Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh, who has begun working on his next yet-untitled Telugu project with actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, says he has just wrapped up a massive action sequence.

"Completed my first schedule of NBK 101 in a massive set action sequence. It's going to be feast for all Nandamuri Balakrishna fans," Jagannadh tweeted on Thursday.

The project happens to be Balakrishna's 101st film.

Launched earlier this month, the project marks the first time collaboration of the director and Balakrishna.

Actor Sudheer Babu is rumoured to be playing the antagonist in the film.

The rest of the cast, including the leading lady, is being finalised.

 The Lok Sabha on Thursday remembered the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on their martyrdom day.

The House also condemned the terror attack on the British Parliament in London that killed five people including the attacker.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan recalled the contribution of the three freedom fighters to the freedom struggle.

The three were hanged on the evening of this day in 1931 in Lahore central jail. Their remains were cremated immediately on the banks of the Sutlej River and the remains thrown in the river.

She also condemned the terror strike in Westminster yesterday in which five people were killed.

The members then stood in silence for a few moments in memory of the freedom fighters and those killed in the London attack.

 The Lok Sabha on Thursday remembered the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on their martyrdom day.

The House also condemned the terror attack on the British Parliament in London that killed five people including the attacker.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan recalled the contribution of the three freedom fighters to the freedom struggle.

The three were hanged on the evening of this day in 1931 in Lahore central jail. Their remains were cremated immediately on the banks of the Sutlej River and the remains thrown in the river.

She also condemned the terror strike in Westminster yesterday in which five people were killed.

The members then stood in silence for a few moments in memory of the freedom fighters and those killed in the London attack.

The armed forces should be prepared for conventional warfare along the country's borders and advanced technology for military must be made available on a fast track mode, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Thursday.

He said that adequate focus must be given to ensure that "trial procedure" for procurement of military systems do not linger on for too long.

Without naming any country, Rawat said India will continue to face conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare and the armed forces will have to be ready to deal with any such challenge.

"The armed forces will have to remain prepared for conventional warfare along our borders," the army chief said while addressing a two-day conference on military communication.

Addressing the gathering, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said the government was committed to fulfil requirements of the armed forces and that information technology can act as a force multiplier.

Rawat also stressed on the need to adopt the latest technologies for the armed forces without any delay so that it does not become obsolete after induction.

We will have to identify the correct type of technology for the armed forces and ensure that our trial procedure do not linger on for long, he said.

Communication technology for the armed forces must be simple, light-weight and easy to maintain as they will be required for wars on the borders, he said adding the technology must work in extreme weather conditions.

Referring to social media, the army chief said the "adversaries" appeared to be taking advantage of it.

He also talked about the need for having proper encryption mechanism, both for voice and data, for communication network for the armed forces.

Speaking on the occasion, CII's Chandrajit Banerjee pitched for early notification of the strategic partnership for defence production between the government and the defence industry.

The armed forces should be prepared for conventional warfare along the country's borders and advanced technology for military must be made available on a fast track mode, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Thursday.

He said that adequate focus must be given to ensure that "trial procedure" for procurement of military systems do not linger on for too long.

Without naming any country, Rawat said India will continue to face conventional or non-traditional forms of warfare and the armed forces will have to be ready to deal with any such challenge.

"The armed forces will have to remain prepared for conventional warfare along our borders," the army chief said while addressing a two-day conference on military communication.

Addressing the gathering, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said the government was committed to fulfil requirements of the armed forces and that information technology can act as a force multiplier.

Rawat also stressed on the need to adopt the latest technologies for the armed forces without any delay so that it does not become obsolete after induction.

We will have to identify the correct type of technology for the armed forces and ensure that our trial procedure do not linger on for long, he said.

Communication technology for the armed forces must be simple, light-weight and easy to maintain as they will be required for wars on the borders, he said adding the technology must work in extreme weather conditions.

Referring to social media, the army chief said the "adversaries" appeared to be taking advantage of it.

He also talked about the need for having proper encryption mechanism, both for voice and data, for communication network for the armed forces.

Speaking on the occasion, CII's Chandrajit Banerjee pitched for early notification of the strategic partnership for defence production between the government and the defence industry.

