The Central government’s decision to waive service charges on booking of railway tickets online is likely to severely impact the revenues of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and it may force the government to derail its plans for listing it on the stock market.

The government waived the service charges on online bookings following demonetisation to encourage cashless transactions. However, more than 40 per cent of the revenues generated by IRCTC comes from booking tickets from its website where it charges a nominal fee.

During 2015-16, IRCTC posted revenue of Rs.1,500 crore, of which around Rs.550 crore came from ticket booking. IRCTC used to charge Rs.40 per ticket for bookings in air-conditioned classes and Rs.20 per ticket in sleeper class. Moreover, the commission IRCTC makes from ticket booking cross-subsidises its loss-making ventures such as catering services. IRCTC shares half of this service charge revenue with the railways.

The Railway Ministry has already written to the Finance Ministry seeking reimbursement of the loss amounting to over Rs.500 crore on an annualised basis.

Although the government is in the process of its listing, the concerns of its revenue stream is a major hindrance for future cash flows pointed out by various stock market analysts. The other segments such as licence catering, Rail Neer (packaged drinking water) and tourism generates very thin margins.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his budget speech had said railways will offer competitive ticket booking facility to the public at large. The government will list shares of railway public sector enterprises such as IRCTC, Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Ircon International.

Six youths, including an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Youth Wing leader, have been arrested on charge of robbing a businessman of Rs.25 lakh here, police said on Sunday.

Police said the accused had been identified as Jitender, 27, Sabab, 26, Najeeb, 24, Nadeem, 23, Naved, 22, and Mahammad Yusuf, 19. All are residents of Maujpur in east Delhi.

"They had on March 12 robbed Rs 25 lakh from a businessman, Vipul Jain, on gun point. Jain, also a resident of Maujpur, and locals tried to chase the robbers. As Nadeem's bike fell down while fleeing, he was overpowered and handed over to police," Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.

Nadeem also fired one round in order to make his escape, resulting in gunshot injury to local resident Naresh Kumar, Yadav said.

"Nadeem shared information about his associate's hideouts, following which police arrested them on Saturday night from Maujpur. Najeeb, who is brother of Naved, is the President of Jafrabad unit of the AAP Youth Wing," the police officer said.

Najeeb and his brother were found to be involved in over a dozen cases of snatching, he added.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Sunday said all like-minded parties need to come together to check the growth of the BJP as evident by its performance in the recent assembly elections in the five states.

Pawar stressed upon the need of an anti-BJP grand alliance fearing that the "mandir-masjid" politics may get a boost with Yogi Adityanath becoming the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

"Looking at the kind of support the BJP has garnered in the assembly elections, it is very clear that all like-minded parties need to come together (to face it)," said Pawar, who was here to inaugurate the NCP's new office.

"All the (non-BJP) parties need to introspect their shortcomings. To provide a strong alternative to the BJP, it is necessary that all the like-minded parties come together," he told the reporters.

Asked if any talk has been started for forging an anti-BJP grand alliance, he said he wasn't aware if it had been.

"It is a suggestion. As of now, no detailed discussion has been held…. If the NCP gets a proposal to be a part of such an alliance, we will respond positively," he said.

On the hardliner BJP leader Yogi Adityanath becoming the UP chief minister, Pawar expressed fear that communal politics may take precedence in the northern state.

"Being such a big state, UP needs a leadership with a clear foresight to execute the developmental agenda. However, I am now worried about the people of UP as the new leadership might pay more attention to the `mandir-masjid' issues rather than bringing real development," he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday launched a scathing personal attack against German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accusing her of using "Nazi measures" in an intensifying dispute between Ankara and Berlin.

Tensions flared after German authorities refused to allow some Turkish ministers to campaign for a 'yes' vote in the April 16 referendum on expanding Erdogan's powers, and he responded by saying Berlin was behaving like Nazi Germany.

"When we call them Nazis they (Europe) get uncomfortable.They rally together in solidarity. Especially Merkel," Erdogan said in a televised speech.

"But you are right now employing Nazi measures," Erdogan told Merkel using the informal 'you' in Turkish.

"Against who? My Turkish brother citizens in Germany and brother ministers" who went to the country to hold campaign rallies for a 'yes' vote in next month's referendum.

Authorities in Germany have blocked some Turkish ministers from holding rallies, infuriating Ankara.

