The Home Ministry on Monday decided to set up an expert committee to suggest steps for strengthening security of railway tracks and other assets.

The decision was taken at a meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, among others.

"The Home minister (has) decided to constitute an expert committee to suggest measures to strengthen safety and security of railway tracks and property," a spokesperson for the ministry said.

The meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain, special secretary internal security and senior railway ministry officials.

"A fruitful coordination meeting to improve security of Indian railways and for better protection of railway assets including rail tracks," Rijiju tweeted after the meeting.

The Home Ministry spokesperson said Singh and Prabhu discussed the recent incidents of railway accidents.

Earlier Prabhu had written to Singh seeking a detailed probe by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) into at least six incidents where accidents took place or an effort was made to cause an accident.

Following his letter, the Home Ministry handed over to the NIA the probe into three cases.

These cases include the recovery of an improvised explosive device (IED) at railway track in Ghorasahan in Bihar on October 1 last year and the incidents of derailment at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh.

India on Monday lifted ban on bulk exports of certain edible oils, including groundnut, sesame and soyabean, a move that will help ensure better income to farmers as well as promote domestic processing industry.

Currently, export of edible oils is allowed in up to 5 kg pack at minimum export price of $900 per tonne. The bulk export was banned way back in 2008 to curb price rise.

"Export of groundnut oil, sesame oil, soyabean oil and maize oil in bulk, irrespective of any pack size has been exempted from the prohibition on export of edible oil," Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.

Interestingly, India meets 60-70 per cent of its domestic edible oil demand from imports. The country imported about 14.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) during 2015-16 oil year (November to October).

The government's decision to allow bulk exports comes in the wake of estimated record oilseeds production at 33.59 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year (July-June), as against 25.25 million tonnes in the previous year.

Welcoming the move, industry body Solvent Extractors Association Executive Director B V Mehta said the decision will lift price sentiment in the domestic market. The prices are currently depressed in view of bumper production.

"We export only 25,000 tonnes of edible oils. With bulk shipments allowed, another 20,000-30,000 tonnes could go. The quantity is not significant but it will give right signal to farmers," he said.

India on Monday lifted ban on bulk exports of certain edible oils, including groundnut, sesame and soyabean, a move that will help ensure better income to farmers as well as promote domestic processing industry.

Currently, export of edible oils is allowed in up to 5 kg pack at minimum export price of $900 per tonne. The bulk export was banned way back in 2008 to curb price rise.

"Export of groundnut oil, sesame oil, soyabean oil and maize oil in bulk, irrespective of any pack size has been exempted from the prohibition on export of edible oil," Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.

Interestingly, India meets 60-70 per cent of its domestic edible oil demand from imports. The country imported about 14.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) during 2015-16 oil year (November to October).

The government's decision to allow bulk exports comes in the wake of estimated record oilseeds production at 33.59 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year (July-June), as against 25.25 million tonnes in the previous year.

Welcoming the move, industry body Solvent Extractors Association Executive Director B V Mehta said the decision will lift price sentiment in the domestic market. The prices are currently depressed in view of bumper production.

"We export only 25,000 tonnes of edible oils. With bulk shipments allowed, another 20,000-30,000 tonnes could go. The quantity is not significant but it will give right signal to farmers," he said.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said the government will seek information on the alleged rape case of a minor by eight teachers in Rajasthan's Bikaner.

"We got this information. It is a heinous crime. We (will) try to seek information on (the case)," the Minister of State for Home Affairs told reporters outside Parliament.

A 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped in April 2015 and an FIR registered against the teachers after her father recently gave a complaint to the local Superintendent of Police.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, however, had raised questions over the delay on part of the family in reporting the case.

Taking cognisance of the alleged rape case, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had also decided to write to the local Superintendent of Police and the District Magistrate to seek details on the matter.

Local police had recently visited the private school and recorded the statements of some locals.

Actor Akshay Kumar, who is trained in martial arts, says girls should not panic if touched inappropriately. They should instead hit back.

Akshay, along with the team of his forthcoming film Naam Shabana — co-actors Manoj Bajpayee and Taapsee Pannu and producer Neeraj Pandey — visited the Gargi College for women here on Monday morning.

Here, Akshay spoke extensively on the importance of women knowing self-defence techniques.

