Expressing solidarity with jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday that the “BJP did injustice” to him.

“The BJP did injustice to him,” he said when reporters asked him about Prasad’s sentence in the fodder scam.

SP national general-secretary Ramashankar Vidyarthi said in Ballia that Prasad was facing consequences for not joining the BJP bandwagon.

“He is being trapped in a conspiracy by the BJP. Had he joined the BJP, he would not have to suffer jail sentence,” he said, adding, “I am sure he will get justice from High Court”.

He said it was the need of the hour that all opposition parties unite to defeat the BJP.

Prasad was yesterday sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh by a special CBI court in Ranchi in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

The punishment was handed down to Prasad, 69, by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh through video conferencing, since the RJD leader was lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in the case on December 23, CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said.

Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu turned 38 today. The beautiful and bold film star made her debut in Ajnabee in a negative role beside Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, and Bobby Deol. She won the best female debut award for the same. She gained a lot of popularity after starring in the horror movie ‘Raaz.’ The actress has given us some very sizzling item songs too. Other than that, Bipasha’s alleged love affairs have always made headlines.

The news of her getting married to the television actor Karan Singh Grover, known for his work in Dil Mil Gayye, took the fans by storm. The wedding pictures made to every social media website and people fell in love with the photos and totally shipped the couple.

READ MORE: From ‘kissing’ Kareena to ‘Ronaldo scandal’: Here are Bipasha Basu’s 5 famous controversies

This took a different turn when the couple featured in a condom ad of Playguard. The audience did not appreciate the couple featuring in such a commercial. The twitter flooded with hate comments. However, she always had the support of her husband who stood by her side through all this.

On her birthday, Karan Singh Grover posted a lovely message and a video to wish his wife.

Wish you a very very very happy birthday my sweet precious princess! Today is the most joyous day for all of us! Wish you all the happiness, joy, success and love! Thank you for being born and filling my life and all the lives you touch with happiness and abundance! You’re truly the best kinda girl there is! #monkeyprincessbirthday #monkeylove

A post shared by karan singh grover (@iamksgofficial) on Jan 6, 2018 at 11:42am PST

The twitter has already been showering love on the birthday girl. Bips also received beautiful wishes from other celebrities from the industry.

A woman was killed and two others were critically injured when a car being driven by a youth under the influence of alcohol hit their scooty here on early Sunday, police said.

The accident occurred on Road Number 10 in the posh Banjara Hills area. The youth lost control of the speeding car which hit the scooty, police said.

A woman, identified as Mastani and who was riding the scooty, died on the spot. Two other women, Anusha and Priya, who were riding pillion, were critically injured. They were admitted to a hospital.

After hitting the two-wheeler, the car sped away. However, after covering some distance, the driver again lost control and hit the road divider.

Police arrested Vishnu Vardhan, who was driving the car in an inebriated condition.

This the latest in a series of accidents in the city involving drunk drivers. The accidents are being reported even as police continued its drive against drunken driving.

During the checks conducted at upmarket Jubilee Hills late Saturday night, police booked over a dozen people including four women.

Police had booked as many as 2,500 people for drunken driving during New Year celebrations in the city.

Last year, 7,500 people were sent to jail on charges of driving vehicles under influence of alcohol.

In 2016, a 10-year-old girl and two of her family members were killed when a car in which they were travelling was hit by another car being driven by a youth under the influence of alcohol.

The youth was accompanied by three of his college friends and they were all returning from a bar.

The recent Chinese intrusion into Arunachal Pradesh was an “inadvertent border crosswalk” by some labourers and did not involve Chinese troops, according to a report by the National Security Council, an apex body that advises the Prime Minister on security-related issues.

According to highly placed sources, the report said the group was tasked with construction work and was unaware they were on Indian territory before they were confronted by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). It added the group had no involvement with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

The area where the intrusion occurred is in Bishing of Upper Siang district, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the two countries do not have a agreed border in this area. Given the mountain terrain and winding topography, the road construction group entered the Indian side where they built a track more than 600 meters long.