Erdogan said the crisis in relations with Europe over the last days "showed that a new page had been opened in the ongoing fight against our country." 

Accusing Europe of backing outlawed terror groups, he warned: "The masked ball is over!" without specifying further.

Turkey had earlier expressed fury that German authorities had yesterday allowed a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Frankfurt to go ahead where many participants carried insignia of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Germany meanwhile is livid over the jailing ahead of a trial on terror charges of dual Turkish-German national Deniz Yucel, the Turkey correspondent of the German newspaper Die Welt.

Erdogan described Yucel, whose arrest has caused global concern, as a "terror agent" and "supposed journalist" and accused Germany of hosting him for one month at its Istanbul consulate before he went to police for questioning.

It is festive time in Yogi Adityanath’s native village Panchur in district Pauri. As the name Yogi was announced as new UP Chief Minister, media invaded the remote village. The big gathering of journalist and villagers from different corner of the district coming, forced Yogi’s father Anand Singh Bisht to drop his idea to visiting Lucknow for attending the swearing in ceremony of the new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

Anand, his wife Shavitri and other members of the family watched the glittering function on television in a small room- packed with media people. The eco of Yogi Adityanath Jindabad echoed in the remote village in Uttarakhand. 

Panchur is a small revenue village in district Pauri with a small population of about 70 persons and consisting of 20 houses. The remote village saw a sudden big movement of obi tv news vans and tv journalists. All of a sudden Panchur was in limelight.

Yogi’s father Anand Singh Bisht, a retired forest ranger, was to go to Lucknow for attending the swearing in ceremony of the his son and new UP Chief Minister. But, guests and media kept the Bisht family occupied all round the clock from Friday evening. This forced Anand to cancel his trip.

The Panchur village is in celebration mode since Friday evening. Guest are dancing on the beat of the traditional drum beaters.

“I am hopeful that Yogi will fulfill the aspirations of the UP people. He will work for development of every section of the people,” said a proud Anand Bisht.

As the news about Yogi becoming Uttar Pradesh CM spread in the region, people began visiting Panchur. They expressed their happiness by cracking crackers, distributing sweets and dancing. 

Panchur is located 110 kms from Dehradun. Yogi was earlier known as Ajay Mohan Bisht and he did his masters in Mathematics from HNB Garhwal University. 

UP Chief Minister’s brother Mahinder Bisht said, “There is big excitement in the region. We are thrilled!”

Adityanath is the head priest of the Gorakhnath Mut.  He left his native village in 1992 and was declared heir of Mahant Avaidyanath in 1994. An interesting event related to student politics is associated with Yogi Adityanath. In the 90s Yogi made an obtain Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) ticket to contest for general secretary post in the Kotdwar College student union polls. Yogi was denied ticket and he contested as independent candidate. Yogi lost the polls, but in over a span of two and half decade the same person is crowned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Amazing journey of highlander from the hill to top of UP politics. 

Contrary to its earlier stand of infusing fresh capital in strong banks, the central government has decided to infuse fresh capital totalling Rs.8,586 crore into 10 weak banks subject to commitment to quarterly milestones by bank boards, management, employees and unions, said a top leader of All India Bank Employees' Union (AIBEA).

He also said SBI Caps will draw a bank wise action plan based on which a tripartite agreement between the government, bank management and employee unions will be signed committing themselves towards certain milestones.

"The central government has written to the heads of 10 banks indicating the amount of fresh capital it would infuse during FY2017. But the infusion is subject to a tripartite agreement between the central government, banks and the unions for a time bound turn around programme," CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary of AIBEA, told IANS on Sunday.

He said the government has said that the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is to commit all the three parties to specified and quantifiable milestones to be measured on quarterly basis.

Venkatachalam said the reason for signing the MoU is understandable and AIBEA is ready for it.

He said the central government has listed out five parameters under which the milestones would be fixed. 

These are: (a) active management of non-performing assets (NPA), strengthening of lending and monitoring processes; (b) arranging capital from the market; (c) plan for disposal of non-core assets; (d) divesting stakes in subsidiaries, closure of loss-making domestic and international branches; (e) reduction in operational expenses including employee benefits to would be reversed once the banks turns around.

According to Venkatachalam, the unions may be agreeable with all the conditions barring the raising of equity capital from the market as it would result in disinvestment.

"All the government-owned banks are making good operational profits. The net profit is low owing to provisions for bad loans. If only the bank management focus their energies on recoveries than all the government owned banks will be very much profitable," Venkatachalam said.

