Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal has ordered shutting down of the AAP government-appointed 'Feedback Unit', months after CBI registered a preliminary enquiry to look into its setting up without the LG's nod.

The unit was created under the Vigilance Department in 2016 to reportedly "gather relevant information and actionable feedback" about officials and departments under the Delhi government.

It was also tasked to lay out traps to catch the bribe taking bureaucrats red handed.

"The Lt Governor has ordered closure of the Feedback Unit in the first week of March," sources said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said there is nothing wrong in setting up such a unit by the government.

"Every state should have a feedback unit and every government has it. Government should communicate with its people and take feedback. I don't think there is anything wrong in it," Sisodia told a press conference at his official residence.

Sources in the Vigilance Department said that government had hired around 15 retired police officers and experts even as the department did not know what they used to do.

"Some of members of the unit had resigned while some had quit their job. Government had also not extended the contract of some members, coming to an end in February this year.

"It has not been functioning since March 1. The unit was last year given Rs 10 lakh as a secret fund," a top government official said.

In January this year, a preliminary enquiry had been registered by the CBI after former Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had referred seven matters of alleged irregularity by Delhi government to the agency, which had come to light in the Shunglu panel report.

The Haryana government has announced to institute four “Dugad Ratna Awards”, each carrying Rs.1 lakh each in the categories of high yield of milk of buffalo, indigenous cow, foreign breed cow and goat.

Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister OP Dhankar said that after the implementation of the concept of peri-urban agriculture in the areas of National Capital Region (NCR) falling in Haryana, a target has been fixed to boost white-revolution in the state.

Dhankar said that the Agri-Leadership Summit would certainly change the direction and condition of traditional cultivation in the state. The farmers could significantly contribute in strengthening the economy of the state.

With their dedication and hard work, they can strengthen their hold on Rs.36,000 crore market and develop the liking of people of Delhi and its surrounded areas for their own products and brands, he added.

He said that a number of messages have been received from the other states, seeking cooperation from Haryana for holding such summits in their own states.

The minister was speaking at a function organised in Panchkula to honour the farmers, stakeholders and officials of different departments who had significantly contributed to the success of second Agri-Leadership Summit held recently at Surajkund.

India Test regulars Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay, who represent Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab respectively, will reportedly miss the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to injuries.

According to a report in Wisden India, both Ashwin and Vijay will miss the entire tournament. 

Ravindra Jadeja, who was man of the series in the just concluded Test series against Australia and fast bowler Umesh Yadav may also give the initial stages of the T20 league a miss.

Even Lokesh Rahul, who finished as the second highest scorer in the Border-Gavaskar series, is out of the IPL.

"Yes I have been ruled out of the IPL, don't want to get into the details at this point. You will get an official word from the Royal Challengers Bangalore," Rahul, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), told CricketNext.com. 

Rahul is expected to go to London soon to undergo surgery.

Rahul first injured his shoulder during the Test series against England, not fully recovering while playing in the series against Australia.

India and RCB skipper Virat Kohli will also miss the initial matches of the cash-rich league after he picked up a shoulder injury during the third Test in Ranchi.

RCB will open their campaign against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 5.

Actress Annie Gill will play a transgender in the second season of television series Big F, known for tackling issues considered taboo in the country.

It will explore the story of Madhu, a transgender woman disowned by her father, read a statement from the channel.

Talking about the role, Annie said: "It was a strong and challenging phase of my life where I got to portray the role of a transgender person. I chose to play the character of Madhu and Madhav to test my capabilities as an experienced actor. Everything associated with transgender identity is a very sensitive issue in India."

She added that through the show, they have tried to highlight the issue aesthetically.

"We are trying to create an awareness through this brave story," she added.

The show revolves around Madhu, who was born male and named Madhav. She fantasises about a male model named Sameer, essayed by Siddhant Karnick. Sameer too develops a soft corner for Madhu and expresses his love for her.