The report that analysed the incident that took place around December 26 said the intrusion was not planned. When the road building party was confronted by the ITBP, they left the equipment and ran away.

China has approached the Indian side and requested that the equipment be returned, which includes a JCB and a water tanker.

Sources said the Indian side was likely to return the equipment whenever the next meeting at the border was held.

India and China share a 4,000-km boundary and except for a small portion of boundary in the middle, the borders have not been settled.

In the east, China claims India’s Arunachal Pradesh as its own while New Delhi lays claims to Aksai Chin in the west now with Beijing.

Both Defence and Home ministries have on several occasions called the lack of a fixed boundary the reason behind incidents of transgression by Chinese troops.

The incident had raised concerns similar to what happened along the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in Doklam where China tried to build a road in territory claimed by Bhutan, and was stopped by India, resulting in a 73-day stand-off.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi admitted the stand-off put a “severe” strain on bilateral ties.

In December, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Communist Party of China leader Yang Jiechi held the 20th Meeting of Special Representatives of India and China on border issues.

The two sides called the talks “positive and focused” and agreed to seek “mutually acceptable resolutions of their differences.

Irrfan Khan, who turned 51 on January 7, has time and again proved that he is one of the most talented actors in the industry. He has brought life to his characters with his performances. His method of acting is effortless, natural, real and smooth. Words fail to capture what the talented actor brings to the screen.

Not only in Bollywood, Irrfan has gained respect and fame in Hollywood as well. The actor has left audiences spellbound with his amazing talent in the films like The Mighty Heart, Life of Pi, Jurassic World, The Amazing Spiderman and Slumdog Millionaire.

In Bollywood, he is much revered for his performance in the films like Maqbool, The Lunchbox, Hindi Medium, Haider, Life In A Metro and Piku, to name a few.

Meanwhile, Irrfan is trying his hands on web series and will be seen in Amazon India’s next original series titled The Ministry. The show will be conceptualised and produced by All India Bakchod (AIB). It will be a satire in which Irrfan will play a self-obsessed Bollywood actor who’s appointed as the cultural minister.

In his past projects with AIB, Irrfan Khan had first teamed up for the Every Bollywood Party Song video which went viral, hitting 10 million views on YouTube. In Dank, Irrfan was significantly less popular but still managed to get around two million views.

The Ministry will be released globally on Prime Video in 2018.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is visiting the assembly constituencies in phases in a bid to understand the issues faced by the people and resolve them, a BJP leader said on Sunday.

To start with, Parrikar visited Sankhalim in North Goa last month and would continue his scheduled tours of other assembly segments from January 13, he said.

The coastal state has 40 assembly constituencies.

“The aim is to provide on-the-spot solutions for the problems faced by the people in those constituencies. Parrikar would be accompanied by government officers and legislators from the respective constituencies,” Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar told PTI.

The chief minister would be meeting the public and the party cadres to understand their issues in their respective constituencies, he said.

“At least three to four constituencies would be covered every month,” said Tendulkar.

He said Parrikar would be covering at least 10 constituencies in the next two months, including those represented by legislators from the opposition parties.

In the 40-member Goa assembly, the BJP has 14 seats, and its allies the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Forward Party have three seats each.

The opposition Congress and the NCP have 16 seats and one seat, respectively, while there are three independents.

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale hit the Myanmar-India (Manipur) Border Region this afternoon.

According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), a unit of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the quake occured at 12:17 pm at a depth of 35 km.

It occured in the Myanmar-India (Manipur) Border Region at a latitude of 24.7 N and longitude of 94.7 E, it said.

The Indian batting line-up once again fell apart in an overseas Test match when they were bowled out for 209 in their first innings of the first Test match against South Africa in Newlands on Saturday.

Even though on first day, the visitors were able to stop the hosts at a score of 286 runs, had it not been for Hardik Pandya’s heroics with the bat, India might not have crossed the 200-run mark.

The Proteas pacer Kagiso Rabada, who rattled the Indian batting line-up, believes that South Africa are “slightly ahead” in the first Test against India at Newlands, Cape Town.

