.

The NBFC will provide better deposit rates on overnight funds of state government entities. Besides, it would provide better deposit rates throughout the year to state government entities. It would also provide much better lending rates to state government entities than banking industry.

The NBFC would enable quick and hassle free lending and create financial discipline among the state government entities. It would also result in centralized mechanism for prudent management of funds under the overall control and supervision of the General Administration Department.

The authorised capital of the company will be Rs 10 Crore and the paid up capital will be Rs Two Crore in the first instance.

The company will advance, deposit, lend money or provide financial assistance with or without security to the state government, a body corporate, government company, state or municipal body, local body, wholly owned or semi owned by the government. It will carry on the business of a finance company and provide short or long term loans to the state government entities.

Meanwhile, to check the increasing number of willful financial irregularities and frauds committed by the Chit Fund Companies and to protect the interests of small investors in Chits, the Haryana Government has decided to frame Haryana Chit Fund Rules, 2018 to provide a mechanism for effective implementation of the Chit Fund Act, 1982.

These rules would provide a mechanism to protect the hard earned money invested in such Chit Fund Companies by the investors.

The Punjab government reduced the stamp duty on urban property from nine per cent to six per cent on Tuesday.

A decision in this regard was taken under the provisions of newly introduced the Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2017. In a press statement, State Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR), Vinni Mahajan said after completing the necessary formalities to convert the ordinance into Act and the passing of bill by the Punjab Assembly, finally the Indian Stamp Act 1899 (for Punjab) has been amended and the Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2017 has been notified.

As a result, the reduction in stamp duty on urban property from nine per cent to six per cent has come into effect, she added.

The FCR informed that the Stamp Duty at the rate of five per cent and additional stamp duty at the rate one per cent is levied on the sale or transfer of immovable property, under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (for Punjab) and the annexed schedule thereto. However, for the urban areas, social security fund at the rate of three per cent is also charged. Hence the total stamp duty charges in urban areas are nine per cent whereas, in rural areas they are six per cent.

With the spurt in crime against women in Haryana, the Congress on Tuesday said the law and order situation in the state was “worrisome”.

Expressing concern over rape incidents being reported from different parts of the state over the past few days, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said four to five incidents of rape being reported within a span of just 48 hours is shocking.

He said the party legislators will meet on Wednesday to discuss the burning issue and “rising crime graph” of the state.

“The law and order situation in Haryana is worrisome. The crime graph has been going up during the past three years of Khattar government rule,” Hooda said.

He said a party delegation will be meeting the state governor tomorrow to apprise him about the present situation.

“We demand that this government should resign on moral grounds and if it fails to do so, the governor should dismiss it,” Hooda told reporters.

The CM, Manohar Lal Khattar, on Monday directed the police force to crack the whip to foil the designs of perpetrators of such heinous crimes.

In a statement, expressing his deep anguish and concern over the crime against women, Khattar ordered the police force, especially the officers, to set up a special team to arrest the criminals and ensure that they got strict punishment.

Taking a serious note of the crime against women reported, the CM directed all police officers to ensure that whenever any incident of crime against women is reported, case should be registered immediately and they must take swift action.

They have also been directed to step up vigilance and patrolling of the isolated and vulnerable areas.

He said the state government had also decided to centralize its Women Helpline number-1091 to provide 24-hour immediate response to any women in need across the state.

Facing allegations of corruption in sand mining auctions and money laundering, Punjab minister Rana Gurjit Singh has submitted his resignation to the state’s Congress government.

However, the resignation submitted on 4 January has not been accepted by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who made this disclosure while talking to media persons during an event on Tuesday. I have not accepted the resignation of Rana Gurjit. I have received the letter around 12 days ago. We will think over the matter before the final decision,” the CM said.

Punjab Congress sources said the CM is likely to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday to discuss the resignation and the expansion of his cabinet.

Rana Gurjit Singh, a cabinet minister who holds the charge of Irrigation and Power, had landed in a controversy in May 2017 after his Nepalese cook Amit Bahadur won a sand mine bid worth Rs 26.51 crore at Saidpur Khurd village in Nawanshahar.

Some mine contracts were also bagged by one of his close associates, JS Randhawa.

It was alleged that the two were just fronts for the minister and his companies, and the sand mining contracts were bagged through unfair means.

Political opponents like Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal were seeking his resignation following the serious allegations.

AAP leader and Punjab’s Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday said Rana’s resignation was long overdue.

The minister and his son were recently also issued summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following allegations of money laundering abroad.

Rana Gurjit Singh has confirmed that he had put forward his resignation and now it was the CM who had to decide on the next step.

The minister said he had resigned earlier also when his name was dragged into the sand mine auction controversy. Earlier, he had denied the charges, saying neither he nor his company Rana Sugars Limited has any direct or indirect stakes in the sand mining business.