On playing Madhu's love interest, Siddhant said: "Transgenders and their sexuality is a hushed topic in India… Just like us, transgenders too have needs and it's about time someone spoke about it. This episode shows not only how transgenders feel but also the conflict and dilemma that those who love them go through."

Rapid Metro on Friday began the commercial operation of its second phase to connect residential areas in Sector 55-56 here with Delhi Metro at Sikanderpur station.

Authorities said the journey time from Sector 56 to Sikanderpur station to board Delhi Metro now will take only around 10 minutes.

Earlier, commuters used to depend on autos and buses to catch Delhi Metro from Sikanderpur. Traffic jams were routine.

The construction of Rapid Metro's second phase was started in January 2013 and was to be completed by July 2015.

There will be 12 trains on the new route, with two on stand by. The first train will be available at 6.05 am and the last 35 minutes past midnight.

The trains will operate at a frequency of around five minutes.

The second phase of Rapid Metro has six stations including Sikanderpur, DLF Phase-1, Sector 42-43, Sector 53-54, Sector 54 Chowk and Sector 55-56 in Gurgaon, covering nearly seven kilometres.

The Springdales School in Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi joined hands with the Indian Red Cross Society for a noble cause as they organised a blood donation camp on Friday.

Parent body, faculty members and class IV staff participated in the compassionate cause and deepened social awareness among the blood donors.

For every blood-donor, the school made sure that they go through adequate check-ups before donating blood.

In a sudden climb-down, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday suspended its party legislator Lal Babu Prasad accused of “sexually harassing” a female colleague from the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan after constantly defending its leader for two days.

The development follows as the ruling alliance leaders launched massive attacks on the BJP for allegedly shielding the accused legislator and ignoring concerns of female security. Strangely, the husband of the victim woman also happens to be a BJP legislator.

For the past two days since the incident took place in the corridors of the state assembly on Wednesday, the BJP had constantly denied any such incident had taken place. They remained silent even as the ruling alliance stepped up attacks on them and questioned their “sensitivity” towards the female class.

All of a sudden, however, the party initiated a series of action against Prasad, much to everyone surprise. First, it was state party president Nityanand Rai, who removed the accused lawmaker as party’s vice-president and denied him any place in the newly-constituted State Working Committee of the BJP.

Then came former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi who announced through his Twitter handle that the legislator in question has been suspended. “Lal babu Pd MLC suspended from primary membership of BJP,” Modi tweeted. Ironically, Prasad was considered too close to Modi and hence always enjoyed key position in the organisation.

Eventually, the Bihar Legislative Council chairman Awadhesh Narayan Singh who is also from the BJP announced the matter concerning the misconduct of the legislator has been referred to the Ethic Committee of the House for probe. He also announced Mr Prasad has been removed from the Council Committee on Pollution and Environment.

A single act of the BJP leader robbed him all posts and clouts. It all happened when Mr Prasad allegedly misbehaved with a LJP MLA Nutan Singh who was up to the stairs of the Legislative council on Wednesday afternoon. An enraged Mrs Singh soon called up her husband Niraj Singh ‘Babloo’, a BJP legislator, and informed him about the entire incident.

Babloo who was present in the House then instantly came looking for his BJP colleague, caught him in the corridor of the House and then gave him the sound thrashing until the other lawmakers intervened and separated them. Reports said the BJP legislator went on assaulting his colleague Prasad even as the later claimed innocence. Subsequently, they lodged a written complaint with the Council chairman and it was only then that the entire issue took a serious turn.

Staff Selection Commission has released the SSC MTS admit card 2017/SSC hall ticket 2017 on the official website sscmpr.org, www.ssc.nic.in.

Candidates trying to download SSC MTS admit card 2017 have to visit the official website and fill the blank space with the required information including name, roll number, date of birth and other required information in the blank space to download SSC admit card 2017.
 
SSC MTS examination 2017 will take place across the examination centers on April 30, May 14 and May 28, 2017.