"In our country, I believe, girls should not learn martial arts or self-defence because I feel they should be free to walk anywhere, anytime, anyplace. But unfortunately, because of some dirty people they have to learn self-defence," Akshay said.

"I am running a school in Mumbai and I want to open one school here (in Delhi) but I don't know when it will happen. I just want to tell you one thing — if a guy touches you, then don't panic, in fact, hit him back and run," he added.

The 49-year-old actor says that a man is successful in harassing a girl when she "freezes" and doesn't react.

"What happens in life — How does a guy succeed in harassing a girl, to get her under control? Because a woman or a girl freezes. She doesn't know when a man touches her, she doesn't know what to do. So don't ever freeze, just shout… That is the biggest thing, just shout loudly and run, but don't freeze," Akshay said.

Akshay is known for his work in action-packed films like the "Khiladi" series as well as other action films such as "Mohra", "Elaan", "Suhaag", "Rowdy Rathore" and "Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty".

As a promotional step for "Naam Shabana", Akshay and Taapsee had also posted on social media a video teaching self-defence techniques to girls.

"Naam Shabana" is an action spy-thriller film directed by Shivam Nair and produced by Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia under the Friday Filmworks banner. 

A spin-off of the 2015 film "Baby", with Taapsee reprising her role as Shabana, the film is releasing on Friday.

Actor-filmmaker Rahul Bose, whose next directorial Poorna is about the youngest girl in the world to scale Mount Everest, says biopics — especially on inspirational sports icons — will continue to be made.

"Biopics will keep coming and continue being made, especially inspirational sports-based biopics. Apart from that, in fact, in the US, people have made biopics on Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and many more. So biopics are here to stay, but inspirational sports-based biopics would be made more," Rahul said at a screening of "Poorna" here on Sunday. 

"After some stage, small stories have to be considered. And that is the most challenging part, as (biopics on) lesser known stories will be made. People didn't know about Poorna Malavath, but now after our campaigns, people know about her," he added.

Poorna Malavath, a tribal teenaged girl, scaled the Mount Everest in 2014.

People are calling the movie "Poorna" different. Commenting on this, Rahul said: "It is not 'different'. It is a biopic on the youngest girl ever to climb Everest. It is a movie which will warm everyone's heart. But yes, there are no superstars in the movie. It is a commercial film with a little girl."

Rahul is happy that his directorial is being appreciated.

"Zoya Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Shabana Azmi, Vipul Shah, Anand Gandhi, Vishal Bhardwaj, Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble and many more have complimented me on 'Poorna'. I am very lucky. I think Shabana Azmi's compliment was the best. She said, 'I would like to watch it again'."

The Indian football team will look to starting their Asian Cup campaign on a high when they take on Myanmar in a Group A tie here on Tuesday.

For the final round of qualifying, Stephen Constantine's team has been drawn alongside Kyrgyzstan and AFC Solidarity Cup runners-up Macau and begin their attempt to qualify for the finals with a trip to Yangon.

"I know they're very well organised and they have a very good coach in Gerd Zeise," Constantine told the-afc.com 

"He's been there for quite some time and he's developed some of the players through the age groups and I think he's done a fantastic job there.

"Their Under-20s have recently qualified through the AFC for the FIFA U20 World Cup (in 2015) on merit, so he's done a fantastic job and they will be a very difficult opponent for us, both home and away, so I have nothing but respect for them," he added.

During his absence the Indians qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals in Qatar by winning the AFC Challenge Cup on home soil in 2008 under fellow Englishman Bob Houghton, the first time the country had qualified for the continental championship since Singapore in 1984.

India missed out on a place in Australia in 2015, but Constantine believes with the dawn of the Indian Super League and the country's impending hosting of the FIFA U17 World Cup later this year an upswing in the nation's football fortunes is possible in the near future.

"We have a lot of things going on, we just need consistency in terms of philosophies and development. India is such a large country and there are so many variables. It sounds easy to say let's get one system in place, but that has to go out into the districts, the villages, the towns and we have 36 state associations and some of those state associations are larger than countries in Europe," e said. 

"Logistically and to get the word out it takes that much more time to do, but I think in the last two years we have seen the senior national team come on, our u-17s are going to be hosting the World Cup, and that's a massive event for any country and a great honour.

"There's so much interest in Indian football and academies are springing up all over the place and while they may not be all be doing the right thing the interest is there now for football in India. It's a question of trying to get things all aligned and that takes some time," he added.

