India on Wednesday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in London that reportedly killed two persons and injured several others.

"India strongly condemns Westminster terrorist incident and condoles the loss of life. No place in democracies and civilised societies for terrorism," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted.

Two persons, including a police officer, were shot at outside Westminster on Wednesday, leading to the lower house of Parliament suspending its proceedings, the media reported.

BBC reported that a police officer and a woman have been killed near Parliament in central London in what Scotland Yard was treating as a terrorist incident.

"The woman was among several pedestrians struck by a car on Westminster bridge, before it crashed into railings," the report said.

"An officer was stabbed in the Houses of Parliament by an attacker, who was shot by police," it said.

The Kashmiri separatists have put young boys in the forefront to distribute posters threatening people against participating in the bypolls for the Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats. The two constituencies will go to polls on April 9 and 12 respectively.

The separatists have given a call for boycott of the byelection for the two seats.

Young boys were on Wednesday seen distributing the posters in Bemina, Tangpora bypass and Nowgam.

A spokesman of the Hurriyat said their activists were circulating anti-election material asking people to stay away from polling.

It is worth mentioning that the separatists were accused of inciting the youth during the recent nearly six-month-long violent agitation in Kashmir that claimed life of 80 people and left more than 7000 others injured.

In the previous elections too such call for boycott of polling was given by the separatists but it hardly made an impact and the percentage of polling had been increasing in every successive election.

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) expects number of pending tax disputes would go down before implementation of Goods and Services Tax as it is disposing of cases quickly, an official said on Wednesday.

"Currently there are about 88,000 pending cases with the tribunal. We are trying to dispose the cases as quickly as possible given the constraints of members and funding," said President of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) Justice Satish Chandra.

"We are disposing close to 100 cases per day and we are very serious about reducing the number of pending cases," said Chandra at an event organised by Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has impressed upon Islamic scholars to spread the "true message and picture of Islam in the world" so that the misgivings or misperceptions about Muslims are removed.

Interacting with a group of Islamic scholars from Malaysia, who called on her at Srinagar on Wednesday, the chief minister said the greatest responsibility of Muslim scholars and clergy in current times is to spread across the world message of peace, tolerance and mutual coexistence which Islam stands for.

Mehbooba Mufti asked the visiting delegation to explore the areas of mutual interest in education and tourism and work towards more and more scholarly exchanges. She informed the delegation about the functioning of Islamic University of Science & Technology, Awantipora and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri and many other initiatives taken by the Government in the field of education.

The delegation informed the chief minister about the activities of their organization and discussed areas of collaboration in education and social outreach. They extended an invite to the chief minister to visit Malaysia.

The delegation, which comprised Sheikh Ismail Kassim-Advisor and Founder of Pertubuhan Rahmatan Lil Aalmin of Malaysia, Prince Tengku Bahaudeen Ahmad-President, Tuaku Besat Burhanudeen and Hazif Hamza, is currently on a visit to the state.

Four property dealers were arrested in Delhi and over Rs 6 crore in demonetised notes seized from them, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

The accused were carrying the demonetised currency notes in a Honda City and Maruti Ritz cars to exchange it in upscale Safdurjung Enclave market area, a senior police officer told IANS.

"Over Rs 6.58 crore in currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was seized," the officer said. 

Two of the accused, Sunil and Jitender, told police they invested in multi-storyed housing projects.

The Income Tax Department officials have seized the cash and are investigating

Intial investigation suggested the involvement of some hawala traders, he added.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday had a lively debate on electoral reforms, with the Opposition raising doubts about the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs), and demanding several legal changes, including state funding of elections to ensure a fair democractic process.

The Elders in the House complained the electoral process was already vitiated by the use of muscle and money power, and unnecessary restrictions had taken out colour from the whole exercise. They said nowhere in the Western world were EVMs used for casting votes, and there were doubts that these could be hacked to manipulate results.

Their use in India, without the attached paper trail machines, made the losing political parties feel they were defeated by the “machine” and not by their rivals, the members said.

Intervening in the debate, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar presented data of the 2014 Lok Sabha and the recent Assembly election results to show the parties’ poll percentage had maintained a trend and they had lost only when their voting percentage came down.