Due to the huge number of visitors entering the SSC official website candidates may face technical issues in downloading the SSC MTS admit card  2017 so the candidates are advised to stay calm and refresh the SSC website if they face any issue. Along with this candidates have to take a print out of the SSCMTS admit card and carry it at the time of examination for entry in examination hall.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday called for early elections in Himachal Pradesh after the CBI filed chargesheet against the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in Delhi High Court.

BJP Chief spokesperson Rajeev Bindal said after filing of chargesheet, the entire Congress government is in dock and in such a scenario, early elections are the need of the hour.

“Even after prolonged judicial battle by the chief minister, he could not save himself in the case,” he said, adding CBI’s chargesheet against Singh and eight other persons is a serious issue.

Bindal alleged the CM and his family members prolonged the case in courts in last four years by misusing the government machinery. “Virbhadra Singh misused entire government machinery and even tried to take advantage of his position but, at last, the truth has prevailed,” he said.

Rajeev Bindal said the CM spent the entire time of his tenure in his visits to Delhi to prolong the case. “While on the other, the general public kept suffering for the want basic amenities as the head of the state was busy in settling corruption case. The entire government machinery was in fix and failed to ensure basic amenities as power and water to the people,” he said

He called on the Congress leadership to take the issue of chargesheet against Singh seriously and said the party should take hard decisions to protect democratic values.

It is worthwhile to mention here that Delhi High Court quashed Virbhadra Singh and his wife’s plea to quash disproportionate assets case filed against them by the CBI.

The Delhi High Court has also vacated the HP High Court’s order, restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing chargesheet against him and his wife.

Singer-actress Jennifer Lopez has been sued by a hoverboards company for not keeping her end of the contract.

Lopez got some customised hoverboards for her Las Vegas show from Sidekick Group Corp.

The company says it shipped out 42 hoverboards for Lopez and her dancers to use in her All I Have show at Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas, and didn't charge her cash. However, their signed contract required Lopez to do a few things in return, tmz.com reported.

In return, she had given her word that she would make promotional posts for the brand on Instagram or Twitter once every three months. But Sidekick Group Corp says she only posted once, and later deleted it, the lawsuit claims.

The company says the hoverboards cost a total of $54,390, which were customised for the show.

"We have to find our heart songs all by ourself … It's the voice you hear inside…"

Eighty days, may be not. But, you have been travelling places. What do you find when you journey around? Do you live the 'Life of Pi'? Have you found what you are looking for? Are you looking for a break, a spark, an adventure, or happiness?

Or, do you have a happy feet like Mumble, the male emperor penguin, in the 2006 film – Happy Feet – directed by George Miller? In the film, Mumble, banished from home, ventures out alone for the first time and finds himself in Adelie Land where he meets a group of penguins. Far away from home, in a strange land, Mumble dances away and wins the hearts of many penguins. He makes new friends. He also meets Lovelace the Guru, who answer questions on life for the price of a pebble. Mumble then, together with Lovelace and the Amigos, travels across different places.

As he wanders along, Mumble's happy feet takes him to beautiful landscapes and epic encounters. The lost Mumble finds himself in a completely new world, in the company of strangers-turned friends. His new friends help him be himself. And, he learns life beautiful lessons. One being one can make a difference in the world by being true to oneself.

Well, travelling places enriches and makes living meaningful. And, while there are many lessons to learn as we travel on in this life on this planet, the next time you travel, may you find the song of the heart and bring home the story of happy feet like Mumble.

"You might make a different song, yes that's right it's true…"

The budget session of the state assembly was on Friday adjourned sine die, seven days before schedule, amid opposition by the opposition BJP, however.

Parliamentary Affairs minister, Mukesh Agnihotri moved the resolution to adjourn the state assembly after today’s proceedings, mentioning that there was no agenda left for the budget session and that there were four holidays in a row from Saturday.

On this, BJP member, Ravinder Singh Ravi said that the BJP was opposed to it as the notification for the session was till April 7. He said that there were still some agenda and discussions on important issues left. Questioning the reasons on which the session was being adjourned sine die, Ravi said, “Is it being done because of the development of Delhi High Court rejecting the Chief Minister’s petition.”

