Actor Ali Fazal has been roped in as the brand ambassador of bags brand The Vertical Bags.

The brand has chosen Ali keeping in mind his connect with the youth and his appeal to their target audience. 

"I am excited about my association with the team. The campaign will be out soon. Had a really fun shoot with Vertical. Looking forward to this journey," Ali said in a statement.

Ali, who was last seen on screen in Happy Bhaag Jayegi, is currently busy with his Hollywood project "Victoria and Abdul" in which he will be seen sharing screen space with legendary actress Judi Dench.

The actor has also finished shooting for Fukrey Returns.

Amandeep Drall will look for an encore in the sixth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour 2017, starting here on Wednesday.

The INR 6,00,000 event, featuring 14 professionals, is all set to test the mental and physical calibre of the golfers at the picturesque par 71 course at the Poona Club Golf Course here.

Having won twice in four appearances, Panchkula's Amandeep will be keen to keep the momentum going to win her third title of the season. She is currently leading the Hero Order of Merit with earnings of 4,95,000.

However, Amandeep is expected to face tough competition from the likes of Vani Kapoor and Gaurika Bishnoi.

Finishing with her overseas commitments, New Delhi's Vani made an immediate impact on her return to the Tour, winning the fourth leg at Tollygunge Club, Kolkata.

She will look to add another win to her tally and move up the money list, wherein she is currently placed seventh with earnings of 2,16,000.

Gurgaon's Gaurika will be hoping to put forth a strong display and move up the Hero Order of Merit. She is currently placed second in the money list with total earnings of INR 4,15,900, winning one title in five appearances.

Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma is currently placed fourth in the Hero Order of Merit with total earnings of 3,08,200 and will be hoping to move up the ladder. She hasn't been at her best in the last couple of events and will seek to make amends.

Hero MotoCorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet has not been at her best recently and would be eager to make an impact.

Other golfers to watch out for will be Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal, Jaipur's Afshan Fatima and Pune's Shweta Galande.

The picturesque par 71 course at the Poona Club Golf Course is all set to test the mental and physical calibre of the players.

Domestic equity markets closed Tuesday’s trading session on a marginally lower note amid profit booking mixed global cues.

The Sensex at the BSE closed 33 points down at 29,485 and the Nifty at the NSE ended five points lower at 9,122.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap index slumped 0.5 per cent but Smallcap index slipped 0.2 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Realty index registered the biggest gain with a jump of 1.4 per cent while Healthcare index became the top loser with a dip of 1.4 per cent.

On Monday, the Nifty50 had closed 33 points down at 9,127 and the Sensex had closed 130 points lower at 29,519.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: ITC (up 2 per cent), ONGC (up 1.6 per cent), Infosys (up 1.1 per cent), L&T (up 0.7 per cent) and HUL (up 0.6 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 4.4 per cent), Axis Bank (down 3.3 per cent), Gail (down 1.4 per cent), Marui Suzuki (down 1.4 per cent) and Reliance Industries (down 1.3 per cent).

In the Asian markets, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 0.4 per cent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.2 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI index shined 1 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.3 per cent.

European markets were trading with mixed moves, CAC 40 and DAX indices gained 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively while FTSE 100 index slipped 0.1 per cent.

Back home, the Rupee closed 12 paise higher at 65.31 against the US Dollar.

With a view to generate more employment opportunities for the educated unemployed, Haryana government has decided to involve the private sector in effective implementation of ‘Saksham Yuva' scheme.

Widening the scope of the ambitious scheme, science graduates would be given the opportunity at Haryana Industrial Trade Expo (HITEX) -2017 to be organised from March 24 to 28.

The 5-day-long employment would be organised by the state government in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Faridabad from March 24, 2017.

While reviewing the functioning of the ‘Saksham Yuva’ scheme on Tuesday, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the state government would be a facilitator and the private sector could engage the best available capable youth to meet their requirement.

There is a lot of demand for educated youth in the private sector and the scheme could prove very useful to cater their need, he added.

Khattar said that as many leading entrepreneurs would participate in the job fair, it should be ensured that maximum youth registered on the ‘Saksham Yuva’ portal get employment.

