In a setback to the Congress ahead of the April 23 civic polls, former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and former Youth Congress leader Amit Malik quit the party and joined the BJP on Tuesday.

"Former DPCC President Arvinder Singh Lovely, a former Minister, and former Youth Congress leader Amit Malik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party chief Amit Shah," the Delhi BJP said in a tweet.

Union Minister Vijay Goel, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and BJP's Lok Sabha member from East Delhi Mahesh Girri were also present on the occasion.

In a remarkable Kathak performance, the story of Delhi — the rise and fall of empires; the glory and degeneration of cultures and the suppression and liberation of millions — was showcased through the eyes of Yamuna as a celestial being.

Titled Yeh Seher Nahin Mehfil Hai, the stunning Kathak performance was enacted by classical dancer Shivani Varma at the CD Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Center in the Capital here.

"The concept and theme was based on the river Yamuna, which is an integral part of this city. We wanted to create an impact through this recital wherein the condition and environment of Delhi was shown through the perspective of Yamuna. A lot of hard work was put in by the whole team and we worked like an ensemble to make this happen," Varma informed.

The show, held on late Sunday evening, was presented and organised by Beenu Rajpoot and Precious Planet Charitable Trust. The production was based on text written by Pavan K Varma, where the narration was done by Syeda Hameed.

Actor and TV host Rannvijay Singha has been named the first ambassador of the fashion jewellery brand Voylla for their mens collection — Dare by Voylla.

"I got my big professional break only when I dared to break the stereotype, do something different. And I have always lived by the one rule – that unless you are comfortable with who you are, you can never stand out in a crowd," Rannvijay said in a statement. 

The 34-year-old says the jewellery by the brand for men are "edgy, stylish, statement fashion accessories for men who dare to be original". 

Speaking on the association, Vishwas Shringi, co-founder and CEO, Voylla.com, said: "As a youth icon who is always comfortable in his own skin, and yet never shies away from making bold, impactful statements, Rannvijay is not only the perfect face of Dare, he is the spirit of the brand too."

 Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, wanted in India for defaulting on over Rs.8,000 crore in bank loans, was arrested here on Tuesday. Within hours, a court granted him bail.

Metropolitan Police said Mallya, 61, was taken into custody after attending a central London police station.

The Westminster Magistrates' Court later gave him bail on a 650,000 pound bond. The next hearing of the case will be on May 17.

A Metropolitan Police statement said officers from the Extradition Unit arrested Mallya on an extradition warrant from India.

"Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud," the statement said.

After getting bail, Mallya tweeted: "Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in court started today as expected."

Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued in courts by Indian banks seeking to recover Rs 8,191 crore owed by his now defunct Kingfisher Airline.

The banks had been able to recover only Rs 155 crore. Despite multiple injunctions, Mallya failed to appear before investigators — and then flew out of India.

In February, the Indian government handed over to the UK authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default.

Actor Saqib Saleem, who was last seen on screen in the actioner Dishoom, says he is not in a rush to take up movies.

Saqib made his debut in 2011 with the film Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge and since then he has starred in films like Mere Dad Ki Maruti, Bombay Talkies, Hawaa Hawaai and Dishoom. 

"I wouldn't say I am picky (about roles) or I won't even say it is a conscious descision (to do one film in a year)… When I became an actor I told my friends that I wanted to do things that I would be proud of when I'll look back after 10 years… So finding those good films takes time and I'm in no hurry," Saqib told over phone from Mumbai. 

Saqib, a brother of actress Huma Qureshi, says that he likes his craft because he enjoys acting. 

"So yes, I have to find scripts that excite me… and hence this slightly slow turn out in terms of the films I have been doing. I am hoping that would change soon… I have a couple of releases this year," said the 29-year-old. 

Saqib will soon be seen along with Huma in Dobaraa, a remake of Hollywood film Oculus — a supernatural psychological horror which was directed by Mike Flanagan.

Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, whose action thriller One is up against Kaushika Ganguly’s National Award-winner Bisorjon, is confident that both the movies will do well at the box office.

