The G4 nations of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan said they are open to innovative and differing ideas to reform the UN as a mere expansion of the non-permanent Security Council will not address the "malaise" afflicting the body.

In a joint statement, delivered by India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin at an inter-governmental negotiations meeting on March 7, 2017, the G4 nations emphasised that an overwhelming majority of the UN member-states supports expansion of both permanent and non-permanent membership in a reformed Security Council.

The statement points out that a negotiating text is a basic requirement for work at the UN. "While we are aware of no other way to proceed but this, we are open to innovative ideas to rework the UN system," it added.

The G4 nations said it unfortunate that they have not heard any innovative ideas but a few countries bringing old rejected models for consideration of the member-states yet again.

"We are, as a matter of respect, wiling to consider them and have them tabled along with our proposals in a composite text," it said, adding that for the nations' and UN's credibility to be sustained, it is time for "honest engagement and exchange on the basis of a text." 

The bloc said it believes there is an "imbalance of influence" within the Security Council between the permanent and non-permanent members and expansion only in the non-permanent category is not going to solve the problem.

"It will actually widen the difference between permanent and non-permanent members even more, tilting further the scales in favor of a dispensation that was valid in the special situation in 1945 but is no longer now," the statement said.

Akbaruddin said a "balanced enlargement" in both categories is necessarily the only way to ensure an equilibrium that reflects the current situation and any reform that does not address expansion of both categories will be "incomplete and futile." 

"Expansion of non-permanent membership is a solution which adds to the size without addressing the malaise that afflicts the Council," he said in the statement. 

Vodafone, on Wednesday, announced that it will offer additional 2GB data to its women post-paid customers in Delhi-NCR for free as gift on the International Women's Day. "This offer reiterates our efforts to enable women to do more and achieve more in life. I urge all our women Red Post-Paid customers to experience the digital life on our network," Vodafone India, Delhi-NCR Business head, Alok Verma said in a statement.

The offer is valid only for a day and comes with no restrictions on the 2GB data usage. The data benefit will be automatically credited to the user's account and notified through an SMS.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have warned of strict action against those, who were indulging in circulating "fake news" against the security forces with the intention to foment trouble.

A police spokesman on Wednesday said that certain news agencies had circulated "fake news" of stone pelting at security forces by a mob in the Newa area of the Pulwama district of Kashmir during an encounter.

Police clarified that a cordon was placed and search of suspected area was completed peacefully.

The miscreants circulating such news and spreading falsehood to foment trouble are being identified and action shall be taken against them as per the law.

The police asked the people not to pay heed to such mischievous news reports being circulated by vested interests.

“For most of history ‘Anonymous’ was a woman.” – Virginia Woolf.

From being suppressed and prohibited from keeping and expressing opinion, to being a piece of possession for men, women have faced suppression in all forms since ages. Although the society continued to be patriarchal in nature, strong women stood up and faced the world. They made efforts in the direction of empowering other women and strongly owning their own opinions.

Some secretly penned their thoughts, some threaded them into short stories, some in the form of novels and some narrated poems. From using pseudonyms to coming out proudly, female authors from all around the world proved that they can have an opinion about anything and everything and have the courage to take a stand.

There are women writers, who have reshaped the way people perceive women. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate these five influential women authors of all time and why should we continue to be inspired by them.

Sylvia Plath

Born in Boston in the year 1932, Sylvia had strong and unapologetic thoughts that she expressed through her writings. “Go out and do something. It isn’t your room that’s a prison, it’s yourself.”

Maya Angelou

Known for her bold statements and opinions, Maya born as Marguerite Annie Johnson in1928 was an American poet, writer and civil rights activist. “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.”

Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf, born in 1882, was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the 20th century.

“Lock up your libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock, and no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary, born in 1759 was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights.

“I do not wish women to have power over men but over themselves.”

Taslima Nasreen

An award-winning writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist is known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death.

“Religion is against women’s rights and women’s freedom. In all societies women are oppressed by all religions.”

Get inspired, let the spirit be lifted up, for a courageous, strong and unapologetic woman nothing is impossible. The mankind owes its existence to women after all.

Actor Rishi Kapoor, who has always grabbed headlines for his nasty tweets, is in the news again for putting a warning as his bio on Twitter. 

"Don't you dare try Trollers and Abusers! You will be abused and BLOCKED-your loss if you following me. Don't like me, unfollow me. Signed-Terrorist of the family," the actor's Twitter bio read.

