The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday charged Jindal Steel's adviser Anand Goel and four others involved in the coal block allocation scam case.

Apart from Goel, Gurgaon-based Green Infra's vice president Siddharth Madra, Mumbai-based KE International's Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Aggarwal, Nihar Stocks Limited Director BSN Suryanarayan and Mumbai's Essar Power Limited Executive Vice Chairman Sushil Kumar Maroo were also chargesheeted by the CBI.

A special CBI court on April 30, 2016, charged Naveen Jindal with criminal conspiracy in a case of inappropriate allocation of the Amarkonda coal block in Jharkhand. The court had also framed similar charges against former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and former Coal Secretary HC Gupta.

The CBI had alleged that Madhu Koda had favoured Jindal group firms — Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) — while allocating coal blocks in Jharkhand. It filed a chargesheet against Jindal, Koda, Rao and Gupta in April 2015.

The others accused in the case include Jindal Realty Director Rajeev Jain, Gagan Sponge Directors Girish Kumar Juneja and RK Saraf and Sowbhagya Media's Managing Director K Ramakrishna.

(With inputs from agencies)

The house and office of former minister of previous Samajwadi Party government of the state Moolchand Chauhan in Bijnor  were raided by the Uttarakhand and UP police on Thursday in a case of abduction of Jila Panchayat President in 2013.

The police, however, was looking for Minister's son Amit Pratap Chauhan and had a non bailable warrant against him but could not arrest him.

Since the matter was high profile and related to a former minister the senior officers kept a mum and the raids were conducted secretively keeping the media at Bay.

Later  Ajay Kumar Sahni, SP Bijnor told that the Uttarakhand police had arrived in search of Amit Pratap  Chauhan with a non bailable warrant. He however refused to divulge any other information.

Late night on Thursday a team of Uttarakhand police raided the office and residence of Moolchand Chauhan in Naurangabad of Bijnor but could not meet neither the former minister nor his son and returned empty handed.

In fact the action has come in Connection of a case of abduction of Jila Panchayat President in 2013. Case of abduction was lodged  in Laxshman Jhula police station of Rishikesh in Uttarakhand on 16-17 January of 2013 against the than UP minister's son Amit, than MP Yashveer Singh, MLA Manoj Paras and some SP leaders.

The charges were that they had held captive Jila Panchayat Adhyaksh Nasreen Saifi ànd her husband Rafi Saini who had left the BSP and joined SP shortly after the party came in power in UP in 2012.

Since the matter was related to SP which was in power no action was taken in the past. The change in rule in both  UP and Uttarakhand has perhaps resulted in this action.

Adding fruits to your kid’s diet is a good step to make them healthier. You will be amazed at how much better they feel with daily intake of fruits. Although it is difficult to make the kids to eat fruits, by adding a little fun it becomes an easy job.

Making fruit ice-creams at home is a great way of engaging kids to have healthy food. Use organic fruits and freeze them in quite visually-appealing and colourful creamy manner.

Here are few delicious fruit ice-creams you can make at home .

Strawberry ice-cream: Wash two cups of strawberries and blend them in a food processor. Add one tin of condensed milk and one cup of whipped cream in it. Blend again till the mixture is smooth. Strain it to remove small seeds in the fruit. Transfer it in a freezer safe box and freeze overnight.

Watermelon ice-cream: Take two cups of watermelon cubes (deseeded) in a food processor and puree it. Add a tin of condensed milk and one cup of whipped cream. Blend till all the ingredients mix well together. Pour the mixture in a freezer safe box and freeze overnight.

Mango ice-cream: Take two cups of mango chunks and blend smooth. Mix a tin of condensed milk and a cup of whipped cream in it with the help of an electric blender. Transfer the mixture in a freezer safe box and freeze for five to six hours or until it sets.

Litchi ice-cream: Take two cups of peeled and deseeded litchis and make a paste in a high power blender. Add one tin of condensed milk and a cup full of whipped cream in it. Blend all the ingredients till mix well. Pour in a freezer safe box and freeze overnight.

Pineapple ice-cream: Put two cups of well peeled pineapple cubes in a high power blender. Blend till it becomes a paste. Add one tin of condensed milk and one cup of whipped cream and blend again till smooth. Transfer it into a freezer safe box and freeze it overnight.

Home-made natural fruit ice creams are ready to serve.

They are sinfuuly tempting and delicious. These ice-creams taste much better than the store bought ice-creams. While most kids would turn their noses up at the mention of fruits for snacks, you can make them palatable when they are disguised as ice-cream. You may add an assortment of fresh fruit slices as sweet natural toppings having healthy nutrition.

