The National Mission for Clean Ganga has approved 26 projects at an estimated cost of Rs 2154.28 crore to set up and upgrade sewage treatment plants (STPs) along the river Ganga and its tributaries.

The project would add sewage treatment capacity of 188 million litres per day (MLD), upgrade and rehabilitate the existing capacity of another 626 MLD, said a senior officer of the Water Resources Ministry. The project also includes interception and diversion works and sewerage network of 145.05 km.

“Under Namami Gange Programme, 100% central funding is being made for new projects. The completion of these projects will help in reducing the pollution load on the river Ganga as discharge of untreated effluent is one of the major source of pollution in river Ganga,” the Ministry said. The projects would be set up in UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Delhi.

India on Saturday sealed their place in the World Group Play-offs with Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji routing their rivals with clinical precision for an unassailable 3-0 lead against Uzbekistan, here.

Bopanna and debutant Balaji defeated Farrukh Dustov and Sanjar Fayziev 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles rubber of the Asia/Oceania Group I second round contest at the KSLTA stadium.

Uzbekistan needed to win the doubles rubber to keep the tie alive but the Indians proved too good for the visitors with Balaji making an impressive debut.

Ramkumar Ramanathan and debutant Prajnesh Gunneswaran had handed India a comfortable 2-0 lead yesterday by winning the their singles against Temur Ismailov and Fayziev respectively.

Sunday's reverse singles now will have no bearing on the outcome of the tie and will be the best of three sets.

India have now qualified for the World Group Play-offs for the fourth straight year. They lost to top teams — Serbia (2014 in Bangalore), Czech Republic (2015 in New Delhi) and Spain (2016 in New Delhi) in previous three years in the Play-offs.

The Play-offs will be held in September and India's next opponents will be known later when draw will be made in London.

It was a tremendous start for Mahesh Bhupathi as captain of the team. Bhupathi had chosen Bopanna over veteran Leander Paes, who is one win away from making the world record for most doubles victories in Davis Cup history.

Balaji not only served well he showed skills at the net and gradually started to return well. Bopanna, whose weapon is his booming serve, carried the teammate nicely and his single-handed returns proved too hot to handle for the Uzbeks.

The Indian duo decimated the Uzbekistan pair which was reflected in 16 aces they sent down against the rivals' just one. They also grabbed points on their first serves at the rate of 92 per cent compared to the rivals' 62.

The Indian duo also hardly bungled when they missed an opportunity on the pressured second serves. They served at the rate of 94 per cent as against Uzbekistan's 50 per cent.

Both Bopanna and Balaji served extremely well and it was key to their stupendous success. The ball zipped off the court and with Bopanna and Balaji being tall customers, they were able to extract bounce.

They targeted Fayziev throughout the match and the strategy paid off as they broke the Uzbek twice in the opening set and early in the third to put the foot on gas.

Dustov fought hard but he too felt the heat and was broken in the 10th game of the second set, which was the best in the match. It was on serve till the ninth game when Dustov came out to serve to keep the set alive.

A foot fault at 15-30 and the following double fault put him down 15-40, facing two breakpoints. With Bopanna making superb returns, Dustov struggled to handle a ferocious shot from him and netted it, handing India a double set lead.

Uzbeks failed to post any fight in the third set with Bopanna and Balaji racing to a 4-0 lead with double break.

"We kept each other relaxed. Balaji served well and that was key. We did not let Fayziev settle. It didn't feel that Balaji was playing his first Davis Cup match," said Bopanna after the match.

"There was a lot of camaraderie in the team whether we were having dinner or recovery. It was a team effort. In doubles gelling well with your partner is key and that made the difference today," Bopanna added.

Balaji said he never felt nervous.

"I was very comfortable. I knew Bops will carry me and the captain was telling me what do and what not to. Both of us served well, the first serve percentage was very high," said the debutant.

On his captaincy debut with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Glenn Maxwell led by example as he scored 44 runs (not out) to propel his team to the victory against Rising Pune Supergiant in the fourth match of the IPL 2017 on Saturday.

Maxwell shouldered the responsibility as his inspiring knock came for KXIP when they needed the most.

Maxwell and David Miller (30*) remained unbeaten at helm as Punjab registered an exciting win at the Holkar Stadium, Indore.

At top-order, Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha managed to contribute just 28, 14 and 13 runs respectively.