He said the capital adequacy norms or the Basel norms are for private banks and need not apply for government owned banks.

"All the bank unions will be meeting in Kolkata on March 24 to discuss the government's proposal," Venkatachalam said.

He added the government has asked the heads of the 10 banks to give their consent on its new proposals.

Venkatachalam said the name of the banks and the amount of capital to be infused by the government are:

Allahabad Bank (Rs.418 cr), Andhra Bank (Rs.1,100 cr), Bank of India (Rs.1,500 cr), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs.300 cr), Central Bank of India (Rs.100 cr), Dena Bank (Rs.600 cr), IDBI Bank (Rs.1,900 cr), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs.1,100 cr), UCO Bank (Rs.1,150 cr), and United Bank of India (Rs.418 cr).

Venkatachalam said the Kolkata-based UCO Bank management is likely to meet the bank unions and brief them about the government's proposal.

"No other bank management has called the unions for a discussion. Perhaps this would happen soon," Venkatachalam added.

Record Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai have been deprived of their Full Member status in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), while the Committee of Administrators (COA) has granted Full Membership to all northeastern states.

With the removal of the Full Member status, Mumbai, Vidarbha, Saurashtra and Baroda have also lost their voting rights as the Supreme Court-appointed COA on Saturday night listed the amended memorandum of rules and regulations that will now govern BCCI. Only the states, all of 30, have been given Full Member status.

"In States with multiple Existing Members, the full membership shall rotate annually among such Existing Members such that only one of them will exercise the rights and privileges of a Full Member at any given point of time. The rotation shall be as per the policy framed by the BCCI," the new constitution posted on the BCCI website says.

Under the one-state-one-vote rule, Maharashtra Cricket Association and Gujarat Cricket Association have been picked from their respective states. Cricket Club of India (CCI) and National Cricket Club (NCC) have also been removed, along with all government outfits. 

"Each State shall be represented by a state cricket association duly recognised by the BCCI and such associations shall be Full Members. No State shall have more than one Full Member at any given point of time," a note said.

"At the Annual General Meeting/Special General Meeting, each Full Member shall have one vote. The Associate Members shall have no vote."

Apart from the 70-year age-limit for an office bearer, it has been clarified that the nine-year cumulative clause for an office-bearer won't be calculated separately in the cricket board and state association.

Among other things, it has also been noted that the BCCI shall appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise the statement of accounts with regard to the payments made by the Board to the member and all further payments due to a member, associate member and an affiliate member shall be released after the audit report.

The appointment of an ombudsman has also been included. The decision snaps the BCCI President's power in dealing with the finality in case of dispute regarding a vote.

The economic blockade of Manipur imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) will be lifted from midnight Sunday, it was announced here.

This followed an agreement reached during talks involving the Naga group and representatives of the central and Manipur governments.

The blockade was imposed on November 1, causing widespread shortages in Manipur.

Bangladesh racked up a thrilling four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka riding a brilliant all-round performance from Shakib Al Hasan to seal a memorable 100th Test win here on Sunday.

Chasing 191 to win, Tamim Iqbal struck a fine 82 before skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (22 not out) carried Bangladesh over the finishing line on a dramatic final day at the P Sara Oval here.

It sealed the tourists' first win over the Sri Lanka in the format as they squared the two-match series 1-1. The fact that it comes on their century of Tests added to the weight of the triumph.

Bangladesh became the fourth team to win their 100th Test matches after Australia, the West Indies and Pakistan. After playing 100th Test, Bangladesh have nine wins, out of which four are away from him.

"This was a very important win," Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said after the match. 

"It wasn't easy. We had to come back strongly after the first Test. I just play my shots. As I said, the way (Dinesh) Chandimal batted in the first innings it told me if I apply myself I could score runs," the southpaw added.

Skipper Mushfiqur added, "Obviously, feel great. The bowlers did a great job – Mustafiz and Shakib's spells were outstanding on a flat track. It showed the character of the team. The boys really stepped up under pressure and there were lot of partnerships in the bowling. I really enjoyed it. If you look at the last few series, we have played some good cricket."

On Sunday, the momentum swung like a pendulum through the three sessions before Bangladesh came out on top.