Constantine said qualification for the finals in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 would give the game in India another boost and vindicate the approach currently being taken to improve the sport in the country.

"I think whenever you qualify for a major event it's a sign you're doing things the right way and for India to qualify for the Asian Cup would be a huge thing," he said. 

"Given the state of our football, we have the league and the domestic leagues are ok, but they're not at the same stage as China or Korea Republic or Iran, UAE those kind of countries.

"We've got a long way to go. But qualifying for the Asian Cup is a huge step in the right direction and it gives everybody that impetus to keep pushing on and I think qualifying for those major events is what we need to be trying to do on a more regular basis," the coach added.

India are coming into the game on the back of a 3-2 win against Cambodia but they were far from convincing.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and co will have to step up against a side who come into the game with a 1-3 win over Indonesia, a team ranked higher than them in the rankings. 

The Asian team have dropped some 30 places on the ladder in the last month alone, but they are expected to make strong gains in the coming period.

Actress Melissa McCarthy, who is married to actor Ben Falcone, says she is bad at remembering dates and years — even if it is to do with her marriage.

McCarthy opened up about her marriage on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

When host DeGeneres asked them for how long they have been together, McCarthy said: "11 years married. Right?"

She added: "11 years married, and I would say 18, 19."

Falcone said: "I think we met 19 years ago. I think we've been together 16?"

To that, McCarthy replied: "I think it's more than that but, I think it's 18."

The host then joked that it would be great help if they can tell an accurate date.

Then McCarthy said: "No, but I'm awful with years. Like I ask my sister Margie, ‘When was I in New York?', ‘When was I in school'. I have been like this for some reason… I can't remember."

"I would remember like what you are wearing, what we did, where we went to dinner. I would remember like that stuff but in terms of like was it 1988 or was it like 2011, I'm like….umm," she added.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show is aired on Romedy NOW in India.

A Hizbul Mujahideen module aiming to disrupt the forthcoming bypoll to the Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag parliamentary constituency was busted with seven militants arrested from Kulgam district on Monday, police said.

Kulgam's Senior Superintendent of Police Shridhar Patel told reporters that police arrested the militants following information about formation of the module by Hizbul commanders.

The module's kingpin, Zuber Ahmad Badar was arrested and a pistol, some bullets and two AK-47 magazines seized from him.

"Sustained interrogation of the arrested militant led to arrest of more militants who were part of the module, which had been tasked to attack security forces in order disrupt the by-election in Anantnag parliamentary constituency," police said, adding more arrests are likely based on further disclosures.

Voting for Anantnag by-poll is scheduled on April 12.

Ruling Peoples Democratic Partyy's Tasaduq Hussain Sayeed is challenged by G.A. Mir of the Congress who is supported by the opposition National Conference.
 

Aymeric Laporte on Monday replaced Adil Rami in France's national football squad. Rami had injured his right calf during training.

France will face Spain in a friendly at the Stade de France on Tuesday.

According to the French Football Federation (FFF), Sevilla defender Rami got injured during the last training session a day earlier in Clairefontaine, reports Efe.

Rami did not feature in last Saturday's 3-1 road victory over Luxembourg in the 2018 World Cup European qualifiers, where France led Group A with four wins and one draw.

Laporte of Athletic Bilbao was summoned by the French team for last October's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

It was the second time that Les Bleus changed their roster after the matchup against Luxembourg. Right back Djibril Sidibe, who injured his chest in the game, had been replaced by Sebastien Corchia of Lille. 

 A March 1940-make Dacota C-43, the oldest aircraft in the world attempting circumnavigation of the globe, touched down here on Monday.

Also called DC-3 (Douglas DC-3), these planes had played a key role in India's wars with Pakistan in 1947 and 1965.

The present aircraft, owned by Aeropassion, a Swiss firm, flew in here from Karachi last night, its 11th halt on the 55-city tour during which it would circumnavigate the globe.

The aircraft, manufactured by the now extinct US-based Douglas Aircraft Company, were extensively used by the Allied forces during the World War II. Among other missions, they were used to airdrop the troops during the landing on the Normandy coast in France on the `D-day'.

The `Breitling DC-3 World Tour' started off from Geneva on March 9, the 77th birthday of the 36-seater aircraft with a 3-member crew, said Captain Francisco Agullo, the pilot.

