The United Naga Council (UNC) which has been continuing a blockade in two national highways in Manipur since November 1, has said it would oppose Congress in the Assembly election to be held on March 4 and 8.

The UNC would oppose Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and his party, Congress, in the polls and support Naga Peoples' Front (UNF) in the coming election, the Naga body said in a statement last evening.

The UNC also asked all Nagas in the state to support candidates of NPF which has four members in the outgoing Assembly.

The UNC has imposed a blockade on NH2 and NH 37 – two lifelines of the state – since November 1 last year to protest against the state government's decision to create 7 new districts which, the UNC said, would bifurcate ancestral lands of Nagas in Manipur.

Supply of essential commodities to Manipur has been severely hit due to the blockade.

UNC also criticised the Ibobi Singh government for arrest of its president Gaidon Kamei who was taken into custody on November 25 in connection with the blockade.

Tata Sons on Tuesday said it has agreed to pay Japanese telecom firm NTT Docomo $1.18 billion to settle the 2-year old dispute over their Indian telecom joint venture.

In a statement, Tata Sons said it has reached an agreement with NTT Docomo "on a joint approach to enable enforcement" of June 22, 2016, compensation award granted by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in favour of the Japanese company.

"As a gesture of good faith and in accordance with the Tata Group's long-standing record of adherence to contractual commitments that it has always enjoyed both in India and abroad, the board of Tata Sons has decided to withdraw its objections to the enforcement of the award in India," it said.

The parties have jointly applied to the Delhi High Court, requesting that it accept their agreed terms of settlement, subject to such further orders as the court sees fit, it said.

In September last year, Tata Sons had filed an objection in the high court seeking to prevent enforcement of the arbitration award of $1.17 billion.

Tata Sons said that as per the agreement, the settlement terms, if approved, "clear the way for the $1.18 billion already deposited by Tata Sons with the court to be paid to Docomo and would allow Docomo to transfer its shares in Tata Teleservices Ltd".

"As part of this joint application, and in anticipation of the matter being finally resolved in India, Docomo has agreed to suspend its related enforcement proceedings in the United Kingdom and the United States for a period of time," it added.

Tata Sons further said: "This agreement between the parties is a significant step towards resolution of this dispute, and both Tata Sons and Docomo are hopeful that they will continue to work together constructively to achieve a resolution of this case as well as will look to further collaboration in future."

The promoter of the major operating Tata companies further said it took the decision in the interest of putting an end to the dispute and also "in the larger national interest of preserving a fair investment environment in India".

The handling of the dispute with Docomo was one of the major issues between Tata Sons and its ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, whose camp stated that "insinuations that the issue was handled in a manner inconsistent with Tata culture and values are baseless".

NTT Docomo, in November 2008, acquired 26.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs.12,740 crore (at Rs. 117 per share), offering services under the Tata Docomo brand.

This was as per an understanding that in case the Japanese partner exits the venture within five years, it will be paid a minimum 50 per cent of the acquisition price.

Tata Sons on Tuesday said it has agreed to pay Japanese telecom firm NTT Docomo $1.18 billion to settle the 2-year old dispute over their Indian telecom joint venture.

In a statement, Tata Sons said it has reached an agreement with NTT Docomo "on a joint approach to enable enforcement" of June 22, 2016, compensation award granted by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in favour of the Japanese company.

"As a gesture of good faith and in accordance with the Tata Group's long-standing record of adherence to contractual commitments that it has always enjoyed both in India and abroad, the board of Tata Sons has decided to withdraw its objections to the enforcement of the award in India," it said.

The parties have jointly applied to the Delhi High Court, requesting that it accept their agreed terms of settlement, subject to such further orders as the court sees fit, it said.

In September last year, Tata Sons had filed an objection in the high court seeking to prevent enforcement of the arbitration award of $1.17 billion.

Tata Sons said that as per the agreement, the settlement terms, if approved, "clear the way for the $1.18 billion already deposited by Tata Sons with the court to be paid to Docomo and would allow Docomo to transfer its shares in Tata Teleservices Ltd".