The first session of the 15th Punjab assembly will commence on Friday, officials said.

Newly elected members will be administered oath on March 24 and March 27 by pro-tem Speaker Rana KP Singh of the Congress.

The election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker will be held on March 27.

Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore will address the assembly on March 28, followed by a debate on the Governor's Address and Motion of Thanks.

Supplementary Grants for 2016-17 and the Vote on Account for 2017-18 will be presented on March 29.

The Congress has won 77 seats in the 117-member assembly, wresting power from the SAD-BJP alliance after a decade.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has won 20 seats, leaving the SAD-BJP alliance to a poor third with 18 seats.

Of the 20 AAP members, 19 are first-time MLAs.

AAP chief whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira was a Congress MLA in 2002.

The first session of the 15th Punjab assembly will commence on Friday, officials said.

Newly elected members will be administered oath on March 24 and March 27 by pro-tem Speaker Rana KP Singh of the Congress.

The election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker will be held on March 27.

Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore will address the assembly on March 28, followed by a debate on the Governor's Address and Motion of Thanks.

Supplementary Grants for 2016-17 and the Vote on Account for 2017-18 will be presented on March 29.

The Congress has won 77 seats in the 117-member assembly, wresting power from the SAD-BJP alliance after a decade.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has won 20 seats, leaving the SAD-BJP alliance to a poor third with 18 seats.

Of the 20 AAP members, 19 are first-time MLAs.

AAP chief whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira was a Congress MLA in 2002.

While the Indian celebration of Equinox – Holi, the festival of colours that signifies the victory of good over evil, may be over, Spring Equinox 2017 is celebrated the world over beginning March 22 to 28.

The celebration of spring Equinox marks the beginning of spring and heralds the joy of the season. Google has its doodle with flowers and a bunny rabbit to mark the celebration. And, there are celebrations galore across the world, welcoming the season. 

Well, equinox falls twice in a year, in March and September. On these days, the sun crosses the earth's equator. It not only marks the beginning of spring, but also autumn. This year, Equinox falls on March 22 and September 23  Both day and night have equal lenght of time of 12 hours each during this time. In fact, the word Equinox has its origin in Latin words, meaning equal and night.

It's, indeed, a special time. While people the world over celebrate in different ways, it calls for a great welcoming of a new beginning, coinciding with Easter celebration of the Christian faith. Easter celebration crushes the sting of death and signifies new spiritual life in Jesus Christ.

So, away with the old, bury the bitter past, the ugly and the bad. Usher in the new. Start afresh. Begin a new day, a new life with happy, positive and beautiful thoughts. Fill the road ahead with new things and great celebrations. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to come. Today is yours, completely new. Soak up the joy of newness as you immerse yourself in the joy of the season, with your family and friends. Cheers!

Tracking higher Asian peers, Indian bourses erased Wednesday’s declines and closed Thursday’s trading session in the positive zone with Midcap and Small indices leading the rally.

The Sensex at the BSE closed 165 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 29,332 and the Nifty at the NSE ended 56 points or 0.62 per cent up at 9,086.

Broader markets outperformed the key benchmark indices. BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices surged around 1 per cent each.

All the BSE sectoral indices, except the FMCG index, closed in the positive territory with Oil & Gas index registering the biggest gain, up 1.2 per cent. FMCG index slipped 0.1 per cent.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: Tata Motors (up 2.4 per cent), Gail (up 2.4 per cent), NTPC (up 2 per cent), Wipro (up 1.7 per cent) and Hero Motocorp (up 1.5 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: ITC (down 0.8 per cent), TCS (down 0.8 per cent), HUL (down 0.5 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 0.4 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.4 per cent).

All the Asian markets traded in the positive zone. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Korea’s KOSPI jumped around 0.2 per cent each, Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged around 0.1 per cent each.

European markets were trading with mixed moves, CAC 40 and FTSE 100 indices lost around 0.2 per cent but DAX index surged 0.2 per cent.

Back home, the Rupee was trading three paise down at 65.47 against the US Dollar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS have taken "the most audacious step" to usher in a Hindu Rashtra by making Yogi Adityanath as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, the CPI-M has said.