Agullo (48), a Swiss national, has experience of 28 years. The tour is sponsored primarily by the Swiss watchmaker Breitling.

The other two crew members are co-pilot Paul Bazeley from Britain and engineer Daniel Meyer, a Swiss, who doubles up as official photographer of the tour.

Agullo said DC-3 was the first aircraft to be commercially viable when made in 1935 by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which went on to make as many as 16,000 of them between 1935 and 1950.

US Senate investigators plan to question US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as part of their broad inquiry into ties between Trump associates and Russian officials or others linked to the Kremlin, officials here said.

The White House Counsel's Office was informed that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, wanted to question Kushner about meetings he arranged with Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, according to the government officials. 

The meetings included a previously unreported sit-down with the head of Russia's state-owned development bank, reported the New York Times on Monday.

Till now, the White House had acknowledged only an early December meeting between Kislyak and Kushner, which occurred at Trump Tower and was also attended by former National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn.

Later that month, though, Kislyak requested a second meeting, which Kushner asked a deputy to attend in his stead, officials said. 

At Kislyak's request, Kushner later met Sergey N. Gorkov, the chief of Vnesheconombank, which drew sanctions from the Obama administration after Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine.

White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks said that part of Kushner's role, as Trump's close adviser during the campaign and the transition, was to serve as a chief conduit to foreign governments and officials, and he met dozens of officials from a wide range of countries.

Kushner is the person closest to President Trump to be caught up in the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe so far, according to the New York Times report. 

The news that he will be interviewed comes three days after Trump associates Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page sent letters to the House Intelligence Committee volunteering to be interviewed as part of the panel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, the daily reported.

Stone, Manafort, and Page — Trump's former campaign adviser, former campaign chairman, and foreign policy adviser, respectively — have all denied that they helped facilitate any collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow during the election.

The inquiry into Kushner's dealings with Ambassador Kislyak may further complicate Trump's efforts to move past the Russia situation. 

Last week, FBI Director James Comey confirmed in testimony to the Congress that his agency had begun a counter-intelligence investigation into Russian interference and whether any associates of Trump might have colluded with the Russian government.

Telugu artists Jahnavi Dasetty of Mahathalli fame and Viva' Harsha will now be seen on video streaming service Viu in two new shows – Munching with Mahathalli and Cinema Pichollo respectively.

Both the shows will be released on March 29 and viewers can stream the shows on www.viu.com or the Viu app.

Munching with Mahathalli will see Jahnavi conduct satirical interviews with stereotypical characters of the Telugu film industry played by her. The show will have special guests from the industry whom Jahnavi will interview and relive some of the most famous scenes of Tollywood cinema with them.

"The characters we see on-screen in our Telugu films are one of a kind. I am sure no other film industry in the world can boast of the melodramatic personalities and action sequences that we have," said Jahnavi.

Produced by Viu and Tamada Media, Munching with Mahathalli will have 26 episodes.

The other show starring Viva Harsha titled Cinema Pichollo celebrates Tollywood cinema and the absolute hysteria that fans experience when they see their cinematic idols making their dramatic entries, delivering 'punch' dialogues, woo heroines, their dance moves or beating villains on screen.

Harsha Chemmudu will be anchoring the show along with Shanmukh 'Shannu' Jaswanth in a 26-episode series on Viu co-produced by Whacked Out! Media.

In order to curb fresh generation of black money, the Central government is preparing to gradually phase out the new Rs.2,000 note. The government is also preparing to bring in laws to take penal action against hoarders of the new Rs.2,000 note, according to people in the know of the development.

"The idea behind introduction of the high denomination Rs 2,000 currency was to quickly remonetise the economy with the value in circulation. There is a strong push for a clean economy, towards less-cash economy and putting an end to the parallel black economy,” they told The Statesman.

The initial step of withdrawing the legal tender status from the high denomination old currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 announced on November 8, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already warned the nation that there could be more measures against black money in future. Officials said, “the Income Tax department is continuously monitoring the flow of money. There is a possibility that this time ‘no exemption’ would be given to hoarders of the new Rs,2,000 note and strict penalty will be imposed.” Earlier, the government gave a relief to individuals for tax exemption up to Rs.2.5 lakh deposit in old stocked currency.

While passing the Finance Bill, 2017, the government made an amendment where it allowed income-tax officials the power to raid anyone without citing any reasons. Officials said, “This will keep a check on continuous property transactions where the ratio of black and white was almost 50:50.”