With the track producing sharp turn and bounce, Sri Lanka skipper and birthday boy Rangana Herath landed a double blow by removing Soumya Sarkar (10) and Imrul Kayes (0) early on in their chase.

Bangladesh were reduced to 22/2 before lunch, but Tamim and Sabbir Rahman (41) then showed great resilience and temperament to put Bangladesh back on course with a 109-run partnership.

Sri Lanka's chinaman Lakshan Sandakan bled too many runs and Herath stuck with Dilruwan Perera who soon repaid his faith by taking out Tamim and Sabbir before tea. 

But Bangladesh had chopped the target down under 50 by then.

Bangladesh looked to the experience of the Shakib-Mushfiqur pair, particularly after the all-rounder's century in a 100-plus partnership between them in the first innings.

But Perera once again struck after tea break to remove Shakib who played on to leave his team five wickets down, still 29 away from the coast.

Whatever fear of defeat had loomed at that point disappeared when Mushfiqur took charge. He overturned an on-field lbw decision, paired in a decisive 27-run partnership with young Mosaddek Hossain (13) before Mehedi Hasan Miraz (2) swept one away for the winning runs.

In the morning, Bangladesh bowled Sri Lanka out for 319 and were set a 191-run target.

Tail-enders Dilruwan (50) and Suranga Lakmal (42) continued to frustrate the Tigers' bowlers with an 80-run stand for the ninth wicket in the morning after they resumed on the overnight tally of 268/8.

Perera was eventually run out after his fourth Test half-century. Lakmal soon followed him back when he holed out at long-off to give Shakib Al Hasan his fourth wicket.

Shakib returned 4/74 while Mustafizur picked up 3/78 for Bangladesh. Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam chipped in with a wicket apiece.

Donald Trump's spokesman has denied that the US president refused to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they say side-by-side in the White House last week.

"I don't think he heard the question" posed by Merkel when she suggested they shake hands, in full view of press cameras, spokesman Sean Spicer told German weekly Der Spiegel published today.

The quote was translated into English from Der Spiegel's online German website.

The veteran German chancellor had arrived for her first meeting with Trump at a snowy White House hoping to reverse a chill in relations after Trump's incendiary election rhetoric, in which he called Merkel's acceptance of refugees a "catastrophic mistake" and suggested she was "ruining Germany." 

The visit on Friday began cordially, with the pair shaking hands at the entrance of the White House. But later, sitting side-by-side in the Oval Office, Merkel's suggestion of another handshake went unheard or ignored by Trump — an awkward moment in what are usually highly scripted occasions.

German media pointed to the incident as another marker of the meeting's general icy mood between the cautious German chancellor and impulsive US president.

In a frequently awkward joint press conference in the East Room, Trump and Merkel showed little common ground as they addressed a host of thorny issues including NATO, defense spending and free trade deals.

For most of the 30 minutes, Merkel was stony-faced as Trump ripped into Washington's NATO allies for not paying for their "fair share" for transatlantic defense and demanded "fair and reciprocal trade" deals.

Today, Germany's biggest-selling daily Bild said that throughout the White House meeting, not once did Trump look her in the eye. 

Visting a society where a unique genetic heterogeneity of plants reside, each with its own features, that include flowers, crops, trees, saplings and bonsais, is a delight to the eyes. Covering 21 acres of land in a bustling part of the city, the Agri Horticulture Garden of Kolkata is known for its fabulous collection of trees, flowering plants and other varieties of vegetation. It has an impressive infrastructure, which makes it one of the well-maintained gardens across the country.

The place is filled with lush greenery till the point the eyes reach. The place encompasses so much greenery that, even the sign boards in the parking area reads ‘Vehicles should be parked facing the flowers’! It looks greener as a change from the grayscale city that we live in.

The narrow winding roads leading through the greenery, flanked by different species of trees like the Ashoka, the panthapadap, the Brazilian Ironwood to name a few, attracts myriad visitors. It seems like some exotic location by Upendrakishore Raychaudhury’s iconic characters’ with Goopy-Bagha’s magical clap. No beauty can challenge the beauty of flower such is the creation of nature. To brighten the mood with soothing fragrances and beautiful ambiance, the city of Kolkata spectacled mixed bag of flora exhibit in the Agri-Horticultural Society of India recently in February. Founded by Rev. Dr. William Carey in the year 1820, the Agri-Horticultural Society of India accomplished 187 years of its proud existence. Close to its bicentenary year, the diversity of horticulture was seen locked up through the hundreds of seasonal flowers not without perennial flowerets but fruits and vegetables, wide range of foliage plants, cacti and bonsais grown in pots.