The Kapoor and Sons actor later posted a tweet to explain what he meant in the bio.

"Released new Warning Bio for future Trolls, Abusers and Idiots! Refer profile. Please ignore sensible friends. Let's live in a fun World," the actor tweeted.

Known for his short temper, Rishi Kapoor has often got into a lot of scuffles with his Twitter followers. He even followed back some of the them just to abuse them via Direct Message.

Actor Rishi Kapoor was last seen in Kapoor and Sons and also bagged the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Kapoor and Sons.

The perpetrators of Bhopal-Ujjain train bomb explosion were influenced by ISIS ideology and the incident was a "trial blast" as the terrorists planned to carry out more attacks, Madhya Pradesh Government said on Wednesday.

Speaking in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said said that those who orchestrated the blast arrived from Lucknow and planted the bomb in the passenger train as part of a "pre-planned conspiracy".

At least 10 people were injured, three of them seriously, in the IED blast in the train near Jabdi station in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

"The terrorists were influenced by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror ideology and carried out the blast. It was a pre-planned conspiracy," Chouhan said in the Assembly during the ongoing budget session.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in the passenger train was a "trial blast".

"Yesterday's explosion carried out through IED was a trial blast. The police, however, smashed this terror network within five hours after the blast in train," Singh told mediapersons in the state Assembly premises on Wednesday.

The terrorists had plans to orchestrate the blasts at some other places also, he claimed.

Earlier, speaking to mediapersons at Barwah town in Khargone district late last night, Chouhan said, "Police detained three terrorists who planted bomb in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. It was revealed during initial interrogation from the arrested terrorists that they were connected to ISIS."

"The blast site smelt of deadly explosives. I would like to congratulate the ATS and police who immediately acted.

Madhya Pradesh is a peaceful state and nobody would be allowed to create disturbance here," he said.

These terrorists had arrived here from Lucknow and planted the bomb in Bhopal-Ujjain train, he said.

Chouhan said today in the state Assembly that MP police and central agencies had unmasked the people behind the train blast in just five hours.

"The three suspects detained for the blast in the state are being grilled thoroughly so as to reach to more of their accomplices," he said.

Referring to the jail break by SIMI activists and the subsequent encounter in which eight men of the banned outfit were killed last year, the CM said, "Attempts have been made to disturb peace but it has been nipped in the bud by the alert state police. An act of terror won't be allowed to thrive in the state."

In an official statement released late last night, the UP police had said that three persons were arrested by Madhya Pradesh police in Piparia town in Hoshangabad.

Two of the arrested persons are from Kanpur, while one is from Aligarh.

The reticent and soft-spoken 'bahu' of the first family of the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP, Dimple Yadav, has finally found her groove, emerging as a major crowd puller in election rallies all over the state.

From the fumbling leader who repeatedly corrected herself while going through her written text in Parliament on Kaushal Vikas mission some months ago to proper utilisation of manpower, the 39-year-old Kannauj MP has come a long way.

The new Dimple – the star campaigner – has learnt how to keep the audience especially the youth involved and impress them.

Aptly donning the role of the 'bahu' and 'bhabhi', she has gone about endearingly reprimanding the young enthusiasts with warnings that she will complain about them to their 'bhaiya' (Akhilesh Yadav) and at the same time taking care of the elders among the electorate seeking 'muhdekhaiye' (gift) for her in terms of votes.

When party workers went berserk in Allahabad, she said, "I will tell bhaiya (Akhilesh) that you did not let me speak."

I will complain…bhaiya is coming here tomorrow." 

Lawmakers from India and Pakistan agreed that technology can play an important role in fighting corruption and improving governance in the two countries.

They came together for a discussion on lessons on technology for better governance in Dubai on Tuesday.

"Participants underscored that technology has immense potential to improve governance in Pakistan and India. They recognised that while tremendous strides have been made across Pakistan and India in using technology for improved governance, there exists a lot of room for sharing of good practices between the two countries," according to a statement released after the dialogue.

They said governments while trying to improve the quality of life of their citizens must also maintain the security of data and privacy of citizens.

"The governments must actively encourage individuals, businesses and NGOs to come up with initiatives and interfaces that improve administration and service delivery," it said.

Lawmakers from Pakistan's Sindh and Punjab provinces joined Indian counterparts from Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Delhi and Gujarat during the dialogue. Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and another MP Dushyant Chautala were among the prominent faces in the Indian delegation.
 