"As part of this joint application, and in anticipation of the matter being finally resolved in India, Docomo has agreed to suspend its related enforcement proceedings in the United Kingdom and the United States for a period of time," it added.

Tata Sons further said: "This agreement between the parties is a significant step towards resolution of this dispute, and both Tata Sons and Docomo are hopeful that they will continue to work together constructively to achieve a resolution of this case as well as will look to further collaboration in future."

The promoter of the major operating Tata companies further said it took the decision in the interest of putting an end to the dispute and also "in the larger national interest of preserving a fair investment environment in India".

The handling of the dispute with Docomo was one of the major issues between Tata Sons and its ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, whose camp stated that "insinuations that the issue was handled in a manner inconsistent with Tata culture and values are baseless".

NTT Docomo, in November 2008, acquired 26.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs.12,740 crore (at Rs. 117 per share), offering services under the Tata Docomo brand.

This was as per an understanding that in case the Japanese partner exits the venture within five years, it will be paid a minimum 50 per cent of the acquisition price.

India’s contribution to the field of science is recognised and appreciated all around the globe. It has come a long way from being known as the land of snake charmers to the land where Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been successfully executing ground breaking work.

Pre-independence era was a dark era for India. With colonisation and ill governance of the British, freedom was a rare thing but there was one Indian who managed to play with light in such darkness. He discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon was subsequently known as ‘Raman scattering’ which was a result of the ‘Raman Effect’.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman) with his student KS Krishnan discovered this effect on February 28, 1928 and won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. This day became a benchmark in the history of not only India but the world of science. Thus, it was chosen to be celebrated as National Science Day by the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) in the year 1986.

Since then this day has been celebrated every year with a unique theme to spread awareness and bring growth and improvement in the society.

This year’s theme is ‘Science and Technology for specially-abled persons’ where the life changing inventions and revolutionary reforms like these and many more are to be discussed and appreciated:

Chris and Marie’s efforts brought a first of its kind revolutionary reform against the discrimination against visually challenged persons in Banks in 1997 in Ottawa and in 2012 in Ahmedabad.

Neil Harbisson was born with a condition called Achromatopsia that limits his colour perception to just black and white. He created a camera that curls over the head like an antenna, converting colour inputs into specific sounds that help people listen to colours.

Over 10 million people worldwide have essential tremors or Parkinson’s disease. A new machine uses over hundreds of algorithms and helps people with Parkinson’s disease and supports their food consumption. The hand of the patient is monitored by this machine.

The celebration at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (also called GMRT), Khodad, includes public speech, radio-TV talk shows, screening of science movies, science exhibition based on themes and concepts, watching night sky, live projects and researches demonstration, debates, quiz competitions, lectures, science models and other activities.

India’s contribution to the field of science is recognised and appreciated all around the globe. It has come a long way from being known as the land of snake charmers to the land where Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been successfully executing ground breaking work.

Pre-independence era was a dark era for India. With colonisation and ill governance of the British, freedom was a rare thing but there was one Indian who managed to play with light in such darkness. He discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon was subsequently known as ‘Raman scattering’ which was a result of the ‘Raman Effect’.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman) with his student KS Krishnan discovered this effect on February 28, 1928 and won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. This day became a benchmark in the history of not only India but the world of science. Thus, it was chosen to be celebrated as National Science Day by the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) in the year 1986.

Since then this day has been celebrated every year with a unique theme to spread awareness and bring growth and improvement in the society.

This year’s theme is ‘Science and Technology for specially-abled persons’ where the life changing inventions and revolutionary reforms like these and many more are to be discussed and appreciated:

Chris and Marie’s efforts brought a first of its kind revolutionary reform against the discrimination against visually challenged persons in Banks in 1997 in Ottawa and in 2012 in Ahmedabad.

Neil Harbisson was born with a condition called Achromatopsia that limits his colour perception to just black and white. He created a camera that curls over the head like an antenna, converting colour inputs into specific sounds that help people listen to colours.