The visitors took pleasure amidst such vivid hues of flora. This extraordinary competition has been taking place since 1828 every year and remains a prominent fixture of Kolkata’s happening. This is a gala event where around 2000 entries and 16,500 exhibits including edible vegetable are on display. The Annual Flower Show organised by the society is the world’s oldest flower show in existence. The exhibit is equipped with plants, shrubs, succulents, cactus, orchids, bonsai, vegetables, uprooted vegetables, seasonal flowering and non-flowering plants, cut flowers, fruits, medicinal plants and many more. Besides, north-eastern states like Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh also take part in this show with their exotic orchids and other plants, and numerous species The society is categorically divided into blocks, with each having their own homes like; the Rose garden, Xero garden, Orchidarium, Darbhanga house and Bhesaj Udyan. Various techniques such as Japanese flower arrangements, bonsai trees, as well as exhibition of various vegetable arrangements were the highlights of the annual flower show this year. It was a rare privilege to the people of Kolkata and its suburbs to see roses from the different parts of the country as well as more than 200 rose pots by prominent rose growers. Also a huge quantum of cut roses was competing during this show. Visitors were treated to a variety of flowers from different parts of the states, which included flowers of bright colours, reddish pink, purple, dark blue.

The single stalks large Daliahs in attractive hues were the charm of the show and caught every eye of the visitors. Daliah cactus – a delightful variant of daliah was noteworthy for its spiky thin petals, whereas the bunch of chrysanthemums was a riot of colours at the garden. The Silver cock’s comb, is known for its bright colours and also lasts longer than normal flowers. Some red flowers blooming in an inverted position looked as gorgeous as a chandelier with their petals hanging down. In the midst of lilies and roses, and pleasing scents, one might think that one has entered the Garden of Eden. There were tiny pollinated starflowers in blue and pink which seemed as ethereal as fallen stars. Some of the notable plants on display were Elephant Foot Tree whose base-stem looks like elephant’s foot, Mad tree whose all leaves are dissimilar in shape, size and its structure. Monodora a beautiful rare plant of West African origin bears highly ornamental orchid like flower and it is very rare in India. Like these plants there are many more uncommon plants which attract all nature lovers. Besides plethora of flowers, winter annuals like Acrolinum, Arctotis, Gazania, Rudbeckia. Cyclamen, Molucella and Mimulus were also seen. Apart from the flower lovers there were also some specially-abled children who had come to witness the aura of the place. Some other school students were also present there.

The bonsai section caught the attention of all. There were wide varieties of bonsai, beautifully grown in small pots among. Wood apple’, ‘Fleus Microcarpa’, and ‘Carmona’ were the notable ones. The presence of the butterflies and the bees collecting nectar from the flowers created an imagery of Paradise. Besides fashioning flower shows, the Agri-Horticultural Society of India (ASHI) is also acknowledged for organising year round programmes. The ASHI arranges for summer and winter garden competitions, House Plants’ Show, Mango Mahotsav and many more. It also renders advisory services to plant lovers across the city to build the bridge between nature lovers and nature. Such flower shows and competitions are organised to encourage the people to nurture plants in their homes. Covered with lush greenery and colourful flowers, the garden offers the people of Kolkata a short respite from their hectic and mundane life to cheer up amidst florets and blossoms during this period. Wandering inside the premises, one could even hear the soothing sound of music resounding from speakers arranged by the management and for a moment all the senses will be engulfed, making one almost forget the busy city that’s just outside the walls of this ‘Garden of Eden’.

By Moghoni Das, Sweta Biswas, Raunaq Borah, Sucheta Chatterjee and Madhurima Sengupta

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and voiced confidence in the "new team" to make Uttar Pradesh a "Uttam Pradesh" by doing "record development".

"Congratulations to Yogi Adityanathji, (Deputy Chief Ministers) Keshav Prasad Mauryaji, Dinesh Sharmaji and all those who took oath. Best wishes for serving UP," Modi tweeted. 

Modi said the new team would do "record development" in Uttar Pradesh to make it "Uttam Pradesh".

"I have immense confidence that this new team will leave no stone unturned in making UP Uttam Pradesh. There will be record development. Our sole mission and motive is development. When UP develops, India develops," Modi said. 