A Rs.48,000-crore budget for the national capital was presented by the AAP government on Wednesday, laying major focus on improving transport, health, water distribution and education infrastructure.

In its third budget, the Arvind Kejriwal government abolished the plan and non-plan expenditure heads and presented it in terms of revenue and capital classification in line with the Centre's decision.

There was no proposal on levying any new tax.

In a first, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the finance portfolio, also presented an "outcome budget" which he said would act like a "contract" between the government and the people.

Sisodia asserted that the economy of the state will grow "despite demonetisation".

At the same time, he said note ban has led to contraction in the city's estimated GSDP for the ongoing financial year (at constant prices) although it will still be higher than the projected growth at the national level.

At current prices, the national capital's economic growth has been pegged at 12.76 per cent.

"When we allocate money for skywalk, merely constructing it would not be counted as success. Its success would depend on how many people actually use it. That in a nutshell explains the objective of the outcome component," he said.

Eyeing the municipal polls, the government has earmarked a record Rs.7,571 crore for the civic bodies, which comes to about 15 per cent of the total allocation.

The government alloted Rs.11,300 crore for education, about 24 per cent of the total Budget, to the education sector. Last year's allocation was Rs.10,690 crore.

An outlay of Rs.5,736 crore has been made for the health sector, a priority area for AAP government.

Rs.1,156 crore has been set aside for the phase four of the Delhi Metro while Rs.100 crore has been earmarked for developing bus terminals and depots.

Sisodia said Delhi's contribution to India's GDP has increased from 3.94 per cent in 2011-12 to 4.08 per cent in 2016-17.

The size of the budget for 2017-18 is Rs.48,000 crore.

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has on Wednesday released the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) Tier III admit cards on its official website ssc.nic.in.

To download admit cards, candidates can log on to the official website and click on the tab 'Admit Cards' and then enter registration number and date of birth in the relevant space.

The SSC CGLE Tier III exam will be descriptive in nature and the examination includes essay writing, passage writing, letter writing, application writing. Candidates will be accessed on the basis of their writing skills.

A total of 56169 candidates have been qualified for Tier III examination and it will be held on March 19. Approximately 1.49 lakh candidates from different categories are all set to appear for the Tier II examination.

Women athletes are taking the world by storm and while with the likes of Serena Williams,Simone Biles and Katie Ledecy require no introduction, India has quite a few women who are going great runs.

On International Women’s Day, The Statesman has compiled a list of five finest Indian athletes who are making the country proud.

The Comeback Girl: Saina Nehwal
2016 was arguably the toughest and most rewarding year of Saina Nehwal’s glittering career. 

Confused?
Well, a career-threatening knee injury wrecked her chances of becoming the first Indian woman to win back-to-back Olympic medals but after a long-injury layoff she came into arguably the best form of her life. 
After winning the 2016 Australian Open and the 2017 Malaysian Masters, it is safe to say Saina is here to stay and has smashed away any retirement thoughts! 

The Queen of the Ring: Sakshi Malik
2016 was a momentous year for Indian sports but it was the year that our females truly saved our bacon on the biggest sporting spectacle that is the Olympics. Superstars were born and while they all deserve the recognition that came her way, Sakshi Malik perhaps deserves it all and more.

Born in Haryana, a state notorious for its poor sex ratio and disturbingly high female foeticide rate, this freestyle wrestler forever etched her name in history by storming her way to a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games. An Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medallist prior to her historic triumph in Brazil, Sakshi has emerged as a torch bearer for encouraging the participation of girls in sports. Dare we say, should Sakshi chose to retire from professional wrestling tomorrow, her Rio triumph alone will inspire countless generations.

The Precocious Prodigy: Aditi Ashok
She may not have won the inaugural golf championships at the Rio Games, but fresh-faced Aditi Ashok sure left a mark on the Indian public. In an often-elitist sport dominated by men, the teenager continued to script history after the Olympics, as she became the first Indian woman to win a Ladies European Tour title when she bagged the Hero Women’s Indian Open. Continuing to blaze a trail for aspiring athletes she then won the Rookie of the Year award before receiving an LPGA Tour card for 2017 to continue her amazing story.

The Evergreen Star: Sania Mirza
She’s been around for so long it is difficult to believe Sania Mirza is just 30. After catching the attention of the Indian public as power-hitting 18-year-old, this Hyderabadi has gone from strength to strength. While an Olympic medal continues to elude her, having six Grand Slam titles and an impressive 41 WTA titles isn’t a bad trophy cabinet to have at home. After switching to doubles full time to prolong her career, Sania is going strong and with possibly a decade of tennis ahead, can easily double her Grand Slam tally.