Over 10 million people worldwide have essential tremors or Parkinson’s disease. A new machine uses over hundreds of algorithms and helps people with Parkinson’s disease and supports their food consumption. The hand of the patient is monitored by this machine.

The celebration at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (also called GMRT), Khodad, includes public speech, radio-TV talk shows, screening of science movies, science exhibition based on themes and concepts, watching night sky, live projects and researches demonstration, debates, quiz competitions, lectures, science models and other activities.

The farm loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit common farmers and anomalies have come to light in the audit report, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Tuesday.

"The loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit the common farmers and it has been proved through the audit report that rules were changed to help people close to them (those who were part of the UPA)," Singh told news persons here last night.

Citing the audit report, he said anomalies have come to light in the decision of loan waiver as some additions were made in order to help "their own people".

Alleging that there had been a scam in the scheme, Singh said Rs.10,000 crore had been waived in Delhi whereas there are no farmers in the national capital and stressed that the Congress cannot be trusted.

A Comptroller and Auditor General report, tabled in Parliament in March 2013, had said that 8.5 per cent of farmers, out of 80,2999 accounts audited, were not eligible for debt waiver that they 5received under the scheme.

To a question on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his works, the Union minister said there is no need to give any importance to what he says as his own party leader Sheila Dikshit has already said he is "not mature enough and not fit to be party president".

Attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government, Singh said that even Rs.4,338 crore of the national disaster fund was distributed on the lines of caste and religion.

Claiming that Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee have suffered heavy losses due to the note ban decision, the minister also attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for "saying one thing and doing the other" and asked as to why he was with Lalu Prasad if he was right.

Singh said the Enforcement Directorate is probing the deposit of Rs.104 crore into BSP account.

The farm loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit common farmers and anomalies have come to light in the audit report, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Tuesday.

"The loan waiver scheme of the UPA government did not benefit the common farmers and it has been proved through the audit report that rules were changed to help people close to them (those who were part of the UPA)," Singh told news persons here last night.

Citing the audit report, he said anomalies have come to light in the decision of loan waiver as some additions were made in order to help "their own people".

Alleging that there had been a scam in the scheme, Singh said Rs.10,000 crore had been waived in Delhi whereas there are no farmers in the national capital and stressed that the Congress cannot be trusted.

A Comptroller and Auditor General report, tabled in Parliament in March 2013, had said that 8.5 per cent of farmers, out of 80,2999 accounts audited, were not eligible for debt waiver that they 5received under the scheme.

To a question on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his works, the Union minister said there is no need to give any importance to what he says as his own party leader Sheila Dikshit has already said he is "not mature enough and not fit to be party president".

Attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government, Singh said that even Rs.4,338 crore of the national disaster fund was distributed on the lines of caste and religion.

Claiming that Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee have suffered heavy losses due to the note ban decision, the minister also attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for "saying one thing and doing the other" and asked as to why he was with Lalu Prasad if he was right.

Singh said the Enforcement Directorate is probing the deposit of Rs.104 crore into BSP account.

A former US Navy veteran arrested last week for shooting two Indian engineers and an American at a bar had his first court appearance through video conference.

Adam Purinton, 51, faces one charge of first-degree murder and two charges of attempted first-degree murder in an apparent hate crime in Olathe that killed Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla and injured Alok Madasani. A third patron, 24-year-old Ian Grillot, was also wounded while trying to intervene.

Appearing in court via video conference on Monday, Purinton looked haggard and was soft-spoken. He was assigned a court-appointed attorney, and his bond remains set at $2 million. His next court date is March 9, CNN reported.

Purinton reportedly got into an argument with the victims at the Austins Bar & Grill and hurled racial slurs. He yelled "Get out of my country" and "terrorist" before shooting them. Purinton was later arrested from Applebee's restaurant in Clinton, Missouri.

In 911 calls, released by CNN-affiliate KSHB, an Applebee's bartender told the police that a man had admitted to shooting two "Iranian" people in Olathe and was looking for a place to hide.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton weighed in on the matter on Twitter on Monday, calling President Donald Trump to "step up and speak out" against "threats and hate crimes".