It was informed in the meeting that the scheme has got overwhelming response as 21,896 applicants have so far registered themselves on the web-portal by 15 March.

Various state government departments like Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Panchayats, Industries, Election, Horticulture, Elementary Education and offices of Deputy Commissioners have requisitioned Saksham Yuva for work and 7,858 youth have so far been deputed to work.

It was also informed that while an allowance of over Rs.4.97 Crore has been disbursed among the approved applicants from the month of November 2016 to February 2017, over Rs.97 lakh has been disbursed as honorarium from December 2016 to February 2017.

Under the scheme, unemployment allowance at the rate of Rs.3,000 per month and honorarium up to Rs.6,000 per month in lieu of 100 hours of work are given to eligible and registered unemployed post-graduates under the age of 35 years.

Waterman of Rajasthan, Rajendera Singh on Tuesday disapproved the concept of ‘inter-linking of rivers’ in the country and said it would lead to huge wastage of money.

"The contours in India are varied and inter-linking of rivers is not feasible here. It is a distant dream,” Singh said, in reply to a question at Raj Bhawan here during an interaction with state officials.

A Ramon Magsaysay award winner for water management in Rajasthan in 2001, Rajendra Singh was here to give tips to Himachal government on water conservation on the initiative of Governor, Acharya Devvrat.

Singh said instead of linking the rivers, the effort should be to link the Indian society with rivers.

“The need of the hour is to revive the dried up rivers, which will take care of floods as well as drought,” he said.

He said he had even put forth his view point before the NDA government headed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee then, which had mooted the proposal of inter-linking of rivers.

He, however, said the Indian constitution does not talk of the ‘river rights’ as such. He talked of examples of Satluj Yamuna (SYL) link and Kaveri, on which the conflict hasn’t ended even after decades.

“The judiciary has also not been able to find solutions to questions on water,” he said.

The Water Man, however, quickly mentioned that the present Central government is doing good work on Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) to promote village ponds.

He said the selection of old village ponds was done scientifically by people, who were illiterate but had great practical knowledge.

Singh referred to ‘river rights’ (as a tradition) in the context of damage caused to water resources on hills during execution of hydro electric projects and the rivers being moved into tunnels in Himachal. “I would go by judgement of Uttarakhand High Court on a related issue. The judgement should move forward to other places also,” he remarked.

The Uttarakhand High Court, in an order on March 20, had accorded the status of ‘living human entities’.

He narrated the success story of water conservation in Rajasthan with community participation and shared how an ‘illiterate village elder’ taught him geo hydro science with practical approach.

“He didn’t have words but he knew the ground reality. He asked me to climb down the dried wells in the village to study and find out natural ways to recharge them. Unfortunately, our scientists today have words, but they lack practical knowledge. But that’s more a fault of education system,” he held.

The waterman asked the hill state to tame its streams, revive village ponds, plant more orchards and ensure community driven decentralised water management based on agro-ecological climatic diversity.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has passed a resolution against the West Bengal government, accusing Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of ‘jihadi activities’ in the state.

"The resolution clearly says the ruling party is promoting jihadi violence and promoting communal elements to important berths," Jishnu Basu, Secretary of RSS, south Bengal. said.

RSS, the political ideologue of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), passed a special resolution titled “Growing jihadi activities in West Bengal is a security concern for the country", in Coimbatore.

“Fatwas inciting violence are openly being issued by fundamentalist Moulavis. Hindus are being attacked by fundamentalist elements at several places including Katwa, Kaligram, Illambazar and Metiabruz (Kolkata). Large number of Hindus are being forced to flee from the border areas under the pressure of fundamentalist forces,” the resolution stated.

The resolution also stated that the Hindu population in the state has gone down by eight per cent since the first census in 1951.

Ruling Naga People's Front (NPF) MLA Imtiwapang Aier was on Tuesday elected as the new Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

Aier was elected unopposed on the first day of the budget session, which began here on Tuesday.

His name was proposed by Ministers P Longon and Y Vikheho Swu and seconded by Minister Chotisuh Sazo and Parliamentary Secretaries Levi Rengma and Khriehu Liezietsu.