Several members quoted from “Democracy at Peril”, a book written by none other than a BJP spokesman, giving details of how the EVMs could be manipulated to give certain results.

Initiating the short duration debate, Mukul Roy of the Trinamool Congress said the Election Commission should address the complaints on the possible manipulation of EVMs. He said his party stood for State funding of elections. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the BJP had maximum resources, including helicopters and private planes at its disposal during the recent UP poll. He said the issue of EVMs was raised in several states, including in Assam by Tarun Gogoi and in UP by Mayawati.

The Chief Election Commissioner, he said, had written 13 letters to the government for the use of paper trail machines with the EVMs, as this could give proof to the voters where their votes had gone. Bhupender Yadav of the BJP stressed the need for holding simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha, Assembly and Panchayats in the future. He said it will not only save money but will also make it possible for the parties and candidates winning elections to concentrate on governance. He said elections should not be considered as an end but a means to good governance.

JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav supported BSP supremo Mayawati's demand to probe EVMs used in the recent UP assembly polls, saying it would not be good for democracy if this issue is not addressed. He said the media coverage was also manipulated by the ruling party, preventing the fourth pillar of democracy from discharging its duty effectively.

He said, "There is a question mark on EVMs today. Mayawatiji has claimed that EVMs were responsible for her defeat… We must set up an inquiry committee on this." The JD (U) leader said a four-time chief minister has raised this issue and it needs to be addressed seriously.

Stating that contesting elections has become an expensive affair, he said so much expenditure is incurred that in future "people like (Ram Manohar) Lohia and Atal Bihari Vajpayee would not come to Parliament".

Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and D Raja (CPI) demanded proportional voting system so that a truly representative government enjoying support of the majority could emerge. Yechury said corporate funding of political parties should be stopped and State funding of polls as recommended by the Indrajit Gupta committee must be adopted. S C Misra of the BSP demanded scrapping of the Tenth Schedule as the disqualification law on defection of members had become defunct.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the government is trying to roll out a common Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by July 1, which he claimed would not only facilitate better tax collection but also bring down the prices of goods and services across the country.

Jaitley’s remarks came at the end of the debate on the Finance Bill 2017 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was later approved by the House through voice vote following 29 amendments envisaging 38 new clauses. The Bill will now go to the Rajya Sabha before it is sent for the President’s assent. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

Speaking amid recurring interventions from Congress, Biju Janata Dal, CPI-M and Trinamul Congress members, Jaitley said the Prime Minister has always stressed on evolving ‘consensus’ through ‘unanimity’ on various contentious issues related to the GST Bill. He said both the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu government had ‘reservations’ but continued to take active participation in discussion.

The Finance Minister said after twelve rounds of meetings of the GST Council a unanimous decision has been taken. He said in all five enabling laws are to be passed. Of this four will be brought before Parliament for passage soon and the remaining one is to be passed by the state legislatures before the GST comes into force.

Seeking to allay BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab’s apprehensions on imposing tax on agricultural income along with non-agricultural income, Jaitley said there was no need for ‘confusion’ on this count. He said income from agriculture continues to be outside the ambit of tax.

In response to the Opposition criticism of PM Modi’s demonetisation initiative, the Finance Minister said the recent poll results in Uttar Pradesh are a pointer to public support behind it. Quoting economist Martin Wolf’s article in Financial Times, Jaitley said the demonetisation and its positive impact on the economy had been endorsed by him. To this the Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said he can quote from as many articles by other economists speaking against demonetisation.

Jaitley, however, flayed the Congress party’s stand and said while the government is trying take the economy out of the shadows to a clean one there are parties who continue to try and stick to the old economic order. He said contrary to the Opposition claims there has been no decline in economic growth. He advised the Congress to change their advisors.

Jaitley said post-demonetisation the government has set upon itself a revised target of Rs 17 lakh crore tax collection for the current financial year. He claimed the government will achieve this target and for 2019 the target has been set at Rs 9.50 lakh crore. 

In reply to an intervention on fake currency being deposited in banks in the wake of demonetisation, Jaitley said the process of sifting real from the fake ones is underway and the exact figures will be known only after the completion of the sorting process.