As per the reports in www.sport24.co.za, Rabada said, “I reckon we’re slightly ahead, but we’re not going to get given anything. We’re going to have to work hard.”

While talking about their lead, Rabada said, “Obviously we were hoping for a bigger lead, but that’s just Test cricket. India are not just going to roll over and we understand that.”

An Army soldier posted with the counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles on Sunday shot himself dead in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri border town.

Police said Subbha Roy posted in Baramulla district shot and killed himself with his service rifle. “A case has been registered,” a police officer said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wished Indian film actor Bipasha Basu on her 39th birthday on Sunday.

“Wishing Bipasha Basu a very happy birthday,” Banerjee tweeted to Bipasha.

Wishing @bipsluvurself Bipasha Basu a very happy birthday

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 7, 2018

Born to a Bengali family in 1979, Bipasha made her Bollywood acting debut with a negative role in the 2001 film “Ajnabee”.

She has featured in films like “Raaz”, “Jism”, “No Entry”, “Phir Hera Pheri”, “All the Best: Fun Begins”, “Dhoom 2”, “Race”, “Raaz 3D”, “Bachna Ae Haseeno”, “Aatma”, “Creature 3D” and “Alone”.

Also read: From ‘kissing’ Kareena to ‘Ronaldo scandal’: Here are Bipasha Basu’s 5 famous controversies

Bipasha was last seen on the big screen in the 2015 film “Alone”, in which she starred alongside actor Karan Singh Grover. The two tied the knot in 2016.

North and South Korea have agreed on the composition of the delegations which will participate in the first high-level meeting on Tuesday between the two countries after over two years, the Unification Ministry said here on Sunday.

Pyongyang informed Seoul of its five-member delegation earlier in the day, which will be led by Ri Son-gwon, head of his country’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), reports Efe news.

On Saturday, Seoul had proposed a delegation led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and four other members.

On January 5, Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s proposal of holding the meeting in Panmunjom on to discuss sending North Korean athletes to the Winter Olympics, to be held in the South Korea’s Pyeongchang county in February, as well as discussing a general improvement in relations.

The decision came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed a desire for rapprochement with the South and to send a delegation to participate in the Pyeongchang games, making Seoul and Washington postpone their annual joint military drill.

North Korea’s participation in Pyeongchang and a rapprochement between the two Koreas could contribute to easing regional tensions caused by Pyongyang’s consistent ballistic weapons tests and US President Donald Trump’s belligerent rhetoric throughout 2017.

Hundreds of farmers and AAP activists protested on Sunday at the grain market in Mansa town as the Punjab government began a farm debt waiver scheme for a section of marginal, debt-ridden farmers in the state.

The farmers, who held the protest under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), termed the scheme as a non-starter.

They said the Congress, which had promised complete debt waiver for farmers, had gone back on its promise to waive off the debt of cooperative and commercial banks, money-lenders and financial institutions.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh launched the scheme, claiming that it will benefit a total of 5.63 lakh farmers in the initial phase. Farmers were issued debt waiver certificates on the occasion.

Farmers in the agrarian state, which ushered in the ‘Green Revolution’ in 1960s to make the country self-sufficient in food grains, are believed to be under a debt of over Rs 90,000 crore.

“The loan waiver announced by the state government is all fake. It is peanuts compared the the mammoth debt of farmers. We will not accept this waiver,” BKU farmer Kirpal Singh said.

The Punjab Police and district authorities did not allow the protesting farmers to reach the venue of the loan waiver event.

Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Aam Aadmi Party co-president for Punjab Aman Arora started a sit-in protest in Mansa town, 185 km from here.

“This exercise of loan waiver is a complete sham. The farmers of Punjab have been cheated in the name of waiving off their debt. We have cheques of Rs 7, 10, 12 and a few hundred rupees being issued to farmers. Is this the loan waiver that the Congress promised?” Khaira asked.

The symbolic launch event at Mansa witnessed disbursement of debt relief certificates to the tune of Rs 167.39 crore to nearly 47,000 eligible marginal and small farmers, who had taken loans from 701 primary agriculture cooperative societies of Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar and Moga districts.

