Flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo’s Bistro was the cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29, as per the preliminary investigation report by the Mumbai fire brigade.

The fire probably started at Mojo’s and spread to the adjacent rooftop pub “1 Above”, the report indicates. Most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation, the police had said earlier.

“It was revealed from most of the eye witnesses that hookah was served at Mojo’s restaurant at the time of fire…

There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire,” the report stated.

The report has clarified that none of the two restaurants — Mojo’s and 1 Above — had permissions to serve liquor and hookah but still they served them.

Although there was an emergency exit, the pub staff seemed to be unaware of it, it said.

Beer kegs near the exit path also blocked the escape and the kegs eventually exploded and escalated the fire, the report said.

Use of bamboo and cloth to make the roof led to the quick spreading of the fire, while wind velocity and direction were the major contributors too, it said.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the action against illegal alterations and constructions at commercial establishments will continue.

“We will start taking action across the city against all commercial restaurants and pubs and those who have illegal alterations. They have respite for 15 days so that they have time to remove the illegal constructions on their own without damaging their reputation,” he said.

With the Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die on Friday, the controversial triple talaq bill was pushed to the budget session that begins on January 29.

Government sources ruled out any possibility of an ordinance on the bill, stuck in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill, already cleared by the Lok Sabha, could not be passed in the upper house due to a deadlock over opposition’s demand seeking its reference to a Select Committee for close scrutiny.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said he hoped that the Congress and other opposition parties would agree on passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Marriage) Bill, 2017. The legislation proposes to criminalise instant triple talaq and suggests up to three years in jail as punishment for a Muslim husband who divorces his wife by uttering “talaq” thrice.

Asked about a possibility of bringing in an ordinance till the bill cleared, Ananth Kumar parried a direct reply and said: “The dates for the budget session have already been announced.

“We hope the Congress will understand the public opinion on the issue, reconsider their stand and pass it in the budget session. There is anger among people on this issue.”

The minister slammed the Congress for stalling the bill. He said they were against the empowerment of Muslim women in India.

He said the government was committed to passing the legislation, also opposed by various Muslim groups.

“The intention of the (Narendra) Modi government is clear. We want equality and respect for the Muslim women, and the Congress is opposing it. They have just shown their double standard.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for not bringing in the Jan Lokpal, and asked how long will it lie.

“Beet gaye chaar saal, Nahi aaya Lokpal, Janta puche ek sawaal, Kabtak bajaoge jhuti taal (Four years have passed, Lokpal has not been implemented, People ask one question, till when will you play the rhythm of lies).,” said Gandhi on Twitter in a poetic dig at the government.

“Are the ‘defenders of democracy’ and ‘harbingers of accountability’ listening? #FindingLokpal,” he added attaching a December 18, 2013 tweet of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying: “Am very proud of the positive and proactive role played by BJP MPs under the leadership of @SushmaSwarajbjp and @Arunjaitley in passing Lokpal Bill.”

बीत गए चार साल
नहीं आया लोकपाल
जनता पूछे एक सवाल
कब तक बजाओगे ‘झूठी ताल’?

Are the ‘defenders of democracy’ & ‘harbingers of accountability’ listening?#FindingLokpal pic.x.com/v9Kc2Io3Ur

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 5, 2018

US stocks opened higher on Friday despite a negative report of the country’s non-farm payrolls.

US total non-farm payroll employment increased by 148,000 in December, missing market expectations of 190,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 per cent, Xinhua reported.

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by nine cents to $26.63. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 65 cents, or 2.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce announced on Friday that the goods and services deficit was $50.5 billion in November, up $1.6 billion from October.

Analysts said that the recent solid gains in US equities have been buoyed by the prospect of a US corporate tax-cut package, rising commodity prices and robust corporate earnings.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.38 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 25,145.51. The S&P 500 added 9.59 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 2,733.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 27.36 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 7,105.28.

All three major indices closed at record highs on Thursday, with the Dow shooting above 25,000 points for the first time, as investors cheered over strong US private-sector hiring data.

An ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had pointed to the risks in the practice of political parties promising loan waivers during poll campaigns to the Election Commission, Parliament was informed on Friday.

In a written reply submitted to the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that as a consequence of such poll promises, loan beneficiaries stopped making payments due even if they were in a financial position to do so.