He said of the 18 lakh identified account holders showing deposits disproportionate to their incomes, so far 8.71 lakh persons have responded to the notices sent to them. He said action will be taken against the people who don’t respond to the notices to them.

The BJD, CPI-M’s Mohammed Salim and others objected to linking PAN with Aadhaar cards. Jaitley said there is need to prevent misuse of PAN cards. He pointed out that some people hold multiple PAN cards to hide their taxable incomes. He said linking the individual’s PAN to Aadhaar will put an end to this practice. He called the government’s proposed move an ‘anti evasion measure’.

Unhappy with the finance minister’s responses to various issues later BJD, Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha in protest.

Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke on Wednesday slammed his country's media for "tarnishing" India skipper Virat Kohli's image and stressed that his country "loves" the Indian except a handful of journalists.

Besides comparing the 28-year-old Kohli to United States President Donald Trump by news daily "The Daily Telegraph", Fox Sports Australia's Facebook account put Kohli's image alongside a puppy, a kitten and a panda in a poll titled — 'Vettel of the Week'.

The post's caption read: 'Recent events have prompted a return of our Vettel of The Week award. Kids, ask your grandparents. The rest of you know the drill.'

"Comparing Virat Kohli with Donald Trump — what a load of s**t is that? What Virat did, even (Steven) Smith would have," Clarke was quoted as saying by India Today.

"Bear in mind, I love Kohli and the Australian public love him. It's just two or three reporters who are trying to tarnish him but Virat shouldn't be bothered."

"I always somehow find an Australian in him the way he plays and I absolutely love how he accepts challenges," the World Cup-winning skipper added.

Since the Decision Review System (DRS) row in the second Test in Bengaluru, the Australian media have upped their attack on Kohli.

Clarke said even skipper Steve Smith won't be bothered by what the Australian media is writing.

"I don't think even Smith would bother about what the Australian media is saying. In fact both the captains would be telling their teams to concentrate on how to win in Dharamsala."

"It is more like the Ashes 2005 we played where every Test was life and death and the players gave it all on the field. But off the field, both teams remained friends. It is only befitting of the way this series has been played that it will be decided in the last Test," he said.

Not only Clarke, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar also defended Kohli by comparing the Australian media as an extended part of their team's support staff.

"We should not bother too much about the Australian media and what they write as they are an extension of their cricket team's support staff. The focus now should shift to cricket from off-the-field issues," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by NDTV ahead of the third Test.

With the series now locked at 1-1, both the sides will face off in the fourth and final Test, that starts on Saturday in Dharamsala.

Parents need to be particular when it comes to children’s health. While it is important to allow them some outing, fun and play, it is equally important to teach them how to take care of their health. Soon, summer will come. Along with it, the heat can put children's health at risk. So, inculcate few habits in your children to keep themselves safe from the scorching heat of summer.

Water hydration: Create in them the habit of drinking eight to 10 glasses of water daily in summer season. As they play and sweat, their bodies suffer water loss. It may lead to dehydration problems and heat stroke. Make your children drink plenty of water to keep their bodies well hydrated.

More emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetable juices: Besides water, fresh juices are best to replenish the body with fluids which are lost while sweating. Avoid giving them sugary and fizzy drinks to quench their thirst. They have a whole heap of hidden fats and sugar that makes them sluggish and unhealthy.

Make them aware of what they eat: Make positive changes in the diet of your children. Swap chips for apples. Add kale and other leafy greens to their whole wheat burgers. Junk food is one of the worst foods that you can feed them irrespective of any season. Cut their intake of fried, processed, street and sugary food. Children tend to gain more weight in summer. So, they put on weight faster with such food. Also, this food is not at all good for digestive system which becomes weak this season. Outside food can develop some pretty nasty bacteria after a couple of hours leading to food poisoning and diarrhoea. Avoid all such food.

No overeating: Children do not have a sense of right portion of food that they should eat. Overeating puts pressure on their digestive system. So, it should be avoided.

Keep them with the right kind of clothes: Dress them in light coloured, comfortable cotton clothes. These clothes will make them feel cool. A big no to tight fitting or synthetic clothes.