He said that it was wrong to adjourn the notified session mid way.

On this, Speaker, Brij Bihari Lal Butail said that the court has no role to play in the session. “It is within the right of the house and its members to run the session or to adjourn it. It had been done earlier also,” he said.

The Parliamentary Affairs minister said that the house runs with majority and urged the Speaker to go for voting for adjournment of the house.

As soon as the Speaker responded to it, the BJP members were on their legs and started raising slogans against the government.

Leader of opposition, Prem Kumar Dhumal later addressed a press conference and said it was highly undemocratic of the government to have adjourned the session seven days before the notified date. He said the government was fearful that the BJP would rake up the issue of corruption in the session after the development against Chief Minister in Delhi on a corruption case. The budget session of the HP assembly had started on March 1.

Vexed by comparison with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat said both the states are different and face distinct problems.

The aggressive approach of Adityanath has put the Uttarakhand CM under pressure to perform. While the UP chief Minister is active on social media, Rawat is learning the tricks of the trade now.

When Rawat failed to take any action on a tweet by a girl, who was injured in an accident and police failed to register her complain, the issue created big media hype in Dehradun. Learning from the slow action on tweets made to the Uttarakhand CM, the Uttarakhand government has launched the online complain portal (samadhan.uk.gov.in)

Rawat said, “We don’t want to adopt Uttar Pradesh development model in Uttarakhand. Both the states are geographically different and their problem are also different.”

As both Rawat and Yogi hail from same district, Pauri in Uttarakhand, the comparison comes automatically. Both started their innings as Chief Minister at the same time. The new Uttarakhand CM was forced to make the comment after constantly facing media query on UP-Uttarakhand comparison and also by watching the Yogi obsession of highlanders on social media. The aggressive approach of Adityanath has taken the Uttarakhand people, active on social media, by storm.

The Uttarakhand CM made this comment during his Thursday visit to Haridwar. The opinion of the public is certainly creating some pressure on Chief Minister Rawat. The comparison is certainly forcing Rawat to act like Yogi in many cases. Like the new Chief Minister has made an appeal on his twitter account, “We are revamping our systems to make them accountable to public; however existing tools need to be utilized as well.”

Yogi versus Rawat – The debate is unlikely to end in Uttarakhand. In fact the only solution before Rawat to end this comparison is come out of his defensive approach and adopt an attacking style like Yogi.

Apprehending a high risk of polio virus importation from Pakistan, Punjab has decided to immunise nearly 36 lakh children up to five years during the second round of National Immunisation Day falling on April 2.

Announcing this on Friday, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra said 70,000 vaccinators and 3,000 supervisors had been deputed to cover all children in the state. He appealed to parents to immunise their children to protect them from polio. "Polio campaigns were being periodically undertaken in the entire state as Punjab is at a high risk of polio virus import from endemic countries, especially Pakistan", he said. He also said the districts at risk are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Mohali and Sangrur, where migrant families reside.

Mohindra further said 15,000 booths had been set up statewide to cover the entire infant population. He said special house teams had been formed which would go from door to door to administer vaccination. These teams would be supervised by nearly 3,000 supervisors, he added. He said that besides conducting Special State Level Monitoring on these districts extensive efforts have been made to strengthen the activity in migrant families, as a large chunk of children in Punjab (20 per cent) belong to migratory families. He said that this National Level Campaign against polio in all the districts in the state will be monitored by state observers under National Polio Surveillance Project.

For the second time in a month, China on Friday warned India of "serious damage" to bilateral ties if it allows the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh as Beijing asked New Delhi to honour its "political pledges" on the Tibet issue.

"We are seriously concerned about the news. On the eastern section of the China-India border, China's position is clear and consistent," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media here on Friday, responding to a question on the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of south Tibet.

"The Dalai clique has long been engaging in separatist activities with inglorious record. India should be very clear with the true nature of the Dalai clique," Lu said.