All-rounder Axar Patel tried to stabalise Punjab’s innings at middle-order, though was caught and bowled by Imran Tahir (2/29) in the 12th over.

Maxwell and Miller, then, put an unbeaten 79-run partnership to sway the game.

Earlier in Pune’s innings, all-rounder Ben Stokes scored a 50 amid a session highly dominated by KXIP bowlers.

Leading the Punjab pace attack, Sandeep Sharma took two wickets with the support of T Natarajan and Marcus Stoinis, who claimed one wicket each.

Spinners Axar Patel and Swapnil Singh joined in the celebration after dismissing Stokes and MS Dhoni respectively.

Stokes, however, struck three sixes and two boundaries as well in his measured knock to electrify the spectators.

Manoj Tiwary remained unbeaten for 40 runs with Rajat Bhatia (0*) as RPS managed to put a competitive total of 163 runs.

With Stokes, Tiwary put 61 runs for the fifth-wicket, highest partnership stand of the innings.

The 31-year-old Bengal-born batsman hit two sixes and three boundaries in his 23-ball knock, at an impressive strike rate of 173.91.

Supergiant opener Mayank Agarwal was sent back to pavilion for a duck in the first over, followed by Ajinkkya Rahane’s dismissal for 19 runs in the seventh over.

Captain Steve Smith, who struck a spectacular knock of 84 runs (not out) in the last match against Mumbai Indian, failed to impress Indore crowd. He managed to score just 26 runs off 27 balls.

However, the bigger heartbreak was to watch Dhoni losing his wicket cheaply for five runs, that too when he came to bat up the order.

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At least 15 civilians including four children were killed in airstrikes in Syria's al-Raqqa city, a UK-based war monitoring group reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the bombing was carried out in the district of Hunaida, Efe news reported.

SOHR added that the death toll could increase.

According to the SOHR, nearly 220 civilians, including 36 minors, have been killed since March 1 in bombings targeting al-Raqqa.

Al-Raqqa is the main stronghold of the Islamic State terror organization in Syria.
 

The agreement signing ceremony at Hyderabad House after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday had a funny moment for which the two leaders were obviously not prepared.

''May I request the two Prime Ministers to now please step down?" the Chief of Protocol said, requesting them to come off the podium to release the Hindi translation of unfinished memoirs of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the founding father of Bangladesh, and press the button to jointly launch the train service between their two countries. 

As those present in the room burst into peals of laughter, the two leaders looked at the official and smiled. By then, the protocol officer had realised his honest mistake and appeared apologetic.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brought with her a bunch of gifts for Indian leaders, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She brought a kurta and a pair of silk pyjamas, artwork, a dinner set, a leather bag set and famous Bengali sweets for the President. She has also brought a ‘jamdani’ saree for the President’s daughter Sharmistha, sources in the Bangladesh delegation said.

For PM Modi and Vice-President Hamid Ansari, she has brought a dinner set, a leather bag, and Bengali sweets. It is understood that she is also carrying a Rajshahi silk saree for the Indian PM's mother.

The gift pack for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj includes a Rajshahi silk saree, a tea set and sweets and the one for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has a Benarasi saree and sweets.

There is a silver boat each as gift for Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) V K Singh and Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Babul Supriyo, who is also the ‘Minister in Waiting’. 

Around 30 per cent of the senior school going children in Himachal Pradesh experienced suicidal ideation last year.

A recent study conducted by Dr Ravi Sharma, Dr Anmol Gupta and Dr Durgesh Thakur from Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla titled ‘Prevalence and predictors of suicidal ideations among school going adolescents in a hilly state of India’, found that adolescents in the age group of 16–19 years (121; 37.8%) were significantly having more suicide ideation as compared to those aged in the group of 14–15 years (97;25.2%).

Sharing the details, Dr Anmol Gupta from Preventive and Social Medicine Department of IGMC said the study found that discussing problems with parents, having good relations with school teachers and helpful classmates lowered the risk of having suicidal ideations.

“On the contrary, adolescents having worrying issues in family, verbally or physically abused and body image conscious had increased chances of suicidal ideations,” he said.

Another study conducted by Dr Anmol Gupta, Dr Ravi Sharma and Dr Kamlesh Sharma (from IGMC)  titled ‘Prevalence and risk factors for depression in elderly North Indians’ showed that one tenth of the elderly residing in district Shimla are suffering from depression.