No outdoors during mid-day: Don’t allow them to go out between 12 to four noon. It is the time of extreme heat. Travelling by car is also not safe during this time because children can overheat quickly in hot weather, especially in cars.

Use Sunscreen: To avoid sun burns, make them use sunscreen on the exposed parts of their body when they are out.

Insect repellent: To stay free from mosquitoes and other stinging insects, avoid heavy perfumes especially the floral ones when outdoors. Use insect repellent gel instead.

Follow these tips and keep summer complications at bay. Extreme heat may trouble your child with headache, dizziness, nose bleeding, skin infection, stomach infection and many more serious problems. Help the children prevent such summer ailments and keep them happy and healthy.

Israel is proving to be India's tried and tested technological partner, a diplomat from the West Asian country said here on Wednesday.

"The way two countries have strengthened their relations, Israel is proving to be India's tried and tested technological partner. Our partnership is maturing fast," said Ditza Froim, Minister Counsellor in the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi.

According to the diplomat, after having a growing relationship in agriculture and defence sector between the two countries, Israel is keen to build relations in the academic field with India so that the partnership becomes more "sustainable".

The two countries complete 25 years of formal diplomatic relationship this year, having established full diplomatic relations only in 1992 after almost 45 years of attaining statehood.

"Partnership between the two countries has been maturing fast. Building academic relation is high on agenda," Froim said at a panel discussion on India-Israel Relations, organised jointly by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies and Institute of Social and Cultural Studies.

Speaking about the shift in bilateral relations, Professor P.R. Kumaraswamy from Centre for West Asian Studies School of International Studies, JNU said India is currently trying to locate Israel and other regional players in the Middle East within the context of its pursuit for economic growth and development.

"By offering a huge market, India provides an opportunity to Israel to scale up its Research and Development programme and thereby to reduce the cost of their operation," he said.

According to a statement, India is close to signing a $3-billion defence deal with Israel during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the West Asian country.

Three people and a terrorist were dead after an attacker brought carnage to central London on Wednesday, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and hacking at police with knives in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament.

At least 20 people were hit on the crowded bridge when a 4×4 drove along the pavement, knocking down pedestrians before crashing into a fence below Big Ben, the local media reported.

An intruder, described by a witness as "middle-aged and Asian", then managed to break into the grounds of the Parliament where he fatally stabbed a police officer with two knives, the Daily Mail reported.

The policeman died at the scene. The attacker, who was shot by armed officers, died after he was taken to hospital.

Prime Minister Theresa May was bundled into her car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene as the attack unfolded. She will chair a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra Committee.

Scotland Yard said the attack, which comes a year to the day after the terrorist atrocities in Brussels, was being treated "as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise".

Witness Jayne Wilkinson said: "We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.

"And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood.

"He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt. He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing him."

A spokesman for the Port of London Authority, which looks after safety on the River Thames, said: "A female member of the public was recovered from the water near Westminster Bridge. She is alive but undergoing urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. We believe she fell from the bridge".

He said the river has been closed from Vauxhall to Embankment "as part of the security response".

 Safe Water Network India (SWN), a non-profit organisation providing affordable and safe off-grid drinking water solutions, has launched a "Water ATM" in Telangana.

SWN has set up more than 150 safe water stations across Telangana in Karimnagar, Adilabad, Warangal Rural, Warangal Urban, Jayashankar, Mahabubabad, Jagtiyal, Peddapalli, Badradri, Mancherial, Suryapet, Khammam, and Nalgonda districts.

This initiative enables consumers to purchase 20 liters of safe drinking water at any time of the day by swiping their smart cards against the Water ATM in an SWN-facilitated iJal water station.

"The stations are connected via cloud-based technology, enabling online analysis of operational parameters and volumes. Further, many of these water stations run on solar energy and electricity, thereby reducing operating costs," SWN said in a statement.

"The next step is to move towards digital payments, enabling cashless transactions at the water stations. To begin with, we have collaborated with Medak district to conduct awareness workshops on the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) mobile app," SWN Country Director Ravi Sewak said.

The drive was supported by SWN and volunteers from Honeywell India, which funds these safe water stations under its corporate social responsibility program.