"But despite this India still invited the Dalai Lama to visit the region. This will have serious damage on bilateral relations," Lu said.

The Dalai Lama will visit Arunachal Pradesh from April 4 to 13.

This is the second time this month Chinese Foreign Ministry has aired its objections to the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"China is gravely concerned over information that India has granted permission to the Dalai to visit Arunachal Pradesh," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said on March 3.

China has protested to India last year also when New Delhi cleared his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

"Such visits will have deep damage on China India relations. We have asked India to stick to its political pledges and not to hurt China-India relations. It will come down to India to make a choice," Lu said.

"China firmly opposes the Dalai Lama carrying out any activities in the relevant region and we have expressed our concerns to the Indian side. We urge India to stick to its political statements, respect the consensus and avoid doing anything that might further complicate the matter," Lu said.

He said India should not provide any platform for the "Dalai clique and only that way can China-India relation can move forward in a sound and steady way".

"China and India are two major developing countries and we are close neighbors". It is very important for the two peoples to maintain sound and steady China India relations.

But such relationship has to be built on certain foundation," Lu said.

Last year, China also protested the visit of then American Ambassador to India Richard Verma to the area.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as Southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covered Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war.

The district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar has terminated Headmistress of Kasturba Vidhalaya of Khatuali area for asking some of the girls in the boarding to strip.

Many of the enraged guardians of the girls who were studying here withdrawn their wards from the school after this shocking incident.

It all started on Wednesday in Kasturba Vidhyala of Mubarikpur Tigaai area of Khatauli when Surekha Tomar, Headmistress and also the warden of the school forced some of the girls to strip.

In fact there was blockage in the toilet as a girl had flushed sanitary napkins in it.

Irate by this the warden summoned the senior girls and interrogated them in this regard. When none of them spoke a word she allegedly asked them to remove the clothes to reach to the culprit.

Kasturba Vidyalaya is a boarding school for girls from classes 1st to 8th where the senior girls are of 12-13 years of age.

Hence after this incident the shocked girls intimated their parents who in a fit of anger came out to protest this conduct of the warden.

Not only this over a dozen parents are said to have withdrawn their wards from the school where the total strength was about 100 only .

The news of this incident reached Basic Shiksha Adhikari Chandrakesh Yadav who visited the school and intimated the matter to the DM Dinesh Kumar Singh who directed him to constitute a probe committee.

" On the directions of DM  a five member committee including two lady staff Poonam and Preeti Chaudhary was constituted and asked to submit its report in 24 hours," told the BSA who had presented the probe report to the DM on Friday.

DM directed the BSA to remove Surekha Tomar from the post and cancel her contract with immediate affect in view of the charges of serious nature.

Confirming the BSA informed that a team is also being constituted to normalise the situation in the school and also convince the parents of the girls who left the school to send them again.

ON the contrary the terminated headmistress Surekha Tomar claimed it a conspiracy of some teachers of the school who were against her.

Most of the girls are young as the school is till 8th standard and only few of them are of this age which is using napkins.

The issue has been blown out of proportion, she said. 

Clashes erupted in parts of the Kashmir Valley after the congregational Friday prayers as protesters assembled outside mosques shouting pro-Islamic and "freedom" slogans.

Soon after the Friday prayers ended in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore, Tral and Bijbehara towns, slogan-shouting protesters assembled outside the local mosques.

Four protesting youth and a security man were injured in Sopore, but police here said no serious injury to anyone has so far been reported from anywhere in the Valley.

In Maisuma area of Srinagar, some protesting youths forced closure of markets before they were chased away by the security forces.

Separatists had called for protests after the Friday prayers against killings of three civilian in clashes with the security forces in Budgam district on Tuesday.

Authorities had made heavy deployments of security forces in sensitive areas of the Valley although no curfew was imposed anywhere.

Senior separatist leaders including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq were placed under house arrest here while Muhammad Yasin Malik has been lodged in Srinagar central jail after he was remanded to police custody by the Principal District and Sessions Judge on Wednesday.