“It revealed that elderly having lower income, consuming tobacco, experiencing stressful life event in the past 1 year, having 3 or more chronic diseases or  lacking positive approach towards life were found to be more depressed,” said Dr Gupta.

The study recommended that persons lacking positive approach toward life need to be identified by screening and should be focused on so as to reduce the probability of occurrence of depression.

He said the theme for this year’s World Health Day is Depression- Let’s Talk.  

As per WHO, depression is an illness characterised by persistent sadness and loss of interest in activities that a person normally enjoys accompanied by inability to carry out daily activities for at least two weeks.

More than 300 million people around the world are now living with depression. Depression increases the risk of suicide, heart disease and Diabetes beside others and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. 

With the closure of bars, restaurants and hotels serving liquor along the national and state highways following the Supreme Court's ban on liquor vends on highways, the poultry sector is now feeling the heat.

This is feared to have an unfavorable impact on livelihood of nearly 5,000 poultry farmers in Haryana and Punjab. While the ban on sale of liquor within 500 meters of these roads, has already affected the hospitality sector adversely,  chicken consumption in both the states is falling.

The same is expected in adjoining areas including neighboring Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir with closure of highway bars which used to have chicken item on top of their menus.

MK Gupta, General Manager, North Zone, Venky's India Limited, a specialist in chicken meat processing, told The Statesman that more than 10 percent of the total chicken consumption in both of the states, belongs to bars, restaurants and hotels along with national highway and closure of such dining points due to the liquor ban would also affect the same consumption.

"Chicken consumption in both of the states in approximate 50 lakh kg per month, amounts to 2.5 crore birds. Most of this belongs to national highway passing through both of the states. The said amount is likely to affect nearly 5000 poultry farmers in these states," he said.

As per the assessment, the decline in chicken consumption is going to cause nearly Rs. 50 crore monthly loss to the industry in these states, an average Rs One lakh to each of such poultry farmers, added Gupta.

However, Gupta added that the beef ban by Yogi Adityanath led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is expected to compensate the loss of the chicken industry as the beef lovers now would shift to chicken meat now.

The Supreme Court recently has ordered for shut down of liquor vends
within 500 meters of national and state highway from April 1.

Following the move, out of total 478, bars in nearly 194 restaurants and hotels along with national and state highways would be closed in Haryana. Majority of them are situated in Gurugram. According to the State Excise and Taxation Department, shutting down of such bars and pubs in Haryana would cause nearly Rs 100 crore revenue loss too.

Similarly, in Punjab a total 2500 liquor vends, bars, pubs and hotels
serving liquor are facing closure due to the apex court order.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Saturday asked the graduates of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to focus on development of rural and hilly areas along with under privileged section of the society so their expertise could help in growth and expansion of economic activities.

In his address at the first convocation of IIM at Dhaula Kuan in Sirmaur district, he said that management tools could help in simplifying complex issues related to environmental sustainability, energy security, health care and sustainable development.

He urged the faculty of the Institute to have a broader and inclusive view of the management needs in the country that will not only address the challenges of the industry but also contribute towards the development of the Nation.

Singh said that the state government had played a very pro-active role in establishing these Institutions of importance by way of providing land free of cost and taking other effective steps in operationalisation of these Institutions.

He said that the land measuring 200 acres had already been provided by the state government free of cost for setting up of the permanent campus of IIM, Sirmaur at Dhaula Kuan.

Chairman IIM Sirmour Ajay Sriram lauded the role of state government in continuous support to IIM. He said that India had a sustainable growth and creating diverse opportunities.

Director IIM Nilu Rohmetra called upon the students to ensure quality in jobs managed by them and said that research, development and training were necessary to achieve quality.

The Haryana government will install one lakh CCTV cameras along national highways in the state, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said here on Saturday.

The closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed along the national highways soon, Khattar said, while interacting with media persons after inaugurating and laying foundation stones of development works worth Rs. 107 crore for Sirsa and Fatehabad districts.

Work on installation of the CCTV cameras will begin this year, officials said.

Some of the busiest national highways, like NH-1 (Delhi-Ambala), NH-8 (Delhi-Jaipur), NH-2 (Delhi-Agra), NH-10 (Delhi-Hisar), and others pass through Haryana.

The state surrounds national capital Delhi from three sides and all highways, linking north Indian states Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, pass through it.

The state atttracts a liot of heavy traffic of trucks with industrial hubs like Gurugram, Manesar, Bawal, Daruhera, Kundli, Panipat, Rohtak and others being located in the national capital region (NCR).
 