While One has a commercial setting, Ganguly’s drama is a cross-border love story. Both released on April 14.
“Films like Kaushik’s Bisorjon or Goutam Ghose’s Sankhachil will have more successful weeks in urban screens catering to a niche audience while films like One by Birsha Dasgupta will run in both urban and semi-urban and rural pockets. This trend has prevailed always,” Prosenjit told here.

The actor said he did not foresee any dilution of audience share for either of the films for the same reason.
“This has been the trend in past also and there has not been much change in audience segmentation. When Rituparno (Ghosh) made his films, the screens were shared by films of Swapan Saha, Haranath Chakraborty, Anjan Chowdhury and the audience profile of two genres of films were not the same.

“Also when Srijit Mukherjee’s ‘Autograph’ was released, the screens were shared by Dui Prithivi of Raj Chakraborty. But being totally different genre of films, none of the releases ate into other’s audience share.”

Prosenjit said that though the number of releases as well as the hype over numerous awards suggest happy days are back for Bengali films, there is a need to expand the market as the production cost has gone up.

“During good times everyone tries to get his (or her) film released to cash in on the feel-good effect. But the fact remains with so many films getting ready for release at the same time, they are not getting proper space, but it is not intended.

“For example after the release of Bisorjon and One, Durga Sohay is slated to hit the screens by April end, then in May Posto and Amar Apanjan will release on the same date. In between, there will be other films. I sincerely believe that with all these films lined up for release one after another, we need to increase the number of single screens and push the horizon,” he said.

The 54-year-old actor-producer said he always wanted to play a negative role and One happened at the right time.
“I was looking for a negative role and One’s Aditya Sen fitted the bill. It was shades different from Prabir in ‘Baise Srabon’. Negative roles can be of various types. But all the negative characters must be characters with sense.”

Asked about YouTube, Netflix posing challenge to the big screen as the medium for young generation, Prosenjit said, “Cinema has its own magic. When DVD came, when TV was introduced for first time, there was apprehension that people won’t be flocking to cinema halls any more. But that fear was belied. Films like Chander Pahar sequel or ‘Kakababu’ sequel with 3D effects can’t be enjoyed on mobile or desktop.”

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on Tuesday following India’s request for his extradition in financial irregularities and loan default case. Mallya owes Rs 9,000 (including taxes) to 17 banks in India.

These banks are trying to recover some of the huge loan amount by auctioning his properties in the country.

The recently held auction of Mallya’s mansion in Goa is a recent example of the banks’ efforts to recover loans. Businessman Sachiin Joshi bought the villa for Rs 73.01 crore.

State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and IDBI banks are among the major lenders to Mallya which are waiting for loan repayment.

According to reports, following is the list of 17 banks that have paid nearly Rs 7,000 crore (excluding interest) to Mallya:

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday announced a snap General Election on June 8, seeking a stronger mandate in talks over leaving the European Union (EU).

In an unexpected statement at Downing Street, May said she was starting the process of calling a vote, less than halfway through the government's term, BBC reported.

Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership following the EU referendum, she said.

Explaining the decision, May said: "The country is coming together but Westminster is not."

There will be a Commons vote on the proposed election on Wednesday — opposition Labour Party has said it will vote with the government, reported BBC.

The Prime Minister needs Parliament's backing to hold a vote before the next scheduled date of 2020.

Explaining her change of heart on an early election, May said: "I have concluded the only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead is to hold this election."

She accused Britain's other political parties of "game playing", adding that this risks "our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country".

"So we need a General Election and we need one now. We have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done.

In a statement outside Number 10, May said: "Labour had threatened to vote against the final Brexit agreement, the Liberal Democrats had stated they wanted to 'grind the business of government to a standstill'."

"…The Scottish Nationalist Party had said they would vote against the negotiations and 'unelected' members of the House of Lords had vowed 'to fight us every step of the way'," she added.

"If we don't hold a General Election now, their political game-playing will continue and the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run up to the next General Election," she said.

The Prime Minister challenged the opposition parties: "This is your moment to show you mean it — to show you're not opposing the government for the sake of it, to show that you do not treat politics as a game."

"Let's tomorrow vote for an election — let's put forward our plans for Brexit and our alternative programmes for government and then let the people decide."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he welcomed the Prime Minister's decision, saying it would "give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first".