Additional Chief Secretary (cooperation) D.P. Reddy and Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Viswajeet Khanna said on Sunday that the Punjab government had identified 5.63 lakh farmers, who had taken loan of nearly Rs 2,700 crore from cooperative institutions, as beneficiaries for disbursement of the debt waiver certificates in the first of the four planned phases for completion of the entire process.

“Of these, the process of verification had been completed for 3.20 lakh farmers. Over 1 lakh cases with loans to worth Rs 748 crore had been approved pan Punjab,” Khanna said, adding that loans of farmers taken from commercial and private banks would be settled later under the Debt Relief Scheme-2017.

Under the scheme notified, marginal farmers having land holdings of less than 2.5 acres and small farmers having land less than 5 acres, who have taken loan up to Rs 2 lakh, would be provided debt relief by the financially starved Punjab government.

Baroda defeated arch-rivals Mumbai by 13 runs in the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 League opener at the SCA Stadium here on Sunday.

Baroda, who had got the better of Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy group league earlier in the season, once again proved they were the better of the two sides in the shortened version of the game.

Baroda rattled up an imposing score of 210 for 3, powered by half centuries by wicket-keeper and opener Urvil Patel (50 in 29 balls) and captain Deepak Hooda (66 in 39 balls), who struck eight fours and one six, besides a breezy knock of 44 not out in 26 balls, studded with three sixes and a four, by Krunal Pandya.

Barring Dhawal Kulkarni, who returned figures of 1 for 29, the other Mumbai bowlers were expensive by 20-over standards with medium pacer Shardul Thakur leaking 47 runs in his four overs without a wicket against his name.

In reply, Mumbai were stopped at 197 for 8 with Siddesh Lad’s 82 off 51 balls with four sixes and six fours being its cornerstone.

Atit Sheth and Lukman Meriwala, who had troubled the Mumbai batsmen in the Ranji game, were once again among the pick of the Baroda bowlers with excellent returns of 3 for 31, including the scalp of Lad, and 3 for 29 respectively.

Baroda also secured four points from the victory.

Scores: Baroda 210 for 3 (Kedar Devdar 38, Urvil Patel 50, Deepak Hooda 66, Krunal Pandya 44 not out) beat Mumbai 197 for 8 (Jay Bista 36, Siddhesh Lad 82, Shivam Dube 33; Atit Sheth 3 for 31, Lukman Meriwala 3 for 29).

All railway stations — nearly 8,500 across the country, including those in rural and remote areas — will be equipped with Wi-Fi facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore ($110 million).

As part of the government’s ambitious Digital India initiative, the national transporter has currently commissioned Wi-Fi services at 216 major stations enabling about seven million rail passengers to log on to the free Internet facility.

“Internet access has now become an important requirement in day-to-day working and we shall be providing this facility at all railway stations in the country,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.

As per the plan finalised at a recent meeting, while 1,200 stations have been identified for this facility to primarily cater to rail passengers, about 7,300 stations have been earmarked to not only serve passengers but also local people in rural and remote areas.

The Wi-FI facility at these stations in rural and remote areas will be offered to the local population as part of the digital makeover of rural India to promote e-governance.

Railway stations in rural areas will have kiosks with Wi-FI that will become digital hot spots offering services like digital banking, Aadhaar generation, issuing government certificates, including birth and death certificates, and filing taxes and paying bills, among others.

The kiosks will also enable the local populace to order and receive goods from e-commerce portals.

“These kiosks will be operated at stations with private participation for the local population,” said the official, adding, “The modalities of setting up such digital hot spots are being worked out with the Telecom Ministry.”

As per the timeline, while 600 stations are targeted to be provided with the Wi-FI facility by March 2018, the Railways aim to cover all 8,500 stations by March 2019.

Our aim is to ensure that more and more people get connected to the rail Wi-FI system as the Wi-Fi broadband access to these rail users will aid in implementing the government’s Digital India initiative, he said.