All five BJP members in the Telangana legislative assembly were on Friday suspended from the house for two days for disrupting the proceedings.

Speaker Madhusudhana Chary announced the suspension of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including their leader K. Laxman, as they trooped in the well of the house to protest the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government's move to increase the reservation for Muslims in the state.

Legislative Affairs Minister Harish Rao moved the resolution for the suspension of the BJP members for this week.

Wearing black scarves and raising slogans against the government, the BJP members demanded that the government drop the proposal to increase the quota for the Muslims.

The TRS government has announced that it will move a bill in the assembly during the ongoing Budget session to raise the quota for the Muslims in jobs and education from the current four per cent to 12 per cent.

Terming the move as "unconstitutional", the BJP has called for 'chalo assembly' (March to Assembly) on Friday. Security has been tightened on all roads leading to the assembly building to foil any march by the protestors.

Opposing the suspension of the BJP members, the main opposition Congress party staged a walkout from the assembly.

Opposition parties led by the Samajwadi Party on Friday forced a brief adjournment of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha alleging a move to disband the OBC Commission, a charge vehemently denied by the government.

SP members rushed into the Well of the House and shouted anti-government slogans, forcing Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien to adjourn the proceedings for 10 minutes.

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said Prime Minister Narenda Modi has repeatedly said that the constitutional position of reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs will continue.

"Since the time of Jan Sangh, we have been a supporter of reservation to these communities and will continue to be a supporter," he said.

The Government, he said, has taken a decision to give constitutional status to the commission for other backward classes (OBC) and it will get the same rights as Commission for SC and STs.

Earlier when the House assembled, Ramgopal Yadav (SP) said the National Commission for Backward Classes, created in response to a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, has been disbanded instead of giving it the promised constitutional status.

This Commission is to be replaced by a National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NSEBC) and part of a larger "conspiracy" to do away with reservation to dalits, Yadav alleged.

The new commission will examine and recommend requests for inclusion and exclusion in the list of other backward classes (OBCs).

Without naming the RSS, he alleged that the move was guided by the philosophy of the ruling party's "fountain head" that reservation should end. "Backward classes feel cheated."

He alleged that backward communities like Yadavs, Kurmis, Lodhas and Kushwaha, who have made some social progress, were being removed from the OBC list.

His assertion found support in rival BSP, as well as the Congress whose members too vehmently opposed move to disband the OBC Commission.

Rejecting the Minister's statement, Yadav said the OBC Commission has been disbanded and it is a conspiracy to end reservation.

Soon thereafter, his party colleagues rushed into the Well raising slogans against the government. They found support in the BSP and Congress too.

Shares of public sector banks rose by up to 4.5 per cent on Friday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised a solution to the growing NPA problem within next few days.

The scrip of Bank of India rose by 4.5 per cent, Bank of Baroda surged 4.16 per cent, Union Bank of India (3.18 per cent), PNB (3 per cent) and SBI (2.49 per cent) on BSE.

Buying was also seen in private lenders, with ICICI Bank trading 3.03 per cent higher and AXIS Bank 0.83 per cent up.

Promising a solution to the growing NPA problem in the next few days, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on March 23 said the resolution being worked out with the RBI will put enough pressure on borrowers to settle dues.

He blamed the bad loans of public sector banks on just 30-50 companies, saying accounts of these will have to be fixed to solve the issue.

The gross NPAs of public sector banks have risen to Rs.6.06 lakh crore in December 2016, from Rs.5.02 lakh crore at the end of March 2016.

Budget carrier IndiGo on Friday said it will support any move which bars unruly passengers from flying, a day after Air India said it was mulling preparing a no-fly list for such people in the wake of a Shiv Sena MP assaulting its employee.

"We will support a no-fly list," IndiGo President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh said.

At present, there is no such mechanism available with the Indian airlines.

Significantly, IndiGo, which is the largest domestic airline by market share, has reported a number of incidents involving unruly passengers on board its flight.

On Thursday Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad repeatedly hit a 60-year-old Air India officer with sandal in a brazen burst of fury over being unable to travel business class despite having insisted on boarding an all-economy flight.

The national carrier has filed two FIRs against the MP, while the Shiv Sena has sought an explanation from him.

"Air India is examining creation of no-fly list of unruly passenger on the lines of other carriers," a senior airline official had said post the assault incident, which had invited sharp reactions from various quarters.