"With threats & hate crimes on rise, we shouldn't have to tell @POTUS to do his part. He must step up & speak out," she tweeted.

Trump has yet to comment, but his Press Secretary Sean Spicer had earlier said that early reports on the Kansas shooting were "disturbing".

Kuchibhotla hailed from Hyderabad while Madasani hails from Warangal town in Telangana. They were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an electronics manufacturer. 

A former US Navy veteran arrested last week for shooting two Indian engineers and an American at a bar had his first court appearance through video conference.

Adam Purinton, 51, faces one charge of first-degree murder and two charges of attempted first-degree murder in an apparent hate crime in Olathe that killed Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla and injured Alok Madasani. A third patron, 24-year-old Ian Grillot, was also wounded while trying to intervene.

Appearing in court via video conference on Monday, Purinton looked haggard and was soft-spoken. He was assigned a court-appointed attorney, and his bond remains set at $2 million. His next court date is March 9, CNN reported.

Purinton reportedly got into an argument with the victims at the Austins Bar & Grill and hurled racial slurs. He yelled "Get out of my country" and "terrorist" before shooting them. Purinton was later arrested from Applebee's restaurant in Clinton, Missouri.

In 911 calls, released by CNN-affiliate KSHB, an Applebee's bartender told the police that a man had admitted to shooting two "Iranian" people in Olathe and was looking for a place to hide.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton weighed in on the matter on Twitter on Monday, calling President Donald Trump to "step up and speak out" against "threats and hate crimes".

"With threats & hate crimes on rise, we shouldn't have to tell @POTUS to do his part. He must step up & speak out," she tweeted.

Trump has yet to comment, but his Press Secretary Sean Spicer had earlier said that early reports on the Kansas shooting were "disturbing".

Kuchibhotla hailed from Hyderabad while Madasani hails from Warangal town in Telangana. They were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an electronics manufacturer. 

Actress Shraddha Kapoor is all praises for superstar Aamir Khan as she says the Dangal star is one of the most inspiring and socially responsible artist.

Though the 29-year-old star has never shared the screen space with Aamir, she has only good things to say about him.

During hashtag AskShraddha on Twitter, the actress was asked to describe Aamir, 51, in one sentence.

To which she wrote, "one of the most inspiring, fearless, artistic, socially responsible person." 

She not only praised Aamir but also went on to hail her "competition", as audience believes, Alia Bhatt.

When a follower wanted to know what Shraddha thinks of Alia, the Baaghi star quickly gave a reply and said that the 23-year-old actress is a Pataka.

On Shah Rukh Khan, Shraddha said, he is the King, while she feels megastar Amitabh Bachchan is "the definition of a superstar." 

Varun Dhawan, who worked with Shraddha in ABCD 2, also found a mention in the actress' Q&A session.

"He's my batuk & before a coactor he is my childhood friend. There's a very special bond with him." 

A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sentenced five members of an extremist group to death for killing a Japanese national in 2015.

Japanese national Hoshi Kunio, 65, was shot dead near his farm in Rangpur district on October 3, 2015. One year later, authorities charged eight people belonging to the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) group — one of whom was later acquitted and two others were killed in police clashes.

"The court sentenced five accused to death as the prosecution could successfully prove the allegation against them," Special Public Prosecutor Abdul Malek told Efe news.

Malek said the two deceased accused were killed in clashes with police in August 2016 and January.

Following the sentencing, defence lawyer Abul Hossin said he will appeal against it in the high court.

Between 2013 and 2016, more than 70 people — mainly bloggers, intellectuals, foreigners and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh — were killed in a series of attacks triggering alarm in a Muslim country that has historically been moderate and for the most part removed from extremism.

However, the most gruesome incident was the attack on a restaurant in Dhaka in June 2016 in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed.

The Islamic State and Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.

The national blind cricket team which won the T-20 World Cup for Blind in February met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

Modi complimented the team members for their achievement and urged them to do even better in future, an official statement said.