The Silver Superstar: PV Sindhu
Last but certainly not the least. 
If 2016 belonged to a single sports entity (male or female) it has to be this tall lass who may have fallen agonisingly short of winning a gold at the 2016 Olympics, but made a nation of billion plus proud with a display that had plenty of heart. With accolades and endorsements coming her way by the dozen it would have been easy to switch off and rest on her laurels, but she proved her Olympic performance wasn't a flash in the pan with a win at the prestigious Syed Modi International. Still just 21, Sindhu is one for the present and the future for sure.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has opened the one time correction window for the NEET UG 2017 online application forms on its official website cbseneet.nic.in.

As per the notification, the corrections can be done till March 12, 2017. And if any candidate has submitted wrong data in application form, they must correct the error as it will affect their results.

The details can be corrected by all those candidates who have filled up application form with IDs other than Aadhar, enrolment number and registration number which is issued by facilitation centre.

Aspirants who have not added their application form with Aadhaar Card and the candidates with nationality as Foreign, OCI, PIO and NRI cannot edit their identification identity.

Candidates can make corrections in certain other sections which include identification, date of birth, gender, state code of eligibility, category, disability status, medium and examination centre. Candidates who can correct the date of birth are the candidates who have filled the form with IDs either than Aadhaar card etc.

Aspirants who have given Tripura either in their state of eligibility or of qualifying exam will be able to change their centre of examination to Agartala in case they have chosen Bengali as medium of question paper.

The test will be conducted on May 7, 2017 across 80 cities at 1,500 examination centres across the country.

Realty firm Mahindra Lifespace Developers has received capital markets regulator Sebi's approval to raise up to Rs 300 crore through rights issue.

In a rights issue, shares are issued to existing shareholders as per their holding at a pre-determined price and ratio.

The company had filed draft papers with Sebi in January to raise funds through rights issue and the regulator issued its 'observation' on March 2, which is necessary for any firm to launch public offer, as per latest update with Sebi.

Going by the draft papers, Mahindra group's realty firm would issue "equity share for an amount up to Rs 300 crore on a rights basis to the eligible equity shareholders".

Proceeds from the issue will be primarily used for redemption of non-convertible debentures.

ICICI Securities Ltd is the sole book running lead manager for the offer.

Besides, three firms — Vardhaman Special Steels, Intellect Design Arena and ZenoTech Laboratories — have also sought approval of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise funds through rights issue.

According to market experts, market stability could be a reason why companies are opting for equity issuance to existing shareholders.

Last year, companies mopped up a total of Rs 1,230 crore via rights issue mode.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that her government had to take loan to repay huge debts taken by the previous Left Front government.

Banerjee made the statement in the state Assembly in reply to a comment by CPIM member Tanmay Bhattacharya that TMC government had taken loan to the tune of Rs 1.33 lakh crore.

When the CPIM member said that the TMC government should consider increasing old age pension and allowances for widows before considering any hike in the allowances of MLAs, Banerjee said she was stunned to hear this.

The chief minister said that allowances for the MLAs are the lowest in the state and it was his party members who had asked for increase. Now he was making so much noise, she said.

She informed the house that her government has to pay Rs 40,000 crore this year to repay the debt taken by the previous LF government.

Earlier, Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said that 49,687 widows and 44,244 people with physical disabilities were being given allownaces while 83,738 people were getting old age pensions.

British finance minister Philip Hammond unveils his latest tax and spend plans on Wednesday in a budget expected to exude caution as the country prepares to trigger Brexit.

Nicknamed "Spreadsheet Phil", Hammond's first budget statement last November was viewed as rather uninspiring by the British media and financial analysts.

And the chancellor of the exchequer, who took control of the national coffers following last June's Brexit vote, is not expected to present any major surprises this time around, with Britain on the cusp of triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March.

This starts a two-year withdrawal process, after which Britain will leave the European Union whether or not it has struck a deal on its future ties with the bloc.

Britain's economy has fared better than expected in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum but recent data has pointed to storm clouds on the horizon, while at the end of last year the government slashed its own growth forecasts.

"The recent strength in the economy means that there is little need to provide a near-term stimulus and we think that 'Spreadsheet Phil' will deliver a fairly mundane budget," said Jonathan Loynes, chief economist at research group Capital Economics.