"Through our partnership with SWN, we are providing safe water access to more than two lakh people in Telangana. Honeywell is deeply invested in the region and our employees are proud to volunteer and continue to add value to the program," said Vikas Chadha, President, Honeywell India.

SWN has established more than 170 iJal safe water stations in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh providing access of safe water to over 600,000 beneficiaries.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the provincial statistics department to include the Sikh community in the national census form prepared for the ongoing headcount.

The PHC was hearing a case filed by the Sikh community, which requested that the Sikh minority should be included in the form, similar to other sections present of the religious minorities, reported Geo TV.

The court directed that the implementation of the ruling should be carried out in the second phase of the population census.

On Tuesday, a Sikh community leader filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to include Sikhism in the religion column in the census form.

Talking to Geo News, Sikh community leader Advocate Heera Singh Khalsa said he filed the case on the basis of article 25-1 that said: "All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law."

Following this, the SHC sent notices to the Chief Census Commissioner and Provincial Census Commissioner to submit their response in the matter.

European car maker Volkswagen on Wednesday said it has started production of its sports utility vehicle (SUV) Tiguan in India.

In a statement issued here, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said it has started rolling out its SUV Tiguan from its factory in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

"We are delighted to introduce one of our most successful global products to the Indian market. The Tiguan will be our premium SUV offering for India and will cater to the unceasing demand in the segment," Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Michael Mayer was quoted as saying in the statement. 

Our customers will now have an extended portfolio, ranging from hatchback to executive sedan, to meet their requirements at our showrooms, he added.

There has been a reduction in ceasefire violations and casualties on the Indian side of the Line of Control after India conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a minister said on Wednesday.

"The ceasefire violations by Pakistan have come down post the surgical strikes. There were 228 ceasefire violations at the LOC in 2016 and 221 at the International Border," Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed the Rajya Sabha.

However till February 2017, there have only been 22 ceasefire violations till now and 6 on the IB," Ahir said while replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour in the Upper House.

"The civilian casualties and injuries in 2017 has been zero at the IB and LoC, whereas in 2016 there were 13 civilian casualties and 83 injured on the LoC and 8 casualties on the IB and 74 were injured," he said.

"Five BSF jawans lost their lives and 25 were injured along the international border. We claim that the incidents of ceasefire violations have reduced post surgical strikes," he added.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, after hearing from Ahir on the issue, expressed his unhappiness saying the the matter was "killed" and "butchered" by the government by not giving a straight answer.

Reacting to this, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "I fully contradict the charge made by the Leader of Opposition."

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea seeking scrapping of pension and other perks being given to Members of Parliament.

A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar also issued notices to the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the plea filed by NGO Lok Prahari on the issue.

It has been alleged that pensions and other perks being given to MPs even after demitting office are contrary to Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution. The plea also said that Parliament has no power to provide for pension benefits to lawmakers without making any law.

Two BJP members on Wednesday accused the Lok Sabha secretariat of tampering with their questions, prompting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to assure them of a probe into the matter.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh Chintamani Malviya alleged that his question was tampered with while another BJP member from Jharkhand's Kodarma, Rabindra Ray, said that the subject of his question was completely changed.

Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan assured the members of a probe into the matter, after they raised their concern in the House during Question Hour.

"I will ask for the original questions and will check," Mahajan said.

Earlier, Malviya said: "My question was tampered with."

"I want your protection. An additional subject was added to my original question. This issue of tampering should not be taken otherwise. There are some personnel who try to put their words in the mouths of MPs and that too against MPs," Ray said before asking his question.

He added that it was a serious matter and must be looked into.

In their list of questions for oral answers, both the members sought to know from the government whether it proposes to make VIP quota in trains paperless so as to save on paper.

Another question asked by the members was whether multiple bookings and no show by VIPs have caused much inconvenience to the travelling public as wait-listed tickets were not confirmed.

However, responding to their queries, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said the government has prepared a proposal for the MPs so that they can get confirmed tickets on short notice.

"A proposal is pending with the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats regarding this. We have planned to provide a unique identity so that MPs could get confirmed tickets and are able to cancel it too."

"The problem of multiple booking would be sorted out once this proposal is implemented," the minister added.