Stressing that security agencies should adopt a more humane approach while dealing with situations in Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday batted strongly for “meaningfully engagement” of Kashmiri youth so that they are able to contribute to the society.

Chairing the Unified Headquarters meeting here, she advised the security agencies to exercise maximum restraint and strictly ensure safety and security of people and their properties.

The meeting took a review of the overall security scenario in the state including the situation in the areas along the borders.

Mehbooba stressed upon the need for the security agencies to adopt a more humane approach while dealing with situations in the state.

She said the need of the hour is to “engage meaningfully with the people, particularly youth, so that they are able to contribute to the society and its welfare”.

She stressed on increased community policing activities and enhanced outreach by the administration.

The Delhi University (DU) on Tuesday asked the Delhi government to “immediately” release funds for salaries of teachers of 12 colleges, which the government has not paid for the last two months on account of non-formation of governing bodies there.

The varsity has sent another list of 100 additional names to the government to choose from for the formation of governing bodies.

“Delhi University has sent additional names, around 100, to the Delhi government for the formation of governing bodies of colleges, which are partly or totally funded by the Delhi government. The list has been received. Also, the Delhi government has been requested to release the funds to these colleges immediately,” Dean of Colleges Devesh Sinha told IANS.

The Delhi government funds 28 colleges of DU in all. Apart from these 12 fully-funded institutions, it contributes five percent funds to the remaining colleges.

The teachers of these 12 colleges, including Maharaja Agrasen College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Bhagini Nivedita College and Shaheed Sukhdev College, have not received their salaries for the last two months.

The governing bodies have not been formed in these 28 colleges for almost one-and-half years due to a disagreement between the government and the varsity over the suggested members.

The university had earlier sent a list of 386 names out of which 140 were approved by the government and so conveyed to the varsity. However, citing some rules, the latter refused to go ahead with the list and sent it back to the government adding 17 more names.

According to an Academic Council member, the long-drawn tussle over names is not due to procedural shortcomings but is a matter of politics between the central government and the AAP government in Delhi.

“This is not a matter of rules and regulations but about who will control the university. This a totally a political issue… The issue would have been resolved long back if there was a strong Vice-Chancellor at the helm. But he wants to sail in two boats. He wants to disappoint neither the Aam Aadmi Party nor the BJP at the Centre,” the Academic Council member told IANS on condition of anonymity.

About 2,000 teachers are affected by the delay in payment of salaries, he said.

Each governing body is comprised of 10 members of the Delhi government and the university reserving the right to select five each.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s picture on a hoarding was found defaced on Tuesday inside the Jadavpur University campus where students are on a protest against a bill seeking to regulate the administration of state varsities and colleges.

The act of vandalism drew condemnation from University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das and state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee as well as the agitating students.

“We are condemning this act. This is against the spirit of democracy,” Das said, while the students also said this was against the spirit of their movement.

There were also scribbles in black ink mocking a message on the hoarding, put up by the ruling Trinamool Congress-affiliated teaching and non-teaching staff wing of the university thanking the Chief Minister for announcing Rs 100 crore grant for JU recently.

The students of the university have launched a sit-in since Monday night, protesting the provisions of the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Bill 2017 that allegedly seeks an apolitical students’ union but students allege is an attempt to dissolve students’ union.

The Vice-Chancellor was confined in the administrative building of the university along with other Executive Council members.

Protests and pitched battles between the police and workers of the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday marked the second day of Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to his parliamentary constituency Amethi.

While the Gandhi scion met party workers and locals at a “Janata Darbar” at the Munshiganj guest house, his outings elsewhere met with vocal resistance from locals and the BJP workers, who accused him of being the reason for the stagnation of Amethi.

There were protests at Musafirkhana after which police had to use force to chase away the mob.

The travel route of the cavalcade of the Congress President was also changed at the last minute and Gandhi undertook a march on foot till the Gauriganj square.

There was a skirmish between the BJP and Congress workers on the road between Amethi to Musafirkhana and the police resorted to mild cane charge to disperse the unruly crowd.

The first leg ties of the Spanish King’s Cup knockout football tournament will be played over the coming two days with some fascinating ties on offer. Perhaps the most interesting is the Barcelona derby between Espanyol and FC Barcelona on Wednesday night.

Thursday sees crisis-hit Real Madrid pursue their best chance of silverware this season as they make the short trip to Leganes. Last Saturday’s home defeat to Villarreal means Zidane could be perilously close to the sack and with rumours over Cristiano Ronaldo’s future also doing the rounds, Madrid needs a good win, reports Xinhua news agency.

They have a huge advantage, not only in terms of the budget over Leganes but also in freshness, because while Madrid played on Saturday afternoon, Leganes didn’t play their league game until Monday night and have very little time to recover ahead of one of the most important matches in their history.