He said: "Labour will be offering the country an effective alternative to a government that has failed to rebuild the economy, delivered falling living standards and damaging cuts to our schools and NHS."

In his response to May's announcement, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron tweeted: "This is your chance to change the direction of your country. If you want to avoid a disastrous hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the single market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance."

"Only the Liberal Democrats can prevent a Conservative majority," he added.

The country's potato production is estimated to be around 47 million tonnes this year, just behind the all-time high witnessed in 2014.

The output stood at 43.4 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), while last record was 48 million tonnes achieved in 2014-15.

"Looking at the crop condition and arrival in mandis, I feel the overall output will be close to record levels. Potato output would be around 47 million tonnes this year," National Horticulture Board (NHB) Managing Director A K Singh said.

Initially, NHB had projected 43.88 million tonnes output for this year. But this will be revised after assessing the arrival, he said.

Singh further said that total area under potato was more or less at last year's level. But, good weather conditions coupled with recent unseasonal rains just before the harvest gave boost to the crop prospect and improved yields, he said.

The crop condition in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar — the top three potato producing states — is in very good condition.

As per the state data, the output in Uttar Pradesh — the country's top potato producing state — is projected to be higher at 15 million tonnes this year as against 13.8 million tonnes last year, he added.

So much potato is grown in UP that the centre has started procurement operation to ensure farmers avoid distressed sale.

The output in West Bengal and Bihar is also expected to be better than last year. In 2015-16, the output stood at 8 million tonnes and 6 million tonnes, respectively, in these two states.

Hours before the crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Gujarat Lions (GL) on Tuesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star batsman AB de Villiers pulled out of the encounter because of an injury.

Last year's runners-up Bangalore, who have some quality international players, are struggling in this edition. They are currently at the bottom of the points table in the cash-rich league.

"Disappointed to be missing the match tonight for RCB, due to injury. Good luck to @imVkohli and the team. Lets go @RCBTweets !!" de Villiers wrote on his Twitter handle.

The RCB are currently languishing at the bottom of the IPL points table with a solitary win from their five outings.

It’s been 58 years since the migration of Tibetans to India in 1959 after China started campaign for taking control of Tibet. To commemorate the long journey, former ministers in Tibetan government-in-exile has released a journal to relive the history.

Former minister Tenzin Geche Tethong (Kasur) and Gen Lobsang Tenzin la, who served the first Tibetan Nursery (later TCV) since 1960s launched the 155 paged journal titled ‘Exile’ and it is categorised into five sections, Arrival, Democracy, Survival, Education, and Religion and Culture.

The journal, through images documents the survival story of Tibetans in exile through pictures from the total occupation of Tibet in 1959 to 1989, the year His Holiness the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Prize for Peace.

The pictures that have been included in the journal has been captured by various photographers, many of them are unknown. The Editor of the journal, Lobsang Gyatso Sither said the book showcases the sacrifices and hard work of the first generation of Tibetan refugees under the guidance of spiritual leader Dalai Lama and with help from the Government of India in those difficult times.

Gyatso says the photo journal, which was prepared in two years, will help the younger generation of Tibetans to understand and appreciate the history and origins of the Tibetan community, living in exile.

The journal includes certain uniqueness in it as it is based on historical pictures and pictures express more about difficult periods for they help people to visualize the challenges faced by the first generation of Tibetans in exile.

The book also serves not just as a reminder of the difficult past, but also as a reminder of how the Tibetans survived and remained ever true to their beliefs in the most difficult of times, he said.

The journal focuses on the evolution of the exile history from its first educational institute to the first settlement and others, the book comprises of 262 photos out of over 40,000 photos received from various institutions and individuals.

The journal has been funded by Geographic Legacy Fund at National Geographic Society and the Committee of 100 for Tibet for Fiscal sponsorship which had archived and digitised all photographs and can be viewed through their website tibetansinexile.org.

Sonu Nigam got himself in trouble when he made a certain comment on the sound of Azaan.

Sonu on Monday complained that the sound of the prayer disrupts his peace.  In no time, the singer was tagged by millions on Twitter and he became a subject of troll for his insensitivity towards a religion.