Deputy Speaker, Imtikumzuk while announcing that there was no other nominations for the post of the Speaker, declared Aier elected unopposed.

The Speaker's post was vacant after the then Speaker Chotisuh Sazo was inducted as Cabinet Minister for Public Health Engineering by the new Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu on February 22 last.

Aier was elected to the assembly in the 2013 state elections on a Congress ticket from Impur constituency under Mokokchung district.

However, he along with seven other Congress MLAs merged with ruling NPF in November 2015 when T R Zeliang was the Chief Minister. Zeliang had appointed him Parliamentary Secretary for Geology and Mining.

Aier is also the first Speaker among the Ao Naga community.

The chief minister while felicitating the newly elected Speaker, expressed confidence that he would prove himself equal to the task and maintain the dignity and of decorum of the chair.

Liezietsu also hoped that the new Speaker would be able to handle his duties and responsibilities not only inside the House but also at various national and international level functions and also definitely dispense justice to all the members in course of deliberation and debate in the House.

In his acceptance speech, the new Speaker conveyed profound gratitude to all the members of the August House for electing him to the dignified office.

"I am aware of the onerous responsibility of the office for which I am called upon to shoulder," Aier said.

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, who has penned an intense romance novel A Handful of Sunshine, says the thought of love brings him pain instead of joy.

"When I think of love, I think of pain and not joy. I know that is not the way it's supposed to be but it has been that way for me," Vikram, who was married to Aditi, but then had an extra-marital affair with actress Sushmita Sen.

After his relationship with the former beauty queen ended, Vikram reportedly dated actress Ameesha Patel.

The father of one daughter says: "Love is the most elusive thing I know. Always an arm's length away, teasing me and asking me to stretch a bit more and grab it. The more I stretched, the more it slipped away. Through those many slips comes my book, A Handful of Sunshine."

It is the debut novel by Vikram, known for his thriller and horror films like Raaz, "1920" and Haunted – 3D. The book is being brought out by Penguin Random House India in April 2017.

"Vikram's writing is extremely visual and arresting and forms an immediate connect with the reader," Vaishali Mathur, Executive Editor and Head Rights and Language Publishing, Penguin Random House India, said.

Vikram is the grandson of filmmaker Vijay Bhatt, one of the pioneers of the Hindi film industry, and son of Pravin Bhatt, an acclaimed director of photography.

Having had good fortune of being under the tutelage of renowned filmmakers Shekhar Kapur and Mahesh Bhatt, Vikram has spent 25 years in the industry directing films and writing screenplays.

He has also produced a number of films and now heads the company Loneranger Productions Pvt Ltd, a company that specialises in film, television and now also the web.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response from the central government on a contempt plea that alleged that the government had failed to act against the Congress and the BJP for accepting foreign funding.

Justice Manmohan issued a show cause notice to the Union Home Secretary on the contempt plea filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The court posted the matter for next hearing on July 20.

On March 28, 2014, the court held both the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress guilty of receiving foreign funds from Vedanta Group subsidiaries in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

The court on Tuesday asked the government and the Election Commission to act against the two political parties within six months.

Advocate Pranav Sachdeva appearing for ADR told the court that even after the lapse of three years of the court's order, the government had not taken any action.

"Since there has been wilful disobedience on the part of the respondent (government) in compliance with the impugned order, respondent is liable for contempt of the court and contempt proceedings should be initiated against the respondent," said the plea.

The court held that UK-based Vedanta Resources is a foreign company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956, and therefore, the firm and its subsidiaries — Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa — are a foreign source as contemplated under the act.

The Prime Minister of Tibetan government in exile Lobsang Sangay called for electoral reforms and said that the system of one time election should be adopted instead of the existing two phase Tibetan elections for both parliamentarians and the PM. 

Earlier on Saturday, Sangay led cabinet had walked out of the proceedings after their proposal of reducing the election process down to the one time final election was not included in the electoral reform amendment. 

Sangay said bringing a meaningful reform in the Tibetan electoral rules is one of his main agendas in his remaining tenure, even though he cannot contest for the post in the next election.