"They have put in place, as Chief Minister of the biggest state of India, a person who has openly challenged the very precepts of the Constitution," said an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy". 

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said his selection "is a clear signal that the BJP-RSS combine wishes to pursue the line of Hindu consolidation as the basis of its future political strategy".

The editorial said that since becoming a member of the Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur in 1998, Adityanath became notorious for his record of Muslim bashing and direct incitement of communal violence. 

It said his Hindu Yuva Vahini "was nothing but an armed vigilante group" and "in his political campaign and in his election speeches henceforth, he has had only one aim – Muslim bashing". 

"The specialty of the Yuva Vahini under Adityanath's leadership was to intervene and convert any minor dispute or common place quarrel into a communal riot. 

"To make such a person the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh can only be a deliberately thought out decision." 

A National Innovation Exhibition of grassroots innovators from across the country which formed the part of third week-long ‘Festival of Innovation’ (FOIN), was organised in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 4 -10 March, 2017.

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented the Ninth National Biennial Awards for Grassroots Innovations and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge. As many as 62 awards were given to 77 awardees.

The awardees include Kulsoom Rizavi of Lucknow who invented ‘posture correcting chair’, Deepankar Jena a class IX student from Odisha who left the viewers amazed by displaying his ‘project industrial sewage and its purification and recycling’, Md Usman Hanif Patel, a class VI student from Jalgaon, Maharashtra who made ‘Modified hand cart with steering mechanism and brakes’ making life easier for street vendors who use handcarts, Prachi Mahadik, a class VII student from Satara, Maharshtra who developed ‘Self operating Plastic Bottle recycle Machine’ that cuts the plastic bottles and converts them in plastic threads, which can be further reused for making brooms duster and Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a potter from Gujarat displayed ‘Mitticool’ refrigerator, non-stick clay tawa and clay cooker which is 100 per cent organic and good for health.

Besides, ‘The Living Root Bridges’ built by the indigenous people of Meghalaya, North East India exhibited incredible feats of engineering. Another interesting display was by C Sreenysh who made ‘GSM based voting machine’ capable of saving considerable printing stationery and transport of large volumes of electoral material. Creations by young talents certainly demonstrated their ability to design experiments, carry them out, and analyse the results, drive to solve everyday problems for the common good.

A day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ex-Karnataka chief minister and former Union External Affairs minister SM Krishna on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he is impressed that the prime minister has zero tolerance towards corruption.

"PM Modi has zero tolerance towards corruption. I was impressed with this. I also supported the demonetisation move," the veteran leader was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Unhappy with the Congress party, Krishna said he doesn't see any seriousness in the party leadership. "The Congress needs to be rebuilt from the ground to the top, but I see no seriousness in the leadership," he said, adding, "There is no connect between the Congress leadership and the rank and file of the party."

On Wednesday Krishna formally joined the BJP at its headquarters in New Delhi in presence of party chief Amit Shah.

The veteran political leader worked for over four decades with Congress and resigned from the party on January 29 this year, after claiming that the party was in a state of confusion.

A day after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath emphasised on cleanliness, his cabinet colleague Upendra Tiwari on Thursday picked up a broom to clean his office in the state legislature here, pictures of which went viral on social media.

Armed with a broom and a mop, the minister swept the floor of his office and the corridor leading to it in the Vidhan Bhawan here, which houses the state legislature.

Pictures and video of Tiwari, who is the Minister of State (Independent charge) for Environment, Water Supply, Land Development and Water Resources and Forest, was sweeping the office, cleaning the corridor went viral on the social media with the staff and officials there looking on.

A stickler for cleanliness, Adityanath had administered a sanitation pledge to officials a day after he took over as the UP CM and asked them to ensure that the pledge is effectively implemented on the lines of Swachh Bharat Mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Chief Minister yesterday banned the use of pan and tobacco products in schools, colleges, hospitals and other government buldings, livid at the sight of betel juice stained walls of the building that houses his office.

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and his wife Hazel Keech are all set to participate in the dance reality show Nach Baliye season 8.