Actress Pooja Bhatt was among the many who slammed Sonu.

Using his own words. Pooja tweeted: “I wake each morning to the sound of church bells & the Azaan in a quiet by-lane of Bandra. I light an aggarbatti & salute the spirit of India,” the tweet read.

Pooja, like her dad Mahesh Bhatt, never shies away from voicing her opinion on a public platform  and she did it again with her counter attack to Nigam’s tweets.
 

As the merger of the largest public sector bank, State Bank of India, with its subsidiaries gets completed, the Centre is now exploring the possibility of merging three general insurance public sector units before hitting the capital markets. 

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has initiated consultations on a possible merger of Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance and the combined entity would be then taken to the market for listing. It is estimated the combined entity will have around 35 per cent share of the domestic general insurance market while underwriting total direct premium of over Rs.30,000 crore.

 Senior officials in the disinvestment department of the Finance Ministry said, "It is not possible for the general insurance companies to hit the capital markets at the moment since the solvency ratio of these companies are below the IRDA mandate. Hence, we are considering a proposal to merge them and make a larger entity and then hit the capital markets." 

The government is also actively looking at companies for consolidation with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) keen on having one or two larger entities rather than several smaller ones. 

According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) annual report 2015-16, the market share of Oriental Insurance declined to 8.63 per cent in 2015-16 from 8.75 per cent in 2014-15 period and that of National Insurance also fell to 12.43 per cent from 13.27 per cent in 2014-15.  

While the solvency ratio of National Insurance (1.26 per cent) and Oriental Insurance (1.1 per cent) is less than the threshold of 1.5 per cent mandated by IRDAI, United India Insurance has suffered huge losses (Rs.429 crore) in the first half of the current fiscal. Both Oriental and National Insurance have also lost market share in the last financial year. The government’s assessment is that these entities are unlikely to get good valuation if listed separately.

The Union Cabinet in January approved listing of five state-owned general insurance firms on the stock exchanges. The government plans to bring down its stake in these companies to 75 per cent in tranches through a combination of issuance of fresh equity shares and offer for sale, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the briefing after the Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its approval for listing five state-owned General Insurance Companies ~ New India Assurance Company, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance Company, National Insurance Company and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). Senior ministry official said, "We are considering the merger for these three entities and the other two re-insurance entities GIC and New India Assurance will be hitting the capital markets once the details and timings are finalised." 

The most recent consolidation exercise has been in the process of completion of merger of State Bank of India with its five associate banks ~ State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and the State Bank of Travancore.

Penalty corner expert Rupinder Pal Singh says having a specialist dragflicking coach in idol Jugraj Singh will be beneficial for him and his young colleague Harmanpreet Singh in the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Rupinder along with talented Harmanpreet will be India's dragflick exponents in Malaysia and the team will be banking on them to convert the set piece chances that come their way.

India's chief coach Roelant Oltmans had already emphasised on the importance of improving penalty corner conversation rate and Rupinder is confident that they will live up to the billing in Ipoh.

“We spend one hour everyday specifically for dragflicks. We are also joined by former India dragflicker Jugraj Singh who is part of the coaching staff. Jugraj has been my idol and he was also the one to introduce me to dragflick when I began my career. So working with him has been great,” Rupinder said.

“He has been able to help us with finer details which we would otherwise miss. Having a specific coach for dragflicking along with chief coach Roelant Oltmans has been beneficial and I am confident we will do well in Malaysia,” he added.

In the absence of senior players like VR Raghunath and Birendra Lakra, Rupinder will spearhead India's backline along with Harmanpreet, Gurinder Singh, Pardeep Mor and Surender Kumar in Ipoh.

So being the senior most player in the backline, Rupinder is expected to shoulder the responsibility of guiding the youngsters in the tournament, a role he is happy to take on.

“Yes I do have an added responsibility of guiding these youngsters but I also believe they are ready to take on individual responsibilities.

“Each of them know what they exactly need to do and how they need to execute the plans. I think they are ready to take on the big teams,” the 27-year-old lanky defender said.

Rupinder said that the 40-day camp here involved a lot of hard work and mental conditioning.