The team members presented the Prime Minister with an autographed bat, a ball and a team jersey with his name on it. 

Modi too, autographed a bat and a ball for the team. 

The team won the tournament, held across India from January 28 to February 12, after defeating Pakistan in the final match in Bengaluru.

The AAP on Tuesday urged the police to arrest "ABVP goondas" who attacked and made rape threats to women students at the Delhi University.

"We urge you to take cognizance in this utterly despicable (conduct) and arrest these ABVP goondas who perpetrated violence on women in the garb of nationalism," the AAP told Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik.

In a letter submitted to Patnaik, Aam Aadmi Party leaders Atishi Marlena and legislators Alka Lamba and Sarita Singh sought action against the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the February 22 violence in the campus.

The AAP leaders, while pointing out the rape threats given to Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, who criticized the ABVP on social media, accused the police of failing to protect women's rights.

"The ABVP created a ruckus and disrupted a literary event that was to take place at the Ramjas College on February 21," their letter said. 

They then accused the ABVP of attacking female protesters "with invective and threats of sexual harassment and rape" during a protest march the next day in the campus, the AAP said. 

"Amulyaji, we are sure you will appreciate the fact that gender equality and gender rights are non-compromisable."
 

Shortly after te Earth formed and began to cool, the planet's first outer layer was a single, solid but deformable shell which later began to fold and crack more widely, giving rise to modern plate tectonics, suggests new research.

The research is the latest salvo in a long-standing debate in the geological research community: Did plate tectonics start right away — a theory known as uniformitarianism, or did the Earth first go through a long phase with a solid shell covering the entire planet? 

"Models for how the first continental crust formed generally fall into two groups: Those that invoke modern-style plate tectonics and those that do not," said study co-author Michael Brown, Professor at the University of Maryland in the US. 

"Our research supports the latter — a 'stagnant lid' forming the planet's outer shell early in Earth's history," Brown said.

Today's Earth is a dynamic planet with an outer layer composed of giant plates that grind together, sliding past or dipping beneath one another, giving rise to earthquakes and volcanoes. 

Others separate at undersea mountain ridges, where molten rock spreads out from the centers of major ocean basins.

The new research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that plate tectonics began later in the Earth's history.

To reach these conclusions, Brown and his colleagues from Curtin University and the Geological Survey of Western Australia studied rocks collected from the East Pilbara Terrane, a large area of ancient granitic crust located in the state of Western Australia. 

The area is known for having some of the oldest known rocks, ranging from 3.5 to about 2.5 billion years of age. The Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old.

The researchers specifically selected granites with a chemical composition usually associated with volcanic arcs — a telltale sign of plate tectonic activity.

Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded that the Earth probably began with a solid outer shell.

"We conclude that a multi-stage process produced Earth's first continents in a 'stagnant lid' scenario before plate tectonics began," Brown said.

Senior diplomat Ruchi Ghanashyam was on Tuesday appointed as the Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

She has been appointed in place of Sujata Mehta, who has recently taken over as a Member in Union Public Service Commission.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved Ghanashyam's appointment to the post, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

As the Secretary (West), Ghanashyam will be responsible for looking after the country's diplomatic affairs with the UK and other European nations.

She is at present the High Commissioner of India to South Africa.

Before that, she worked as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs here heading the Europe West Division.

Born on April 4, 1960 she joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982 after obtaining a Masters in Psychology from the Bhopal University.

Her husband, A R Ghanashyam, is also an Indian Foreign Service officer of the same batch.

She has earlier served as the High Commissioner of India in Ghana with concurrent accreditation to Burkina Faso, Togo and Sierra Leone, from March, 2008 to October, 2011.

Earlier she served as the Minister in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York from May, 2004 to March 2008.

Ruchi Ghanashyam served as the Director for Pakistan at headquarters in Delhi from August, 2000 to March, 2004 having earlier served as the Counsellor (Political, Press & Info) in Islamabad.