The city has been chosen as one of the stops of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour worldwide and the coveted silverware will be unveiled here on April 10.

The trophy, the most well known of all the club football prizes in the world, will be unveiled by the former UCL winner and Liverpool FC player Luis Garcia in the presence of Indian football star Sunil Chhetri at the Mahalaxami race course.

Mumbai was chosen for the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour through a Twitter contest by Heineken across four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata.

The contest encouraged fans from each city to tweet, vote and compete for their chance to host the trophy.

Each city was given a specific hashtag, for example: #ChampionTheTrophyBLR for Bangalore, #ChampionTheTrophyMUM for Mumbai and fans battled it out online with the maximum tweets to win the rights to unveil the trophy in their city.

The competition was close, but after days of continuous voting and tweeting, Mumbai emerged victorious.

The UCL Trophy will be in Mumbai for the first time in the programme's eleven year history and the football fans here will get a chance of a lifetime to host and unveil European club football competition's most coveted prize.

Post the unveiling, eight lucky fans chosen from a Twitter contest will get a chance to play a match with Garcia and Chhetri in a five-a-side football game on April 10 at the Turf Club.

Players will be assigned to team Garcia and team Chhetri.

This year the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour will stop in Jamaica, Panama, Colombia, Egypt, India and Vietnam.

A luxurious beach front villa in Goa owned by absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been sold to Bollywood and South Indian film actor Sachiin Joshi, by a group of banks led by State Bank of India, official sources said here on Saturday.

The property, known as the 'Kingfisher Villa', is situated on the picturesque Candolim Beach, a tourist hotspot.

It had earlier failed to attract buyers on three auction attempts by SBI Caps – which had taken over the possession of the villa – ostensibly since the reserve price wa between Rs 81-85 crore.

For the current sale, the reserve price was fixed at Rs 73 crore and the villa found a buyer in actor-cum-business baron, 33-year old Joshi, of the Mumbai-based Viiking Ventures Pvt. Ltd, said an SBI official who requested anonymity.

The property sale comprises a part of the recoveries due of the Rs 9,000-crore plus amounts including loan and interest outstanding from Mallya who is currently living in the UK since over a year.

The Pune-based JMJ Group of Industries belongs to Jagdish Mohanlal Joshi while his son Sachiin owns the Viiking Ventures Pvt Ltd., headquartered in Andheri.

It is a media & entertainment conglomerate which has varied business interests in beverages including mineral waters and Goa strong beer, media, spas, hospitality and healthcare.

The Kingfisher Villa, reportedly worth around Rs.100 crore, is built on a three acre plot and comprises magnificent bedrooms, artificial ponds and private swimming pools, open air dance floors, lush green gardens with over a score of expensive cars dotting the landscape.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday paid tributes to Indian soldiers who died in the Liberation War of 1971 that gave birth to her country.

The visiting Prime Minister said she was grateful to the people and the government of India for their contribution to her country's liberation.

"I am grateful to the government and people of India for their contribution to Bangladesh's war of Independence. Many Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives… We will always remember them with gratitude," Hasina said at an event in the Manekshaw Centre here.

Manekshaw Centre is named after S.H.F.J. Manekshaw, who headed the Indian Army in the 1971 war.

Hasina honoured the kin of Lance Naik Albert Ekka (Param Vir Chakra), Maj. Anup Singh Gahlaut (Maha Vir Chakra), Subedar Malkiat Singh (Maha Vir Chakra) and Sepoy Anusuya Prasad (Maha Vir Chakra), Lt. Samir Das, Squadron Leader A.B. Samanta and Lance Naik Mohini Ranjan Chakraborty.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, said it was an occasion to also remember the thousands killed in Bangladesh by the Pakistani Army and its militia allies.

"It is also a time to remember the cruel attack on Bangladesh that took thousands of lives. I thank Bangladesh for this emotional initiative," Modi said.

He also said a whole generation, including himself, was influenced by the life of founding father of Bangladesh, 'Bangbandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

Sheikh Hasina also visited an exhibition at the venue on the war and met veterans who had served in the war which led to the break up of then East Pakistan and the formation of an independent Bangladesh.

Jason Mohammed's blazing 58-ball 91 and an explosive cameo from Ashley Nurse carried the West Indies to a historic four-wicket victory over Pakistan in the opening One-Day International at the National Stadium here.