There was criticism from various corners since the introduction of Rs.2,000 currency note as it will make it possible for huge amounts to change hands in illegal dealings and increase further generation of black money.

However, once the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system is implemented it will ensure transparency in business transactions and leave less scope for cash dealings.

With around 97 per cent of the invalidated currency coming back to the banking system, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said the level of currency in circulation will be slightly lower than during the pre-demonetisation period.

On the other hand, the government is trying to push its digital transactions campaign. Prime Minister Modi urged people on Sunday to take the fight against black money and corruption to the next level and asked them to use less cash and rely more on digital transactions in their daily lives.

The government has engaged Bollywood celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Anil Kapoor and R Madhavan to support a campaign titled 'Remonetise India – A Citizen's Pledge' to spread awareness among people about digitisation.

After making a debut with Hero, actor Sooraj Pancholi is now set to start shooting for a new film, which is a love story.

"I am starting a film now. In 20 to 25 days probably, I will start shooting for the film. It is a love story… An action love story. That is all I am allowed to say right now," Sooraj said on the sidelines of Society Leadership Awards 2017 here on Sunday.

The film will be helmed by ABCD 2 director-choreographer Remo D'Souza. The project has been termed as a dance-action film about two brothers. The movie features Ajay Devgn too.

Remo had earlier confirmed that the actors would train in Germany for the action sequences, and would also train for dance. However, the leading lady of the film hasn't been confirmed.

“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records,” William Arthur Ward once said. 

Drawing utmost inspiration from the aforementioned quote, 89 special Olympians from India returned home with 37 gold medals, 10 silver medals and 26 bronze medals from the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017 held in Austria.

India’s sports stars – boxer Mary Kom, shuttler Saina Nehwal and shooter Heena Sidhu came together at an event in the capital to felicitate the special athletes, who displayed tremendous strength, grit and courage in eight events of the Winter Games.

Five-time World Amateur Boxing Champion and 2012 London Bronze medalist MC Mary Kom hailed them, saying, “You make us feel proud. It’s just the beginning, keep fighting hard.”

The 34-year-old pugilist boxer said that the Special Olympics athletes have marvelous potential within themselves that is still to be realised completely.

“We can’t even think of what they have done,” former World No.1 badminton player Saina Nehwal added, referring to the wonderful haul of 73 medals.

“Olympics is the dream of an athlete and an Olympic medal is the crowning glory. These special athletes have made the nation proud,” Saina said.

Current World No.8 is scheduled to play the Indian Open badminton tournament starting Tuesday.

Saina expressed how helpless she could feel fighting against the knee injury that she sustained during the 2016 Rio Olympics, adding that “watching these special kids doing wonders amid adversities motivate” her a lot.

Heena Sidhu, India’s first shooter to top ISSF rankings, also praised the struggle and journey of the special athletes, saying: “Your journey must be harder than ours.”

“Special Olympics have been gaining visibility and momentum over the years. What these athletes need more right now is the encouragement, support and recognition by the public,” the 27-year-old air pistol added.

With an objective to provide orientation to science teachers in schools located in far flung tribal areas, a three-day-long workshop on 'Hands on Science Activities' was organised at Reckong Peo in Kinnaur district.

Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner N K Lath inaugurated the workshop on Monday organised by the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Himachal Pradesh under Science Popularisation Programme at District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) Reckong Peo.

Science graduate, post graduate teachers and eco-club in charges working in different schools in tribal District of Kinnaur participated in the workshop.

While addressing the workshop, Lath said that the objective of the workshop is to train science teachers, in schools located in tribal far flung inaccessible regions where there is no internet and mass media facility, through such 'Hands on Science Activities'.

The workshop would help the science teachers to learn advanced topics of science through creativity, he said, adding that it would help them in comprehending different scientific theories easily and make their students learn these scientific theories and experiments with ease.

“The present workshop would prove to be a milestone in the field of learning science through creativity,” he said.

B K Tyagi, Scientist E, Vigyan Prasar was the main resource person for the workshop.

He said that the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (SCSTE), HP has been involved in science popularization programmes since its inception in 1986.

The SCSTE has a wide outreach through Science Popularisation programmes and about 20,000 child scientists from 5,000 schools participate in Children’s Science Congress programme every year.