In the opening Test match of three-match series against South Africa at Newlands Cape Town, Indian batters failed to take the charge of the match after Protes were bowl put at 286 runs. Following the target of 286 runs, visitors lost their top order, including Indian skipper Virat Kohli (5) just for 28 runs

Last year, Virat Kohli shattered many records which had led to high expectations from the captain after Indian opener failed to make an impression on South African pacers. But Virat was not able to take charge of the match as he gifted his wicket to Morne Morkel on the first day. And it gave the trollers another opportunity to involve actress Anushka Sharma in the matter.

The newlywed couple had been making headlines even before their wedding. The after marriage and honeymoon photos have been going viral. Both of them are already been linked to each other for their every action. It has not been long that the Indian captain slammed the fans on social media for blaming Anushka for his performance. In 2016, Virat Kohli posted messages on various social media platforms to address the issue.

Shame on those people who have been having a go at anushka for the longest time and connecting every negative thing to her. Shame on those people calling themselves educated. Shame on blaming and making fun of her when she has no control over what i do with my sport. If anything she has only motivated and given me more positivity. This was long time coming. Shame on these people that hide and take a dig. And i dont need any respect for this post. Have some compassion and respect her. Think of how your sister or girlfriend or wife would feel if someone trolled them and very conveniently rubbished them in public. #nocompassion#nocommonsense

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Mar 28, 2016 at 1:44am PDT

Shame on people for trolling @AnushkaSharma non-stop. Have some compassion. She has always only given me positivity pic.x.com/OBIMA2EZKu

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 28, 2016

However, that does not seem to have made much of a difference as the fans behavior remains the same. Twitter users have again begun to troll the Bollywood actress. And it has nothing to do with anything that she has done. Check out the trail of tweets.

Sach toh yeh hai ki puri series mein #ViratKohli kam run banyega…
Aur puri series mein gaaliyan #AnushkaSharma khaayegi.

Maano yaa naa maano India in Overseas is flop.🙏#SAvIND

— Khooni (@KhooniBhai) January 5, 2018

Unlucky #AnushkaSharma #SAvIND #ViratKohli #ViratKiBaraat sa ne le li

— THE ROCK (@Nanocar1990) January 5, 2018

@AnushkaSharma is scared after virat departs by scoring 5😂😂..#AnushkaSharma

— kashish joshi (@kashishjoshi867) January 5, 2018

@AnushkaSharma is scared after virat departs by scoring 5😂😂..#AnushkaSharma

— kashish joshi (@kashishjoshi867) January 5, 2018

India failed to take advantage of the situation after South Africa were bowled out for 286 runs, as the visitors lost their three top order batsmen just for 28 runs on the first day of the first Test against south Africa at Newlands on Friday.

On the back-foot due to the early exit of explosive Indian openers Murali Vijay (1) and Shikhar Dhawan (16), the spectators were expecting an exploding innings from the Indian skipper. But Virat Kohli failed to impress and was sent back by Morne Morkel for 5.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma took the charge on the second day, but soon were sent back to the pavilion. Virat’s side lost half of the wicket even before reaching 100 runs. As the second day ended, visitors were bowled out for 209 runs and hosts had taken a lead of 142 runs.

When visitors had reached South Africa, they were high on confidence with their golden win over Sri Lanka in the recently concluded series. But it seems as if they were just not ready for all the pace, bounce and movement that Newlands pitch provide to the bowlers.

Proteas pacers Vernon Philander (3/33), Dale Steyn (2/51), Morne Morkel (2/57) and Kagiso Rabada (3/34) took advantage of India’s struggle.

As per reports of www.sport24.co.za, while talking about South African pacers, Pujara said, “This is one of the best bowling attacks I’ve faced. You know that is their strength and you need to know how to counter-attack.”

“All of their bowlers have done well, especially in South Africa. They know which areas to bowl in.”

“At the same time, when I bat I don’t look at the bowler or the bowling line-up. I just try and a look at the ball and keep it simple. I would rather concentrate on what I want to do rather than whether they have the best bowlers in the world. It hardly matters … if you bat well, you can score runs,” Pujara added.

However, there is good news for Virat Kohli and his side as Dale Steyn has been ruled out from the match.

On third day, South Africa will resume their second innings at 65/2 with a lead of 142.