The Prime Minister said he wanted to serve Uttar Pradesh's youth and create opportunities for them.

Modi also appreciated the hard work of Bharatiya Janata Party workers and people's support which he said helped the party to form governments in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand.

"With the blessings of people and hard work of our Karyakartas, the BJP has formed governments in four of the five states that went to the polls. Our unwavering efforts to create a Bhavya and Divya Bharat continue. India's Jan Shakti is powering the rise of a new and transformed India," he added.

In a big relief to Delhi’ites, the reservation seeking Jat agitators on Sunday called off the march towards the national capital on Monday to press for their demands, for 15 days.
The Yashpal Malik-led All India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti (AIJASS), which is spearheading the agitation demanding reservations in education and government jobs, decided to post-pone its march to Delhi after it held a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in New Delhi and got assurance for consideration of its key demands.
Malik said all of their key demands have been accepted for consideration by CM Khattar and the Centre government which was represented by Union minister and Jat leader, Birendra Singh during the meeting.
“Today we got assurance both from the Centre and the state government. So we (Jats) are not coming to Delhi now (for the protest),” Malik said.
“As we have been assured that out demands will be met, we have decided to post-pone our march towards Delhi,” he added while speaking to reporters after the meeting.
Addressing the joint Press conference with Malik, the CM Khattar said justice will be given to the Jat community and everyone should now ensure that peace and harmony is maintained in the state.
“I have asked everyone (Jats) to go back to the places where sit-ins are being held. Those who attended today’s meeting with the CM will go there tomorrow and brief everyone about the decisions taken in the
meeting,” Malik said.
Malik said all of AIJASS’s demands, including reservation in the Central jobs have been accepted. “Now we will hold our meeting on 26 March to decide out future course of action,” he said, adding that no deadline has been fixed for fulfilling the demands. Apart from Other Backward Class (OBC) status for the community, AIJASS
have been demanding withdrawal of cases registered against the community members during the previous protests and permanent government jobs to the family members of those killed during the violence which in took place in February 2016 when the 30 persons were killed after the agitation turned violent.

Parliament’s last week was just after the Assembly election results of five states were declared. Not surprisingly, therefore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed as “lion of Gujarat” when he arrived for Thursday’s Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha. He received  asimilar welcome from BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha. Although the Congress had the Punjab victory to answer for the BJP’s capture of UP and Uttarakhand, it cried “murder of democracy” in both Houses over Goa and Manipur, where BJP-led coalitions were invited to form governments, ignoring its “claim” for being the single largest party. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad raised an interesting point that the BJP had already formed governments in Goa and Manipur where it emerged without majority in the polls, and was yet to initiate the same process in UP and Uttarakhand, where its victories had impressed everyone. Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, armed with facts, listed instances at the Central and state levels where ‘alternative coalitions,’ including the one led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1998, presenting more credible options, were sworn into office. The Congress led walk-outs on the issue in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, and forced repeated adjournments in the Rajya Sabha the next day by shouting slogans in the well of the House.

 Despite this, the two Houses proceeded with the Budget session work. While the Lok Sabha discussed the working of the Ministries of Railways, Defence, Home and Agriculture, the Rajya Sabha trailing behind, resumed its General Budget discussion. After the recent derailments, safety in rail travel was uppermost in the minds of the Lok Sabha members when they spoke on the Railway Ministry’s Demands for Grants. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu spoke of Rs.10,000 crores being spent on safety works. The rail accidents were being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), he said. Congress and Shiv Sena members staged a walk-out when Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, intervening in a discussion on the Demands for Grants of his Ministry, said the Centre would bear the burden of the farmers’ loan waiver only in Uttar Pradesh, and gave no assurance for other states. The members were agitated when the minister said that in UP’s case, the BJP had made a poll promise that it would finance a loan waiver, if it came to power in the state.

The Defence Budget discussion brought up the surgical strikes issue, and Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said these strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control were carried out on the basis of specific information on possible attacks on the country from there. While there was absolute precision in the strikes, no Indian casualty was suffered, he said. Rejecting Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia’s charge that the Army was not getting new weapons, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who holds the Defence charge in addition to his Finance Ministry portfolio after the movement of Mr Manohar Parrikar to Goa as its new Chief Minister, said the armed forces were fully prepared to meet any threat to the country. Home Minister Rajnath Singh replied to the Home Ministry debate on Friday and said the Centre had adopted a humanitarian approach towards problems of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lok Sabha debates were exhaustive as the House sat till late in the evening, allowing members to have their say.