Usage of mobile applications in India grew 43 per cent in 2016, with entertainment and finance categories witnessing highest traction, as per a study by Yahoo's Flurry Analytics.

"India's app usage grew 43 per cent year on year. The India app usage grew at 92 per cent during the same period last year (2015)," the 'State of the App Nation in India' study said.

Messaging and social apps remain one of the most engaged categories in Asia and India. Time spent on messaging and social apps grew by an impressive 52 per cent in India compared to 44 per cent globally.

Globally, app usage grew by only 11 per cent, it said.

"The decelerating rate of global growth could signal market maturity, saturation or simply the end of the app gold rush.

"Going back to India's six-month mobile trend delay, there's no better time for local developers to innovate, and lessen or possibly stop a local industry pause," Flurry Director Christopher Klotzbach said in a statement.

Flurry collected data from over 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion global devices from across the world, and 58,000 apps across 147 million devices from India.

The top three app growth categories in India were music, media and entertainment followed by business and finance, and utilities and productivity apps.

"Music, media and entertainment applications saw the biggest usage increase at 188 per cent year-on-year (YoY), which can be attributed to rise of phablet devices and better Internet connectivity in India.

"Business and finance apps grew 176 per cent YoY, utilities and productivity apps grew 99 per cent YoY," the study said.

Phablets, or devices with screen size between 5-6.9 inch, is the most preferred mobile device with 61 per cent market share in India.

"The phablet is the fastest growing mobile device globally. In India, phablets have a market share of 61 per cent, outpacing growth in the US which has 48 per cent market share," the study said.

More than 12 mobile makers have a substantial footprint locally, with Samsung leading with 40 per cent market share, followed by brands like Micromax, Redmi and Lenovo, the study said.

Personalisation apps saw decline in India in line with global trends.

Peak usage of mobile application in India is seen around 9 pm.

"Indian users are generally slower to turn to their phones in the morning but quickly scale usage throughout the later morning hours," the study added.

Filmmaker-actor Karan Johar has tried his hand at singing and says crooning a number for composer Shekhar Ravjiani was an honour for him.

Ravjiani, who has also crooned numbers like Tujhe bhula diya, Zehnaseeb and Radha, shared a photograph of Karan alongside a microphone. He says the filmmaker crooned a number for the reality show Dil Hai Hindustani, where Karan, Ravjiani, rapper Badshah and singer Shalmali Kholgade are seen as judges.

"Karan Johar records a song for me. Yet another role. Dil Hai Hindustani," Ravjiani captioned the image. 

Karan, also a chat show host, thanked the composer. 

"Thank you Shekhar sir! Singing for you was an honour…I hope this leads to a long innings as a playback singer…for me! Dream comes true," Karan said. 

What is the secret behind profitable forex trading? Major traders fail as they are unable to read the market successfully or because they are impatient. Yet, trading is no rocket science. I have a simple mantra: Emotional discipline and patience.

Your goal as a trader must be to make the best trades; money is secondary. Trade well, rather than trading often. A smart trader will always use the "take-profit and stop-loss" method of trading, which keeps your profits and losses well calculated, and you are not exposed to high risk ever.

One also needs to be vigilant about choosing one's forex broker. The right broker will provide the trader with his own Client Cabinet where the trader's information and documents are safe, and he can view his entire history of all activities in one go.

Needless to say, one should deal only with reputable forex brokers. Unfortunately, in the early days of online forex trading, fraud was an all-too-common problem. Great efforts have been made to clear out unscrupulous brokers, but you must still exercise caution when selecting a new broker.

Other important things to consider while trading in forex:

The time to buy is when a trader analyses that the market is moving in an uptrend, and the time to sell is when analysis shows it is moving in a downtrend.

And the best way to minimise risk?

A trader should choose a session he is comfortable with: Asian Session, European Session or American Session. Always try to analyse and trade intra-day, which means your trades should be executed within the same day and in doing so you are not exposed to swap charges.

What is the right approach to trading in forex or commodities?

Always practice on a demo account to get the hang of the trading systems. Of course, the experience of trading on a live account is different, but at least you are sure you know your trading terminal well.

Another important thing: Avoid greed. Once you have made profits always remember to withdraw them. It always boosts traders morale to account profit separately from his invested principle amount.

Always trade in a calculated manner and do not get over-excited or depressed. Remember, it is a floating profit or loss, unless you have closed your trades. Again, use "take-profit and stop-loss" options while initiating a trade.