The buzz is that Yuvraj Singh and Hazel Keech have been approached by the management team to make an entry as wild card participants.

“Yuvraj will be busy with the IPL for the next two months but the channel is keen to have Hazel and him on board as wild-card entries as the T20 league will be over by then. They have been in talks for a while now and the channel is hoping that they sign up in the coming weeks,” a source close to the two celebs was quoted as saying.

The BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, strongly refuting allegations that certain communities were facing discrimination in Uttar Pradesh.

The statement came after Congress member Ranjeet Ranjan expressed concern in Lok Sabha over incidents involving 'anti-Romeo' squads and alleged discrimination against people of certain communities in the state.

The UP government has set up such squads in the police to keep a tab on eve-teasing incidents in the state.

Touching upon the issue during Zero Hour, Ranjan wondered whether it was wrong to fall in love. She also asked whether it was wrong to have a boy friend or a girl friend.

Taking a swipe at the 'anti-Romeo' squads, she wanted to know whether the government would be telling boys and girls on how to sit in parks.

In response, Singh, who has also served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said "the BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion."

Stating that it is only a few days since BJP government has come to power in Uttar Pradesh, he said if there is any specific incident, the government would look into it.

After registering a landslide victory in the polls, BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath took charge on March 19.

Singh also said the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has said the focus would be on "sab ka saath, sab ka vikas".

​​​​​Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday appealed to the resident doctors in the state to call off their strike and assured them that the government would ensure their security in hospitals.

Making a statement in the Legislative Assembly on the ongoing strike and its fallout on the public healthcare system, Fadnavis urged the doctors to follow their professional ethics by serving the people.

"Because of the acts of a few irresponsible people of attacking doctors, it is not right to deny the poor their right to access to the medical facilities. I appeal to the doctors and their organisations to call off the strike and return to work," he said.

The government had spoken to representatives of the striking doctors and accepted all their demands, he said.

"The state has enacted special laws to protect doctors.

The quantum of punishment has been increased and attacks on doctors made a non-bailable offence," he said.

"The laws need continous upgradation and the government is open to discussion," he added.

"We will try to see that attacks on doctors do not happen and if it happens the perpetrators will be punished severely," Fadnavis said.

The Punjab government has termed former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s statement on red beacons as mere tokenism, and has urged him to take up meaningful issues instead of indulging in frivolous opposition.

Dubbing Badal’s remarks as symptomatic of the anti-people, culture in the party, an official spokesperson said on Thursday that if the Akali leader was finding it difficult to connect the elimination of VIP culture with public welfare, then it clearly showed the extent to which the Akalis were alienated from the people of Punjab, which had translated into the party’s poor show in the recent polls.

As the state’s former CM should constructively work with the government in the interest of the people of the state and not indulge in expressing opposition for the sake of opposition. The spokesperson urged Badal to graciously accept that times had changed and there was no place for VIP culture in the modern world, least of all in democratic India, whose Constitution provides for equality for all citizens, without according special privileges to anyone.

The red beacon, though symbolic, had become a tool for politicians to throw their weight around and assert their authority over the common masses, said the spokesperson. Not only do these kind of symbols alienate the people, but send out the wrong message that the politicians are not ordinary men and women, but hold a lofty status that requires others to bow before them, he said.

Further, said the spokesperson, with the red beacon virtually giving the vehicles of the so-called VIPs a free run of the roads, ordinary people ended up being subjected to a lot of harassment while commuting, at times getting stuck for hours and unable to reach their destination in time. People have died because they could not reach the hospital in time as a result of VIP movement, and students have missed out on their exams for the same reason, the spokesperson pointed.

The spokesperson said the government was committed to abolishing the VIP culture, of which the red beacon was one of the most visible insignias, in the state. All public servants, including politicians, need to remain always connected to the people if they are to serve them better, and the VIP culture has turned out to be a huge barrier in this regard, he added.

Besides, the VIP culture had proved to be a major drain on the state’s economy, which was struggling to cope with a massive debt – the biggest legacy of the Badal government, the spokesperson pointed out, adding that Punjab could ill-afford to continue with such frivolous and non-essential expenses.