Chasing Pakistan's 308/5, the home side on Friday completed the task in 49 overs to mark the first time it has successfully chased 300 or more in an ODI.

Put in, Pakistan's total was built on half-centuries by Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

Shehzad (67) and Kamran Akmal (47) got the visiting side off to a good start with an 85-run stand for the opening wicket.

Hafeez then led the batting effort, his top score of 88 made off 92 balls and including six fours and three sixes.

Shoaib Malik rode his luck to smash 53 off 38 deliveries as Pakistan equalled its second-highest total against this opponent in the 50-over game.

Nurse, the off-spinning all-rounder, was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with his ODI-best 4/62.

In reply, the West Indies began shakily, with Mohammad Amir sending back Chadwick Walton in the fifth over, with the score on 23.

Left-handers Evin Lewis (47) and Kieran Powell (61) offered a period of stability, even as the required run-rate was climbing. It took the arrival of Jason at No.5 to up the ante.

With Hafeez and Shadab Khan, the leg-spinner making his ODI debut after an outstanding T20 series, proving difficult to get away, Jason targeted the pacers, most of his three sixes and 11 fours coming off them.

Nurse, coming in at 259/6 in the 45th over, gave him the company he needed, his unbeaten 34 off just 15 balls including five fours and a huge six off Shadab.

Both teams are battling for important ICC rankings points to confirm automatic qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England as one of the top eight teams, by the cut-off date of September 30 this year. Pakistan is currently eighth with the West Indies in ninth spot.

The second ODI of the three-match series will be on Sunday at the same venue.

Few weeks to go. Justin Bieber's Purpose Tour to India is set for 10 May, and he will be joined by Alan Walker, Norwegian music producer.

Nineteen-year-old Walker, one of Billboard Dance's artistes who performed in India before, will open the show for Bieber's concert, sources close to him said. 

“I'm really looking forward to returning to India. My last performance there was amazing, and I can't wait to my next visit. It's also a great opportunity and honour to perform alongside Justin Bieber. Who knows, maybe my Indian fans will get a chance to hear some of my new music?” Walker said.

Confirming the new, Arjun Jain, director, White Fox India, says, “Yes it is true that Alan Walker will be one of the international opening acts of the India leg of the Purpose Tour. We will announce the final line-up by mid April.”

Walker started making music on his laptop in his bedroom in Bergen, Norway, in 2012 and shot to fame after one of his songs Fade (which later become Faded) topped the charts in 10 countries and entered the Top Five in six more, becoming the most Shazam-ed song in the world.

Starting March 2016, Bieber’s Purpose World Tour has reportedly grossed close to $200 million. Box office counts claim more than 2.2 million tickets have been sold on 122 world tour stops. 

Bieber has played 10 shows so far in 2017, bringing in $40 million in total.

North Korea on Saturday rapped South Korea for seeking a closer military alliance with the US which it said would escalate confrontation between the two sides.

"South Korean puppet conservative group, whose fate is at stake after being cursed and rejected by the public, works hard to stay in power, calling for priority to the relations with the US and strengthened alliance," Xinhua news agency quoted the official daily of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmum, as saying.

South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn has recently called on the US to strengthen its alliance with Seoul, while calling North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear arms and missiles a "provocation" and "threat".

Rodong Sinmum called the South Korea-US alliance "just a war alliance to carry out the US policy for isolating and stifling the DPRK (North Korea) and realise its foreign strategy of aggression".

"The relations between the US and the South Korean regime are no more than master-servant relations," and Seoul's policy would only further such relations, "bring the north-south ties to a catastrophe and escalate the danger of nuclear war", the newspaper warned.

About 200 students, youth and members of the public on Saturday extended support to the farmers agitating in New Delhi by staging a day-long protest here.

A group of youths and students, who had rallied in support of Jallikkattu three months ago, called for the demonstration to express solidarity with the farmers, who have been protesting in the national capital for over 20 days, pressing for total waiver of bank loans, among other things.

About 50 persons were present at the start of the protest and the number swelled to nearly 200 by afternoon, even as a group observed a fast to show their support, police said.

The protesters held aloft placards, seeking support to the farmers, who provide food to the world.

Meanwhile, 12 persons, belonging to Tamilar Ilangar Ani (Tamil Youth Front), a little known outfit, were arrested when they attempted to stage a demonstration in front of the BJP office here, to protest the Centre's 'negligent' attitude towards farmers' issues, police said.