Zidane has played fringe players in recent Cup ties, but with the league title out of sight, it remains to see if he will do the same on Thursday.

Reigning Cup holders, Barcelona are once again without forward Ousmane Dembele, who suffered a muscle injury on Sunday, while new signing Phillipe Coutinho is still recovering from a hamstring issue and fellow new recruit Yerry Mina is not considered ready for his first-team debut.

Barcelona travels across town with a nine-point lead at the top of the table, but Barcelona derbies are always tense affairs between two sides which have no love between them.

Wednesday also sees Atletico Madrid entertain Sevilla in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in a game which will certainly see Diego Costa leading the Atletico attack after his suspension in the league win in Eibar on Saturday.

Sevilla is in a crisis of form and results with four defeats in their last five league matches and the side have not improved since Vincenzo Montella replaced Eduardo Berizzo as first team coach.

Last season’s beaten finalists, Alaves have recovered drastically since Abelardo Fernandez took over as the first-team coach, but their recovery will be tested by a visit to Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium.

Alaves have won 6 out of 8 games since Abelardo took over, while Valencia remains third in the La Liga and have won their last three matches in all competitions.

The government today gave its nod for the procurement of assault rifles and carbines worth Rs 3,547 crore to meet the immediate requirement of troops deployed on the borders on a “fast track basis”, the defence ministry said.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, cleared the procurement of 72,000 assault rifles and 93,895 carbines.

The procurement is expected to address the shortage of small arms for the armed forces.

Sources said that tenders will soon be floated to set the ball rolling for the procurement process. The procurement could also be done at the government to government (G to G) level.

To encourage participation of private sector in defence design and production and to give a boost to ‘Make in India’ programme, the DAC introduced significant changes in the ‘Make II’ category of the Defence Procurement Procedure, a defence ministry statement said.

The DAC also simplified the procedure to make it industry friendly, with minimal government control.

The revised procedure will now allow the defence ministry to accept suo motu proposals from the industry and also allow start-ups to develop equipment for the Indian Armed Forces.

The minimum qualification criteria to participate in ‘Make II’ projects has also been relaxed by removing conditions related to credit rating and reducing financial net worth criteria.

According to the earlier ‘Make II’ procedure, only two vendors were shortlisted to develop prototype equipment.

“Now, all vendors meeting the relaxed eligibility criteria will be allowed to participate in the prototype development process. The vendor will not be required to submit Detailed Project Report,” the statement said.

After accord of approval of the ‘Make II’ project by the council, all clearances will be accorded at Service HQ (SHQ) level, it added.

Former world No.1 Novak Djokovic on Tuesday made a strong comeback to defeat Donald Young of the United States 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open tennis tournament.

After more than six months on the sidelines due to an elbow injury, the current World No.14 needed only one hour and 51 minutes to earn his third career win over Young in as many matches, reports Efe.

The easy win shows how Djokovic’s elbow injury, which forced him to end his 2017 season in July, seems to be a thing of the past.

In his bid for his seventh Australian Open title, Djokovic is scheduled to take on Gael Monfils of France in the second round.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, had to sweat a little more to earn a place in the second round.

The 20-year-old Zverev defeated Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 in two hours and 22 minutes.

Zverev, a two-time ATP Masters champion, is scheduled to play against Peter Gojowczyk of Germany, who defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in straight sets.

Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka had a victorious comeback after undergoing surgery last season.

The 2014 Australian Open champion defeated Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2).

Wawrinka is set to play the Tennys Sandgren of the US in the second round.

The Bihar government today informed the Patna High Court that participation of school children above class 5 in the proposed statewide human chain on January 21 will be voluntary and not compulsory.

Advocate General Lalit Kishore submitted before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay that the chief secretary has already issued a direction which says that children up to class 5 will not participate while it will be completely voluntary for children above class 5 to take part in the human chain.

The court was hearing a PIL filed against making presence of students above class 5 mandatory in the human chain against child marriage and dowry.

It is not at all compulsory for anyone and no coercive action will be taken for non participation, the AG submitted before the court.

He further said guardians will have options whether or not they want to send their wards to take part.

The PIL was filed by Shiv Prakash Rai, who sought direction to the government not to hold the human chain and involve school children and teachers in it.

The court posted the matter for next hearing after four weeks.

It may be noted that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Gandhi Jayanti last year announced that a human chain would be formed on January 21 to create awareness on abolishing social evils of child marriage and dowry on the lines of prohibition.

The Bihar government had claimed that the state had formed the world’s largest human chain on January 21, 2017 in which over four crore people participated in support of the liquor ban with Kumar and leaders from various political parties and citizens holding each others’ hands at the Gandhi Maidan here.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted during the hearing that it was misuse of public money on human chain and children should not be involved in it at all as many kids were taken ill during last year’s campaign against liquor.