While addressing a conference organised by NABARD and SIDBI, the former Governor in question had also said that loan waivers and subsidies “distort the credit discipline,” he added.

The Minister made the statement, however, without revealing the name of the former Governor concerned.

He said the Governor had written to the Chief Election Commissioner noting “the risk of promising loan waivers by political parties at election time, as beneficiaries stop making payment even if they are financially in a position to make them and that this affects the banking sector as well as the state finances.”

Last year, the current RBI Governor Urjit Patel had spoken of the damaging effects of farm loan waivers on the budgets of state governments.

Highlighting on bilateral co-operation to promote and foster trade and multilateral relations between Canada and India, its envoy to India said trade between the two countries was up by 30 per cent.

High Commissioner Nadir Patel was speaking at an event where an MoU was signed between the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Indo Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) in order to further enhance bilateral co-operation to promote and foster trade and multilateral relations.

Patel said that bilateral relation is booming with two-way trade up by 30 per cent.

Canadian investment in India has also exceeded by $15 billion. While there are about 400 active Canadian companies in India, many more have serious plans of investing in India, he said.

While three non-stop flights are already plying between India and Canada, there has been a major boost to tourism and educational ties between the two countries, he said.

Patel also indicated that West Bengal has enormous potential for Canadian companies who are already operating in India and also for such companies who would like to set up base in India.

Tata Steel on Friday said its provisional India production in the October-December 2017 period was marginally down at 3.24 million tonnes compared to 3.28 million tonnes in the corresponding quarter of 2016-17.

But in the first nine month period from April-December of the current fiscal, its India production was at 9.23 million ton compared to 8.34 million tonne production in the same period of the last financial year, the company said in a statement.

However, the steel maker’s European operation production in the quarter under review was slightly higher at 2.68 million tonnes as compared to 2.64 million tonnes in the comparable period in 2016-17, it said.

In terms of sales, both in India and Europe, operations registered higher sales during the quarter at 3.3 million tonnes and 2.41 million tonnes respectively.

Steel producer’s Kalinganagar plant ramped-up to 100 per cent capacity utilisation for commercial saleable steel production.

It achieved highest ever quarterly sales in aautomotive and special products’ segment with a growth of 6 per cent over last quarter and 26 per cent over last year.

India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves rose by $4.44 billion as on December 29, 2017, official data showed on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed that the overall Forex reserves rose to $409.36 billion from $404.92 billion reported for the week ended December 22.

India’s Forex reserves comprise of foreign currency assets (FCAs), gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the RBI’s position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Segment-wise, FCAs — the largest component of the Forex reserves — increased by $4.42 billion to $385.10 billion during the week under review.

Besides the US dollar, FCAs consist of nearly 20-30 per cent of major global currencies. It also includes investments in US Treasury bonds, bonds of other selected governments and deposits with foreign central and commercial banks.

The country’s gold reserves value remained stagnant at $20.71 billion, while SDRs inched up by $8.9 million to $1.51 billion.

Similarly, the country’s reserve position with the IMF rose by $12.1 million to $2.03 billion.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Friday accused the BJP-led NDA central government at the Centre of trying to legalise immigrants by proposing to amend the Citizenship Act.

“On one hand they wanted to push illegal immigrants, but on the other, they wanted to legalise immigrants by amending the Citizenship Act. This is not acceptable to the people of Assam, Meghalaya and the Northeast,” he told journalists after chairing a Cabinet meeting.

“If this Act is amended, the whole fallout will be on the Northeast. Do you think those immigrants from Bangladesh will go to Punjab, Kerala or Rajasthan? They will look at the Northeast as their destination,” Sangma said.

He said that the government has instructed all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of the state districts bordering Assam to take all necessary measures to address the issue following the publication of first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

He said steps were being taken according to mandate of the law including the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016 that has been passed by the state Assembly as part of the comprehensive mechanisms to check influx and illegal immigrants.

Despite a series of modifications being made in the controversial film “Padmavati” including its renaming as “Padmavat”, the Karni Sena on Friday again raised a demand for a complete ban on film.

Speaking to media here, Karni Sena observer Lokendra singh Kalvi said that filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali should forget dreaming about the film’s release.

“All efforts of Bhansali and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) shall go down the drain as we will never allow the screening of Padmawati anywhere in India or abroad.

“We are still adamant on our demand. Let there be a complete ban on the release of Padmawati,” he added.