“The time period of over 7 months in existing elections format gives the chance to parties including China to create disruption within the volatile period of campaigning by candidates and supporters alike,” Sangay said.

He asserted that his administration is bent on avoiding the election debacle seen during the campaign for his second term as Sikyong last year.

The Tibetan PM said the precedent to hold a single election is practiced by many nations including India. “From my personal experience, the duration within the two elections only serve to amplify the ever growing practice of denigrating candidates even before the term even begins, casting an unwanted public perception,” he said.

The Tibetan observers feel that the inclusion of Sangay’s proposal appears unlikely to bring any personal benefit to him as the Tibetan charter allows only two consecutive terms the Tibetan PM as he is already in his second term.

He has also been criticised by many for disrupting the proceedings of the parliament. 

In the run up to the 2016 Tibetan general elections, the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and former PM Samdhong Rinpoche had lamented over the conduct of the candidates during the campaign season.

Internationally, the exile government’s election system also received flak over its undue leverage during the proceedings.

Manchester United's Bastian Schweinsteiger has joined the MLS club Chicago Fire, the English football club  confirmed the transfer on Tuesday.

The German midfielder has agreed to play in the Major League Soccer. However, he expressed unhappiness while leaving his friends at the giant English club.

“I am sad to leave so many friends at Manchester United. But I am grateful to the club for allowing me the chance to take up the challenge at Chicago Fire,” the 32-year-old footballer stated.

Schweinsteiger further added that he enjoyed the span working with manager Jose Mourinho, teammates and supporting staff at the Manchester United.

“I was delighted to be part of the squad that won the FA Cup for them last season and will always remember their energy and their passion. Now is the right time for me to start a new chapter in Chicago and I am looking forward to it,” he added.
 

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and their collaborators have designed a microfluidic device they call a "tree-on-a-chip" which mimics the pumping mechanism of trees and plants.

Like its natural counterparts, the chip operates passively, requiring no moving parts or external pumps. 

It is able to pump water and sugars through the chip at a steady flow rate for several days. 

"The chip's passive pumping may be leveraged as a simple hydraulic actuator for small robots," said Anette "Peko" Hosoi, associate department head for operations in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Engineers have found it difficult and expensive to make tiny, movable parts and pumps to power complex movements in small robots. 

The team's new pumping mechanism may enable robots whose motions are propelled by inexpensive, sugar-powered pumps.

"In small robotics, if we could make the building blocks that enable cheap complexity, that would be super exciting. I think these [microfluidic pumps] are a step in that direction," Hosoi added.

Hosoi's co-authors on the paper are lead author Jean Comtet, a former graduate student in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering; Kaare Jensen of the Technical University of Denmark; and Robert Turgeon and Abraham Stroock, both of Cornell University.

Hosoi envisions that the "tree-on-a-chip" pump may be built into a small robot to produce hydraulically powered motions, without requiring active pumps or parts.

"If you design your robot in a smart way, you could absolutely stick a sugar cube on it and let it go," Hosoi said.

The results were published in the journal Nature Plants.

Spreading awareness among school children on the occasion of World Forestry Day on Tuesday, the Chandigarh administration's Department of Forest and Wildlife held a realistic event at Kansal Log Hut where over 200 government schools in Chandigarh participated.

During the event all students and teachers had a unique experience of jungle trekking unlike their ordinary schedule of studies.

Celebrating the occasion, the students staged a dance drama 'save forests-save life' which was followed by a eco quiz based on environment conducted by Chandigarh based environmentalist, Kulbhushan Kanwar.

Later the prize winners of eco quiz and participants of dance-drama were presented with set of books related to Mahatma Gandhi as prizes.

Giving information about the initiative Santosh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh administration stated that each year on March 21 World Forestry Day celebrations provides a platform to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests.

"Despite all of priceless ecological, economic, social and health benefits, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate and accounts for 12 to 20 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. So every increasing need today is to sensitize and promote awareness among the people, especially the youngsters-the generation next," he said.

He further informed that in coming days they also plan to take children’s from rural areas and slum settlements of the city to beautify Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary to make them understand the relation of living in harmony with man and nature alike.