She has also served in the Embassy of India in Brussels, Belgium, Kathmandu, Nepal and Damascus, Syria where she learnt Arabic, and as Under Secretary in New Delhi looking after audio-visual publicity for the Ministry of External Affairs.

As it aims to become one of the top three smartphone players globally, India will once again be a key market for Nokia, a top company executive has said.

The company, once the undisputed leader of the mobile phone space, now operates through HMD Global and unveiled the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and a revamped version of the iconic Nokia 3310 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) here. 

"By June, these products will be launched globally and India will serve as a key market for us again. Our attempt is to source 100 per cent from the country because of tax benefits," Ajey Mehta, Vice President-India for HMD Global India Ltd., said on the sidelines of the annual event.

"We will make sure that we have a renewed presence in 250 cities and towns before we make new products available. 

"Our core strength is offline but we will also go online to reach a wider audience. However, online and offline product ranges will be different," he said, adding that a focus on core experience, design, quality and a pure Android experience will drive the bid to be among the top three smartphone players worldwide.

"The market has been cluttered with undifferentiated products and there is fatigue being observed. People are looking for fresh offerings which we aim to provide. We will aim to become the people's brand and have a presence in flagship brands as well as in the low-price segment," Mehta stressed.

Mobile handset shipments touched 265 million in 2016 with feature phones making up about 59 per cent of the overall market. 

According to Mehta, feature phones are big business in India and the company can't ignore it. 

"We will have to be innovative in the feature phone segment but we will have to win in the smartphone space too. We are working with our partners like Foxconn to supply both smartphones and feature phones from our India manufacturing unit," Mehta said.

The Nokia factory at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu is one of the largest manufacturing facilities for mobile phones in the world.

Nokia 6 features a 5.5-inch full-HD screen and is crafted from a single block of 6000 series aluminium. The device will be available in four colours — matte black, silver, tempered blue and copper.

Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 mobile platform and Qualcomm Adreno 505 graphics processor, Nokia 5 features a 5.2-inch IPS HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass.

Thin, light and durable, the $52 (less than Rs 4,000) Nokia 3310 delivers 22-hour talk-time and a month-long stand-by. The device is available in four colours — Warm Red and Yellow, both with a gloss finish, and Dark Blue and Grey, both with a matte finish.

"We will stick to the core values of Nokia like reliability, consistency, simplicity, human touch, trust… but implement them in a more modern way so that it is appealing to the new consumers. We need to get the best from the past and target new consumers," Mehta told IANS.

Nokia announced last year that it had licensed Finnish company HMD Global to produce Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.

HMD has reached agreements with both Microsoft and Nokia for the use of the Nokia brand and some design rights. HMD is planning to spend some 400 million euros to market the Nokia brand for the next three years.

Developing economies of Asia and the Pacific region will need infrastructure investments worth $26 trillion from now until 2030, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report issued on Tuesday.

The report by the Manila-based bank argued that the region will need multiple investments to maintain its current growth momentum, eradicate poverty and battle climate change, Efe news reported.

"The demand for infrastructure across Asia and the Pacific far outstrips current supply," said ADB President Takehiko Nakao in a statement.

ADB experts have urged Asian governments to double their existing spending on infrastructure, which currently stands around $881 billion per year.

According to the report, while Asia is among the most economically-dynamic regions on the planet, it is also home to 400 million people without access to power, 300 million without potable water, and 1.5 billion without access to basic sanitation.

Many countries lack adequate ports, railways, and roads that could connect them efficiently to larger domestic and global markets, it added.

The bank estimates developing Asian countries will require investments of $14.7 trillion in power, $8.4 trillion in transport, $2.3 trillion in telecommunications, besides $800 billion in sanitation until 2030.

The $1.7 trillion recommended by the ADB in this report is more than twice the figure in its last report, that came out in 2009 for the 2010-20 period, when it called for yearly investments to the tune of $750 billion.

The ADB attributes the jump partially to inflation and an increase in the number of countries included in the report, which in 2009 was 32 while this year, all 45 developing nations of Asia and the Pacific have been included.