Keep yourself updated with market news and preferably follow some expert advisers who have been in the market for at least a decade or more. One can find them on channels in the currency market bulletin.

In a major development to the Jiah Khan suicide case, a Mumbai court on Friday adjourned the hearing on framing of charges against Sooraj Pancholi to April 20.

Reports on March 22 suggested that the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court was likely to frame charges against Sooraj in the case.

The CBI framed the charges after the Supreme Court refused a petition filed by Rabia Khan (Jia's mother) on February 9, 2017, seeking that the matter be probed by the Special Investigations Team. The apex court declined to intervene in the matter and upheld the Bombay High Court's order.

Earlier this month, Sooraj had also requested the court to expedite his trial in the case.

Jiah was found dead in her room on June 3, 2013 and her then boyfriend Pancholi was arrested by the police after Jia's mother filed a case against him in connection with the suicide case.

Opposition parties led by the Samajwadi Party on Friday forced a brief adjournment of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha alleging a move to disband the OBC Commission, a charge vehemently denied by the government.

SP members rushed into the Well of the House and shouted anti-government slogans, forcing Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to adjourn the proceedings for 10 minutes.

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said Prime Minister Narenda Modi has repeatedly said that the constitutional position of reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs will continue.

"Since the time of Jan Sangh, we have been a supporter of reservation to these communities and will continue to be a supporter," he said.

The Government, he said, has taken a decision to give constitutional status to the commission for other backward classes (OBC) and it will get the same rights as Commission for SC and STs.

Earlier when the House assembled, Ramgopal Yadav (SP) said the National Commission for Backward Classes, created in response to a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, has been disbanded instead of giving it the promised constitutional status.

This Commission is to be replaced by a National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NSEBC) and part of a larger "conspiracy" to do away with reservation to dalits, Yadav alleged.

The new commission will examine and recommend requests for inclusion and exclusion in the list of other backward classes (OBCs).

Without naming the RSS, he alleged that the move was guided by the philosophy of the ruling party's "fountain head" that reservation should end. "Backward classes feel cheated."

He alleged that backward communities like Yadavs, Kurmis, Lodhas and Kushwaha, who have made some social progress, were being removed from the OBC list.

His assertion found support in rival BSP, as well as the Congress whose members too vehmently opposed move to disband the OBC Commission.

Rejecting the Minister's statement, Yadav said the OBC Commission has been disbanded and it is a conspiracy to end reservation.

Soon thereafter, his party colleagues rushed into the Well raising slogans against the government. They found support in the BSP and Congress too.

Tata Motors will raise up to Rs.500 crore via issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.

"A meeting of duly authorised committee was held on Friday approving offering for subscription on a private placement basis, up to 5,000 rated, listed, unsecured, 7.84 per cent coupon, redeemable, non-convertible debentures aggregating up to Rs.500 crore," Tata Motors said in a BSE filing.

Shares of Tata Motors were trading 0.23 per cent higher at Rs.472.90 on BSE.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton continued where he left off in the first practice at the Australian Grand Prix, consistently lapping faster times than the rest of the chasing pack in Friday’s second practice session, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel half a second behind in second place.

While Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas had been impressive in the first session, his second outing saw a slight dip, ending the day a 100th of a second behind Vettel in third place. Vettel’s teammate, Kimi Raikkonen was in fourth place and the only driver within a second of pace-setter Hamilton’s marker. 

Red Bull also saw a slight downturn in fortunes, with their drivers finishing 5th and 6th in an incident packed practice session. Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo was ahead of the much-vaunted Max Verstappen, but with Renault’s Joylon Palmer bringing out the red flags early in the session, many drivers saw their runs interrupted. 

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was another driver who had an unfruitful practice, hitting the gravel at Turn 6 while Williams’ Felipe Massa failed to recover from a gearbox issue and was unable to go round Albert Park more than six times as a result. Kevin Magnussen was another driver who could not get much time on the tracks after his Haas was crippled by a water pressure issue.

Friday’s afternoon session proves that plenty of teams are struggling with a variety of issues and with time running out, they best get their act together if they wish to realistically compete in Saturday’s qualifying and the race on Sunday. 

Asserting that his government has taken stringent steps to check drug menace, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has said 'Udta Punjab' will not happen in the state after the BJP raised the issue in the legislative council.

'Udta Punjab' is the name of a Hindi film which highlights drug abuse by youths in Punjab.

"A special drive has been launched to curb drug menace in the state, especially Bengaluru and Mangaluru. We will not allow Bengaluru to go the Punjab way. Udta Punjab will not happen here," he said.