Kalvi also demanded a complete ban on the “Ghoomar” song. “We don’t want any changes in the said song, however, we demand a complete ban on the same,” he said.

He also questioned the ‘authenticity’ of the panel formed by the CBFC to review the film.

Not all of them were historians, hence, their suggestions hardly make a difference, he said, adding that the CBFC proposed to bring in nine historians in the panel but ended calling only three historians “which speaks volumes on their seriousness to justify our demands”.

The Congress on Friday said that BJP was responsible for the “impasse in Rajya Sabha” due to which triple talaq bill could not be discussed, while alleging that BJP wanted to treat the Parliament as a “rubber stamp”.

“They (BJP) are squarely responsible for this impasse in Rajya Sabha. For the first time, the Union Ministers and the MPs were seen standing in Rajya Sabha and stalling the House,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

Azad also said the government was responsible for not being able to take up the bill in Rajya Sabha and sending it to Select Committee for closer scrutiny.

“We are totally in favour of the bill, but some provisions are objectionable. The government has not clarified about the sustenance of the victims. The government is also responsible for the chaos that was created in the Parliament,” he added.

Azad also said the delay in calling the winter session was for two reasons – first not to give the opposition a chance to raise the failures of the government in the House and second because the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers were busy in the Gujarat election.

“From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the all the ministers, they were all busy in Gujarat election.

“Be it election in any state, there is a new trend that union council of ministers are being converted to national election committee of BJP. All the ministers get involved in the election duty in that particular state,” he said, terming this “tradition” is not good for democracy and development of the nation.

“Just to win Gujarat election they didn’t let the Parliament to function. It has been proved they don’t believe in parliamentary democracy,” he added.

Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda said that the government was not taking Parliament seriously and was treating it as a “rubber stamp”.

“They do not believe in Parliament. They only believe in Ordinances. They have given 10 Ordinances. They want to treat the Parliament as rubber stamp,” he said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday said it has arrested a Nigerian national from the city and recovered around 170 gram of cocaine valued at Rs 1 crore from his possession.

Acting on a tip off, the officials of the agency arrested Kevin Edward James, who was to hand over the consignment on behalf of his associates, who are running the drug racket from Mumbai.

“Preliminary enquiry revealed that James, 28 is indulging in trafficking of narcotic drugs in many cities in India including Kolkata,” NCB’s Zonal Director Dilip Kumar Srivastava said.

The accused revealed that the stuff were brought to India from the source country by swallowing and concealing inside the body cavities and sold to the customers and local peddlers in different cities in India, the agency said in a statement.

“Accused revealed that this type of delivery has already been done in past on two occasions in Kolkata. The ultimate recipient of these stimulant narcotics drug are the people from elite class of the society,” it said.

James usually sold the drug at Rs 60,000 per gram in the Indian market whereas he also revealed that the value of the seized cocaine in international illegal market is Rs. one crore, Srivastava added.

The Central government on Friday defended, in the Supreme Court, its Haj policy under which a quota is allocated on the basis of the Muslim population in each state as it told the court that it was not discriminatory and based on objective criteria.

The government made its stand to a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud on a plea by the Kerala State Haj Committee which has questioned the allocation of Haj quota on the basis of Muslim population that deprives Muslims in smaller states including Kerala from undertaking the pilgrimages to Makkah and Madina.

Giving the government 10 days time to respond to the plea by Kerala, the bench gave a week’s time to Kerala Haj Committee to file rejoinder if any and directed the next hearing of the matter on January 30.

The court was told that Saudi Arabian government allows India to send 1.7 lakh Haj pilgrims which in turn are distributed to the states in proportion to their Muslim population.

Appearing for the Kerala Haj Committee, counsel Prashant Bhushan described the policy as “arbitrary” and “discriminatory”, saying that more people in Kerala are desirous to undertake the Haj pilgrimage than in Bihar.

Bhushan told the court that Bihar gets the quota of 12,000 pilgrims but only gets 6,900 applicants to go and Kerala get a share of 6,000 seats while there are 95,000 applicants.

“As a result, every applicant in Bihar gets the opportunity to go for Haj. However, in Kerala, the situation is not so,” he said.

However, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal defended the Haj policy saying that it was formulated by the Central Haj Committee after consulting 31 State Haj Committees.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) delegation led by Meng Xiangfeng and said it was a “meaningful exchange of views”.