Besides, citing the apex court ruling, the petitioner contended that teachers should not be engaged in non academic activities except duties of national importance such as election duty etc.

On this, the court said that it was not disposing of the petition and listed the matter for hearing after four weeks.

South Africa rode on steady batting by Faf du Plesis and Vernon Philander to post 230/7 in their second innings at tea on the fourth day of their second cricket Test against India at the SuperSport Park Stadium here on Tuesday.

The duo batted together for most of the post-lunch session and added 45 runs between them as the hosts increased their lead to 258 runs.

Du Plesis remained unbeaten on 37 runs at the break with Kagiso Rabada yet to open his account at the other end.

Philander scored a patient 26 off 85 balls with two hits to the fence before being caught by Murali Vijay at square leg after hitting out at a short pitched delivery from Ishant Sharma.

Mohammed Shami was the most successful among the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/38. Fellow fast bowlers Ishant and Jasprit Bumrah claimed a couple of wickets each.

Starting the post-lunch session at 173/5, the South African tailenders batted patiently to frustrate the Indian bowlers.

Ishant bowled with pace and aggression, putting the Proteas batsmen under pressure on several occasions and was rewarded with a couple of wickets after lunch.

Philander was the very picture of resolute defence during his innings. But he eventually lost his patience and lashed out at an Ishant delivery which cost him his wicket.

Keshav Maharaj did not last very long before falling to another excellent delivery from Ishant just before tea.

Earlier, Shami took three wickets to pull India back into contention as they reduced South Africa to 173/5 at lunch.

Shami removed AB de Villiers (80), Dean Elgar (61) and Quinton de Kock (12) in the first session as the hosts managed to add 83 runs to their overnight score of 90/2.

The overnight partnership of de Villiers and Elgar threatened to take the game away from India. They had joined hands with South Africa struggling at 3/2 and on Tuesday, they continued from where they left off.

Both of them looked bright and maintained a very healthy rate in the first hour of the day with boundaries coming their way easily at regular intervals.

De Villiers was in control against the Indian bowlers while Elgar, who completed his ninth Test half-century, was resolute.

Shami broke the stand at 141 runs when a rising delivery kissed de Villiers’ gloves for an easy catch to waiting wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel.

Soon, Elgar pulled one straight into the hands of Lokesh Rahul at deep square leg as the hosts lost their fourth wicket for 151 runs.

It could have been 151/5 had Rahul pulled off a half chance at short-leg off du Plessis, who was then on six. Du Plessis struggled against off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and managed to push it to the right of Rahul.

Shami continued his impressive spell as he got rid of de Kock, who edged an away-moving ball to Parthiv, leaving his side at 163/5.

Du Plessis and Philander then negated the Indian bowlers till the umpires called for lunch.

Brief scores: South Africa: 335 and 230/7 (AB de Villiers 80, Dean Elgar 61; Mohammed Shami 3/38, Ishant Sharma 2/40, Jasprit Bumrah 2/57) vs India: 307 in first innings at tea on Day 4.

Actor Ashmit Patel says the release date of his film Hamara Tiranga has been changed due to two big films releasing on January 25.

Hamara Tiranga’was scheduled to release on January 26 but two big releases are lined up (Pad Man and ‘Padmaavat‘ that), so we decided to release our film one week earlier,” Ashmit said here on Monday.

“So, fortunately or unfortunately, both my films (Hamara Tiranga and Nirdosh) are releasing on the same day. In my 15-year-career, this is happening for the first time but I think the audience can watch both my films,” added the actor, best known for his performance in the 2004 erotic thriller film Murder.

What made him work in Hamara Tiranga, a period film?

“I hadn’t done a period film earlier. Each actor tries to do something different with each film. I have worked in thrillers and a few rom-coms but I haven’t got the opportunity to do a period film where there is so much of action. This film’s script is really strong and my character is interesting as well,” he said.

“I was born and brought up in Mumbai so to play a villager set in 1940 was the biggest challenge for me,” he added.

Going by the posters, the look of the film is similar to Aamir Khan’s successful film Lagaan.

Asked him about the similarity, Ashmit said: “Definitely not. There are a few similarities as both are period films who rebel against Britishers and I am also playing a leader of a rebel group just like Aamir Khan did in Lagaan.”

“But the story of our film is totally different from ‘Lagaan’. If our film works like Lagaan at the box office then I will be very happy,” he added.

Hamara Tiranga is the story of an Indian village people’s war against the British Empire during the year 1942 and the ultimate victory of their freedom from British slavery.

Directed by Sanjeev Balath, the film is scheduled to release on Friday.