The Minister was replying to BJP MLC Lahar Singh in the legislative council yesterday.

Raising the issue in the House, Singh rapped the government for its "inaction" to curb the drug menace in the state.

Parameshwara said the government has taken the matter seriously and directed police to take stringent action against drug peddlers. "It has been come to the notice of the police that petty shops near colleges indulge in peddling," he said.

Parameshewara said 65 Indian and 23 foreign nationals have been arrested in connection with drug-trafficking cases in the past two-and-a-half months.

The minister also said there are 1,023 foreign nationals overstaying in the state."We have been in touch with the External Affairs Ministry, and around 59 of overstaying foreign nationals have been deported," he said.

About the recent mysterious death of a Nigerian national, who overstayed his visa, here, Parameshwara said he was a drug trafficker and had died in a road mishap.

"Nobody has claimed his body despite the Nigerian High Commission being informed. Right steps will be taken to dispose of the body after getting court orders," he said.

BJP's Capt Ganesh Karnik said steps should be taken to destroy the entire drug network instead of merely arresting traffickers.
 

The Central Board of Film Certification has ordered the makers of Phillauri to delete a scene featuring Hanuman Chalisa.

In the scene, actor Suraj Sharma is seen reciting Hanuman Chalisa while sitting in his bathtub when he sees Shashi (Anushka Sharma), who plays a ghost in the movie. To drive the ghost away, the actor was reciting the Hanuman Chalisa.

According to Hindu beliefs, Hanuman Chalisa drives away the evil spirits but in Phillauri when Suraj recites the Chalisa, the ghost Shashi doesn’t leave the spot.

A source close to the Central board revealed that this particular scene can hurt the sentiments of Hindu community. The CBFC has ordered the makers to remove ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ from the film’s soundtrack. The makers have agreed to omit the scene and now the actor will be seen reciting a prayer but the prayer won’t be heard out loud.

 In Phillauri, Anushka Sharma plays the role of a happy ghost while this is Suraj Sharma’s Bollywood debut after Life of Pi’.

Releasing on March 24, Phillauri also features Punjabi actor Diljit Dosanj in a pivotal role.

You may call them the incorrigible ‘lotus eaters’ of Himachal Pradesh. They flaunt lavish lifestyle that they have got by making ‘fast buck’.

A visit to Channi Majra, twin Panchayats in Kangra district of HP towards Punjab’s Pathankot area, makes it clearer.

With a population of around 2,500, the area, which houses a traditional community settled here from Rajasthan, is all along notorious for alleged over- indulgence in illicit ‘lahan’ (liquor made from Jaggery) extraction in crudest of ways.

For decades, majority locals here have faced cases for bootlegging, with women as equal partners. The Police destroyed drums and drums of illegal liquor in the area and arrested them every now and then. But all this did not deter them.

In recent years, with Punjab becoming the hub of drug trafficking through Afghanistan and Pakistan, a number of Channi Majra residents left bootlegging and allegedly took to more lucrative trade of narcotics and synthetic drugs.

The figures with Kangra Police corroborate it.

From 2008 to 2015, the cases of ND&PS (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act showed a consistent rise from 21 to 93 in a year and the persons arrested from 32 to 107 in Channi Majra.

The 2016 data showed a big leap as the cases registered under ND&PS and the Drugs and Cosmetic Act were 362, with 443 arrests against 358 cases and 434 arrests in previous eight years. Besides, the Kangra Police, which led the government take up amendment in Drugs and Cosmetics Act, identified 45 properties last year, freezing five of them worth crores of Rupees. Drugs like heroine and synthetic capsules have been seized from here.

“Channi Majra is worst affected in Kangra district in drug pedalling. Majority people here don’t want to work and they look for easy money. These people are not only trading, but are also consuming drugs,” Kangra district Police chief, Sanjeev Gandhi told The Statesman. He said their networking for drugs is with their relatives settled across the states.

Gandhi, who has tightened the noose around the drug peddlers in Kangra, the biggest district of HP on Punjab border, even set up a female narcotic cell to nab women drug peddlers in border villages, including Bhadroya and Mand.

“We may have big houses and foreign travels to boast, but life has just been that of ‘hide and seek’ with lurking Police fear,” said a local, who left the illicit liquor business to run a dhaba in early 90s. “Not many are able to do it as they avoid struggle for money,” he summed.

One can see the vicious cycle working on ground. More than 80 per cent residents here are still illiterate, only due to their mindset. The area has so far produced a school teacher and few Police cops.