“Met with the CPC Delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, member of the CPC Central Committee for a meaningful exchange of views,” tweeted Gandhi attaching a picture with CPC members and Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik.

The delegation also met and held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Friday.

This meeting comes against the backdrop of Doklam standoff and both the countries making efforts to improve ties post the impasse.

Social activist Anna Hazare on Friday said he would go on an indefinite fast in New Delhi in March if the central government does not implement the Lok Pal Act to eliminate corruption across the country.

“I will sit on an indefinite fast in New Delhi from March 23 if the Lok Pal Act is not implemented. I will continue the fast if am arrested and put in jail if the Union government does not implement the Lok Pal Act against corruption,” he told reporters at a function in Aralikatti hamlet near Baihongal in this northern district.

Though Parliament passed the Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Bill in 2013, the central or state governments have so far not set up the anti-corruption ombudsman (Lok Pal) or Lok Ayuktas in the states which do not have them.

“The Modi government has been talking about fighting corruption over the last three years but has not taken any step to have the Lok Pal institution to check corruption,” said Hazare.

“Even demonetisation of higher currency notes has not curbed corruption. Modi has failed to achieve his goal of making the country corruption-free,” he added.

Regretting suicides by farmers across the country due to agrarian crisis, Hazare said neither the central nor state governments were doing anything to mitigate the hardships in the farm sector.

“I have written 10 letters to Modi to introduce an effective Lok Pal system to root out corruption. I have also written 22 letters to him urging him to solve problems faced by farmers. He has not responded to any of them,” he said.

On Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde’s recent statement that the NDA government would change the basic structure of the Constitution, Hazare said no one had right to change it (Constitution) or even talk about changing it.

“If somebody like Hegde said he would change the Constitution, he needs to referred to a mental hospital for treatment,” added Hazare.

Hegde, a Lok Sabha lawmaker from Uttar Kannada district in northwest Karnataka, however, withdrew his statement subsequently.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday expressed concern about the violation of people’s privacy and data security due to possible leaking of Aadhar details and urged the people to be more cautious prevent data theft.

Stating that there are reports of Aadhar cards being easily available from “fictitious agencies against payment of small amounts”, she said she feared that such cases would be huge infringement of individual privacy and data security.

“From the very beginning, I have been voicing my serious concern over violation of privacy due to Aadhar and urging to ensure a foolproof mechanism to ensure security of data,” she wrote on Twitter.

“I would like to request all citizens of the country to be more alert and cautious to prevent data theft and violation of privacy,” she added.

Premier League giants Manchester United left it late to beat Championship side Derby County 2-0 courtesy of goals from Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night.

Old Trafford was packed but if they were expected a cavalier performance from their beloved Red Devils they were sorely disappointed for despite dominating their opponents, the hosts were guilty of profligacy and the match looked destined for a replay before the in-form Lingard struck with six minutes remaining.

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The United Academy graduate, who has come into his own of late, sent in a stupendous volley to break Derby’s stubborn resistance with custodian Scott Carson well beaten for once.

Lingard’s goal deflated the Rams, who had looked determined to hold on for a draw, and while they surged forward to find an equaliser, United caught them cold on the counter.

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Paul Pogba’s speculative punt was expertly controlled by Romelu Lukaku, who was playing for the first time since suffering a head injury less than a week ago, and the Belgian spun away to create space for himself near the halfway line. 

With fellow substitute Anthony Marital in support, the Belgian played a quick one-two with his teammate before firing one post Carson with his weaker foot to ensure United’s progression into the next round.

While Lukaku didn’t start, United fielded a very strong starting XI and ideally should have been up by several goals at half-time, Marcus Rashford, starting as centre-forward, was guilty of some glaring misses while Juan Mata and Paul Pogba were denied from set-pieces by a sprawling Carson.

After the interval, United kept up the momentum and while Derby threatened intermittently, United custodian Sergio Romero was a virtual spectator for most parts.
Rashford would hit the post late on and it seemed like Derby would hold on before Lingard struck with a moment of magic and Lukaku added gloss to the scoreline with a well-taken goal.

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In the other FA Cup tie on the night, Liverpool edged Merseyside rivals Everton 2-1 at Anfield to progress to the fourth round.

United have some breathing space before their next game, a Premier League tie with Stoke City at Old Trafford on January 15 and will look to extend their winning streak when the struggling Potters come visiting.