The Rajya Sabha’s General Budget discussion had Mr Jairam Ramesh of the Congress saying that demonetisation might have been a “smart” political move but it had a “spurious and dubious logic behind it”. Judging from bank credit, railway freight and electricity consumption, the economy’s performance as flat. Both Houses welcomed the return of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after her medical treatment, and heard her assuring statements on crimes against Indians in the US, and fishermen’s release from Pakistan and Sri Lankan custody.

He shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in last year's gritty drama Pink and Angad Bedi says he is craving to work with the megastar again in another project.

The courtroom drama, directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and produced by Shoojit Sircar, also starred Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang and Piyush Mishra.

The film received wide acclaim for handling the issue of crime against women, besides earning accolades for its cast.

"Life post 'Pink has been great. I have no complaint. I have worked very hard to be where I am. I hope God gives me enough power to carry forward. My childhood dream was to work with Mr Bachchan and 'Pink' fulfilled that. I want to do another film with him. Hopefully that also happens," Angad told.

"I want to work with Shoojit again. The character he gave me to play was very difficult and not my personality but he had faith in me that I could pull it off." 

Angad will be next seen in a web-series Powerplay alongside Richa Chadha.

"It is a fabulous series and high on performance."

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has said that all devices using Aadhaar authentication will have to adhere to its new encryption standards from June 1.

The move is aimed at adding another security layer to the hardware at a time when such devices are all set to take the centre stage in biometric-based digital payments.

"We have recently come out with new specifications and asked manufacturers and vendors to go for STQC certification as per the new standards. We have advised that from June 1, they should get devices on the new specifications and that the existing devices should be upgraded to the new norms," Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI told PTI.

UIDAI is the nodal body responsible for rolling out Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique identification number that identifies residents based on their biometrics. While more than 112 crore Aadhaar have been generated in the country, the Aadhaar authentications have crossed 500 crore, and 100 crore e-KYC have been done on the platform.

Pandey, however, emphasised that only those devices that wish to use Aadhaar authentication, would have to meet the new standards.

Only such 'registered devices' that incorporate the new specifications would be allowed to perform Aadhaar authentication.

"We are continuously trying to tighten the security. We felt that while the system is secure, we want to further improve the security by building one more layer. So, if the device itself can be encrypted it will be harder to break into the system," he said.

Simplifying this, he said that while two locks exist currently – one at the level of agency and another at UIDAI – the new system will place a third lock on the biometric device itself.

He said that UIDAI has been been in talks with the device manufacturers for almost 1.5 years for implementation of the new specifications. In this period, Aadhaar has seen its numbers swell both in terms of enrolment and authentication.

The Aadhaar daily authentications now stand at almost 2 crore against 10 lakh about 1.5 years ago.

"Unless they see demand, no manufacturer will manufacture as per your specification. Now manufacturers too are showing interest…They know when they make specially designed biometric fingerprint scanner for Aadhaar and put another lock as per UIDAI's requirement, it will sell in the market. Hence, they are open to the idea," Pandey said.

Children who spend more time outdoors express a continued love of nature as young adults and are more likely to help protect the environment, a new study has found.

Researchers from University of British Columbia Okanagan in Canada, interviewed about 50 students between the ages of 18 to 25. Of the group, 100 per cent of females stated that they loved or somewhat loved nature and 87 per cent of males responded the same.

The study found that 87 per cent of the respondents who played outside as children expressed a continued love of nature as young adults. Of that group, 84 per cent said taking care of the environment was a priority.

"Developing positive experiences in nature at a young age can influence our attitudes and behaviours towards nature as adults," said Catherine Broom of University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus.

Environmental awareness programmes like Girl Guides or Boy Scouts may help develop children's environmental awareness and action, according to researchers.

"Our findings imply that providing positive childhood experiences in nature, such as outdoor school programmes, may help to develop care for the environment in adults," Broom said.

"However, these may not be sufficient unless programmes are building knowledge and self-awareness of environmental stewardship," she added.

Schools and early childhood classroom activities should connect positive experiences in nature with mindful learning and reflection that help empower students to take a personal role in protecting the environment by recycling, turning off the lights, and using alternative transportation methods, researchers said.

The study was published in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education.