“We have a new analytical coach(Hans Streeder) who has brought in some key changes in strategies. We worked on a lot on specific areas and tried out new combinations during match practice. There has been a lot of emphasis on strong defence and I believe it will come down to how we implement these strategies that will help us win matches,” Rupinder added.

The Indian team is slated to leave from Bengaluru on April 22 for Ipoh, where the tournament is scheduled to be held from April 29 to May 6.

Besides India, other participating teams in the tournament are title holders Australia, hosts Malaysia, Great Britain, New Zealand and Japan.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he finds the moment of his daughter Shweta Nanda Bachchan and actress Katrina Kaif captured in a photo filled with affection. 

Amitabh on Monday night shared a photograph of the both from an event and captioned it: "I do not know why, but I find this picture of Katrina and Shweta at a recent event, most charming and filled with great affection!"

On the work front, Amitabh will next be seen sharing screen space with superstar Aamir Khan in the film Thugs of Hindostan. 
 

A vehicle carrying overload above 25 per cent of the permissible load carrying capacity would now attract a fine of Rs.5,000 in Haryana.

A decision to this effect was taken at the Haryana Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday.

The Cabinet decided to revise the compounding fee for offences committed under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.  Under Section 177 of the Act, the fine for not providing smooth passage to an ambulance carrying a patient for first offence, would be Rs.2,000, but a subsequent offence will cost a fine of Rs.5,000.

Carrying goods on passenger vehicle for first offence would attract a fine of Rs.2,000. On subsequent offence, the penalty charged would be Rs.5,000. Similarly, running away from the spot would attract a fine of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for first and second offences, respectively. 

The compounding fee fixed for driving a vehicle without high security registration plate would be Rs.500 for first offence and Rs.1,000 for subsequent offence.

Under Section 180 (allowing unauthorised person to driver vehicle) and 181 (driving vehicle in contravention of Section 3 and 4), the compounding fee for driver using vehicle without holding driving licence has been revised to Rs.1,000 for first offence, and Rs 2,000 for second offence. 

A driver who is under age would attract a fine of Rs.1,000 for first offence and Rs.2,000 for subsequent offence. A driver using vehicle in contravention of the conditions of learning license would attract compounding fee of Rs.1,000 and Rs.2,000 for first and second offences, respectively.

Impressed by the paperless model of the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly, the Kerala assembly would soon replicate the e-Vidhan model and have sought the help of Speaker BBL Butail in setting up the system.

Kerala legislative assembly speaker P Sreeramakrishanan, who was here to witness the functioning country’s e-Vidhan system, said he is quite impressed by the online system and wanted to replicate the model in his state.

P Sreeramakrishanan called on his counterpart BBL Butail to provide support in setting up the system and said the system would usher in efficiency and transparency in the functioning of state legislative assembly.

Briefing about the functioning and benefits of the e-Vidhan system, HP assembly speaker BBL Butail said the online system is eco-friendly initiative which would save papers worth rupees crores and would save thousands of trees.

The HP assembly becomes paperless over two years ago and it saves Rs 15 Crore as well as 6,000 trees annually through the online system.

The e-vidhan initiative was launched by septuagenarian Speaker Butail and the under the system makes use of touchscreen based e-Books that are installed on legislators tables to view the business, replies of questions, Bills, the budget and to lay papers in the House.

It is worthwhile to mention here that the e-Vidhan project of Rs 8.12 Crore for Himachal Pradesh assembly was sanctioned by Department of Electronics and IT, Government of India and its first instalment was received in September 2013. 

The technical support for the project was offered by National Informatics Centre.

As per calculation by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat in 2013, the number of papers used between the Vidhan Sabha and state government in a year were 5.08 crore. Saving such a huge number of papers would mean preventing 6000 trees from felling.

 The state assembly, which celebrated its golden jubilee a couple of years ago, is now in the process of digitalising of records since the inception and so far, the officials have made online records of assembly proceedings for some years.

Once done, it would be loaded on the site of Himachal Vidhan Sabha and would serve as a ready reference for the legislators, sitting anywhere.

Many state’s assemblies, including those in North East, had already visited HP legislative assembly and had expressed their desire to replicate the model in their states.