Hammond, he said, would likely leave the opportunity to dip into the country's better-than-forecast public finances "for a rainy day".

"As we begin our negotiations with the EU… we need to maintain our commitment to fiscal discipline and to strengthen our economic position as we forge our vision of Britain's future in the world," Hammond wrote in The Sunday Times.

In the November budget, Prime Minister Theresa May's government revealed that Britain must borrow an additional 122 billion (USD 150 billion/140 billion euros) over five years as it exits the EU, forcing it to shelve plans to balance the books by 2020.

About half of that budgetary black hole — some 58.7 billion — is a direct consequence of Britain's decision to leave the EU, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which blamed factors including lower migration, slower productivity growth and higher inflation.

Also last November, the OBR slashed its forecast for Britain's 2017 gross domestic product growth to 1.4 per cent from 2.2 per cent.

"Given stronger-than-anticipated resilience in economic momentum… it is likely that the OBR will revise up its 2017 growth forecast" today alongside Hammond's budget update, Barclays said in a note to clients.

British finance minister Philip Hammond unveils his latest tax and spend plans on Wednesday in a budget expected to exude caution as the country prepares to trigger Brexit.

Nicknamed "Spreadsheet Phil", Hammond's first budget statement last November was viewed as rather uninspiring by the British media and financial analysts.

And the chancellor of the exchequer, who took control of the national coffers following last June's Brexit vote, is not expected to present any major surprises this time around, with Britain on the cusp of triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March.

This starts a two-year withdrawal process, after which Britain will leave the European Union whether or not it has struck a deal on its future ties with the bloc.

Britain's economy has fared better than expected in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum but recent data has pointed to storm clouds on the horizon, while at the end of last year the government slashed its own growth forecasts.

"The recent strength in the economy means that there is little need to provide a near-term stimulus and we think that 'Spreadsheet Phil' will deliver a fairly mundane budget," said Jonathan Loynes, chief economist at research group Capital Economics.

Hammond, he said, would likely leave the opportunity to dip into the country's better-than-forecast public finances "for a rainy day".

"As we begin our negotiations with the EU… we need to maintain our commitment to fiscal discipline and to strengthen our economic position as we forge our vision of Britain's future in the world," Hammond wrote in The Sunday Times.

In the November budget, Prime Minister Theresa May's government revealed that Britain must borrow an additional 122 billion (USD 150 billion/140 billion euros) over five years as it exits the EU, forcing it to shelve plans to balance the books by 2020.

About half of that budgetary black hole — some 58.7 billion — is a direct consequence of Britain's decision to leave the EU, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which blamed factors including lower migration, slower productivity growth and higher inflation.

Also last November, the OBR slashed its forecast for Britain's 2017 gross domestic product growth to 1.4 per cent from 2.2 per cent.

"Given stronger-than-anticipated resilience in economic momentum… it is likely that the OBR will revise up its 2017 growth forecast" today alongside Hammond's budget update, Barclays said in a note to clients.

Firmly backing Steve Smith, Cricket Australia on Wednesday said questioning his integrity is "outrageous" and there was no "ill-intent" in the captain's move of seeking dressing room help for a controversial DRS call during the second Test against India.

In a statement issued here, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the CA firmly stands behind Smith and the rest of the Australian cricket team.

"I find the allegations questioning the integrity of Steve Smith, the Australian Team and the dressing room, outrageous," Sutherland was quoted in a statement.

"Steve is an outstanding cricketer and person, and role model to many aspiring cricketers and we have every faith that there was no ill-intent in his actions.

"We reject any commentary that suggests our integrity was brought into disrepute or that systemic unfair tactics are used, and stand by Steve and the Australian Cricketers who are proudly representing our country," he added.

Smith had gestured towards the dressing room to seek a clue on whether to go for a referral or not after he was trapped LBW by pacer Umesh Yadav in the second Test, which Australia lost by 75 runs on Tuesday.

Sparks flew between him and Indian skipper Virat Kohli when umpires noticed Smith's actions and intervened to stop him. Smith later tried to douse the fire by saying that it was a "brain fade" on his part and he shouldn't have done it.

But Kohli would have none of it in the post-match press conference and just about stopped short of labelling the Australian's actions as cheating.

"I can only say, if it happens more than twice, it's not brain fade," Kohli had said.

Smith was later criticised by former Indian captains such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly who urged the ICC to look into the matter.