In a major setback to the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the CBI probe into Narada sting operation case in which several TMC leaders were allegedly caught on camera taking bribe.

In its hearing, the SC extended the time for registration of FIR in the case from 72 hours given by Calcutta HC to one month.

Terming the West Bengal government's plea 'unfortunate', the top court rejected the plea of TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Saugata Roy for a SIT-monitored probe either by the apex court or the high court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on Monday registered a preliminary enquiry into the sting operation.

The CBI had named MPs, West Bengal ministers, police officers as well as ex-MLAs in its preliminary enquiry following a Calcutta High Court order. It had also seized laptops and spy cams used in the Narada sting operation.

Reacting to the Calcutta High Court order, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Friday said that her government would challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

"Will challenge before the Supreme Court against Calcutta HC order directing preliminary inquiry by the CBI on Narada sting operation," the chief minister had said.

In a first, states in eastern and Northeast India, including West Bengal, will carry out a synchronised elephant census beginning on March 27, by deploying direct and indirect counting methods.

The training sessions for estimation of jumbo numbers in north Bengal began in four locations on Tuesday, said State Chief Wildlife Warden, Pradeep Vyas.

"This is the first time that four zones (north, south, east and Northeastern zone) have been demarcated to count elephants. In the all-India synchronised elephant census, the dates for Northeast zone are March 27 to March 29. North Bengal is included in the Northeast zone for the regional census," Vyas said on Tuesday.

Vyas said the simultaneous approach will eliminate duplication in counting.

"Earlier, each state used to conduct their own census. So, elephant populations often used to get counted twice or there was under-estimation," Vyas added.

Apart from direct sighting, forest officials and experts will deploy dung-decay assessment as well for accuracy.

Dung-decay method relies on estimating the pachyderm population size by counting dung piles and understanding how often elephants defecate and how fast dung piles decay.

"In Northeast zone, north Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura are included. In the second week of April, first phase of census in South Bengal will begin. For that, the training sessions are on March 24. South Bengal is part of the east zone comprising Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh," Vyas said.

Although West Bengal has only two per cent of India's elephant population, they are responsible for over 20 per cent of human deaths in the country, officials said.

The synchronised estimation will help in shedding light on demography and migration patterns.

According to data for 2012 with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, wild elephants in Bengal numbered 647.

In a first, states in eastern and Northeast India, including West Bengal, will carry out a synchronised elephant census beginning on March 27, by deploying direct and indirect counting methods.

The training sessions for estimation of jumbo numbers in north Bengal began in four locations on Tuesday, said State Chief Wildlife Warden, Pradeep Vyas.

"This is the first time that four zones (north, south, east and Northeastern zone) have been demarcated to count elephants. In the all-India synchronised elephant census, the dates for Northeast zone are March 27 to March 29. North Bengal is included in the Northeast zone for the regional census," Vyas said on Tuesday.

Vyas said the simultaneous approach will eliminate duplication in counting.

"Earlier, each state used to conduct their own census. So, elephant populations often used to get counted twice or there was under-estimation," Vyas added.

Apart from direct sighting, forest officials and experts will deploy dung-decay assessment as well for accuracy.

Dung-decay method relies on estimating the pachyderm population size by counting dung piles and understanding how often elephants defecate and how fast dung piles decay.

"In Northeast zone, north Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura are included. In the second week of April, first phase of census in South Bengal will begin. For that, the training sessions are on March 24. South Bengal is part of the east zone comprising Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh," Vyas said.

Although West Bengal has only two per cent of India's elephant population, they are responsible for over 20 per cent of human deaths in the country, officials said.

The synchronised estimation will help in shedding light on demography and migration patterns.

According to data for 2012 with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, wild elephants in Bengal numbered 647.

Superstar Shah Rukh khan, who is working for his upcoming film tentatively titled The Ring by Imtiaz Ali, says actors should go for roles with possibility instead of saying no for difficult ones.

The Bollywood star tweeted on Tuesday that, “Actors go for roles with possibility. Instead an actor should choose the impossible & give it his/her best even if it means to fail trying it”.

In his long career, SRK had acted in multiple genres and portrayed  a variety of characters be such as that of a romantic boy or a haunting villain.