In this Himachal Pradesh town, popularly known as 'Chhoti Kashi', over 200 deities from hundreds of temples are congregating for the festivities of Maha Shivratri.

Though the Maha Shivratri will be celebrated by the country on Friday, the deities' gathering in Mandi will take place a day later.

The celebrations date back to 1526 when this town was founded during the rule of Ajbar Sen (1499-1534). He had 'invited' all the local deities to mark the founding of the new town.

A weeklong Shivratri fair will begin on Saturday. More than 200 deities have been invited to participate in the festivity, Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam, the chief organiser of the festival said.

While Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would inaugurate the festival, Governor Acharya Devvrat would join in the festivities on the last day on March 2.

On the first day of the festival, a procession led by Lord Madho Rai, an incarnate of Lord Vishnu and the chief deity, would be taken out in the town.

The assembled deities follow him in beautifully decorated palanquins, as per protocol, and assemble at the Bhutnath temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, which was constructed in 1526.

Three such processions, locally called 'Jaleb', would be taken out on the opening, middle and concluding days of the fair, said an organiser.

Deity Kamrunag, the main guest, reached the town on Thursday along with hundreds of his devotees in a colourful procession amid beating of drums.

Mandi, located on the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway-21, is dotted with more than 80 temples built in typical hill architecture. The prominent temples are those of Bhutnath, Triloki Nath, Jagannath, Tarna Devi and Jalpa Devi.

"It's really a divine gathering here," Neil Daniel, a tourist from the US, remarked on seeing the assembled deities.

He said he has specially come to witness the unique divine and temporal aspects where every year a huge congregation of gods and goddesses takes place for days and this practice has been following for centuries.

The rulers of Mandi were devotees of Lord Shiva.

It is believed that ruler Ajbar Sen saw in his dreams a cow offering milk to the image of Lord Shiva. His dream turned into reality when he himself saw the cow offering its milk to the idol.

He then constructed a temple there in 1526 – the Bhutnath temple.

Simultaneously, the foundation of Mandi town was also laid and he shifted his capital here.

Ever since the rule of princely states came to an end, the district administration has been following the practice and inviting deities to the Shivratri festivities here.

The administration also offers an honorarium to the "kardars" – the attendants of deities – for participating in the festival.

Transactions worth millions of rupees are conducted during the festival. Kullu and Kinnauri shawls, handicrafts, carpets and dry fruits are a major attraction for the customers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fared well in all elections post-demonetisation despite “big forces” trying to mislead the country.

Addressing a public rally in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, Modi said: “The poorest of the poor can see the truth. Since I took stern steps against corruption and banned notes, big forces are out to mislead the country.”

“BJP has fared well in all elections post-demonetisation, be it civic polls in Odisha, Maharashtra or Chandigarh or panchayat polls,” he added.

Invoking lord Shiva on the occasion of Mahashivratri, Modi said “people, with their third eye, can see what is good for them and what is bad.”

In the Maharashtra civic polls results announced on Thursday, the BJP made major gains across the state by bagging eight of the nine municipalities while finishing a close second BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation.

The BJP had put on an impressive show in the panchayat elections held in Odisha as well.

After arresting Mohit Goel, Director of Noida-based Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd, police said they were searching for four more directors of the company that launched the world's cheapest smarphone.

Goel was detained late on Thursday after an FIR was filed by Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises, alleging that Ringing Bells defrauded it of Rs.16 lakh.

"We are trying to arrest four other directors — Anmol Goel, Dharna Garg (Mohil Goel's wife), Ashok Chadha and Sumit Kumar — named in the FIR," Superintendent of Police Salman Taj Patil said.

As news of Goel's arrest emerged, several other distributors reached the police station, describing their suffering at the hands of the company, the official said.

In the FIR, Ayam Enterprises claimed it was persuaded by Goel and other company officials to take up the distributorship of "Freedom 251" (costing less that $4) smartphones in November 2015.

In India, each phone was to cost Rs.250.

"We paid Rs.30 lakh to Ringing Bells through RTGS on different occasions. But it delivered us product worth Rs.13 lakh only. Upon follow-up, we could get products plus money totalling Rs 14 lakh," the company said.

According to Akshay Malhotra, one of the distributors of Ayam Enterprises, Goel contacted him two years ago to become the clearing and forwarding (C&F) agent for his products. 

Malhotra paid Rs.30 lakh to Goel in four instalments but Goel did not supply the consignment even after the promised delivery time lapsed. 

After much persuasion, Goel supplied the first consignment of mobile phones, called 'Freedom 251', worth Rs.8 lakh. After finding them substandard in quality, Ayam Enterprises returned them to Ringing Bells.

Ayam Enterprises was later forced to accept power banks and LFD bulbs from Goel in place of mobile phones, Malhotra claimed. 

After registering the FIR under sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code, police arrested Goel from his residence at ATS Towers at Indirapuram on Thursday. 

A report in TeleAnalysis, a leading news portal on the telecommunication and technology industry, claimed in December that Ringing Bells owners had shut down the company and opened a new firm, MDM Electronics Private Ltd.

Ringing Bells later refuted these charges.

After announcing that it had delivered 5,000 'Freedom 251' smartphones to customers in July last year, Ringing Bells said it would deliver 65,000 more to those who had booked the device in cash on delivery (COD) mode.

After that, no new numbers were shared. The company has since forayed into making TVs and other smartphones, burying the Freedom 251 dream.

The company in mid-February last year had planned to deliver 2.5 million handsets before June 30. Ringing Bells received mammoth — over 70 million — registrations before its payment gateway crashed.

The world's cheapest phone made a splash across the globe, with almost every big media house writing about the "miracle device".

Doubts were initially raised over Ringing Bells' handset after some experts said no smartphone could be manufactured for less than Rs.2,000.

After Ramjas College witnessed large-scale violence over a seminar, SGTB Khalsa College has decided to postpone a street-play competition till peace and normalcy returned to North Campus of Delhi University.

The move came after the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), led by RSS' student wing ABVP, told the college principal that the security for the event "cannot be guaranteed" if the scripts had "anti-national content".

Principal Jaswinder Singh has denied taking the decision under any pressure from anyone and said the college had simply "postponed" the event.

"I have told the principal to go through the scripts before allowing them to be staged at the competition. I have said that any objectionable and anti-national content will create an alarming situation and the security for the event cannot be guaranteed," DUSU President and ABVP member Amit Tanwar said.

The principal said, "The situation was not conducive for the event in view of the recent violence so we had voluntarily decided to postpone it after discussions with all stakeholders."

However, the theatre convener and assistant professor at the college, Saikat Ghosh, alleged that the event was scrapped after repeated threats from DUSU.

"There were repeated threats from DUSU and police had also appealed to us to call off the event in the interest of restoring peace and normalcy on the campus," Ghosh said.

Ramjas College had on Wednesday witnessed large-scale violence between members of AISA and ABVP supporters. The genesis of the clash was an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on 'Culture of Protests' which was withdrawn by the college authorities following opposition by the ABVP.

Tension continued to simmer across Delhi University's North Campus on Thursday with students' groups holding protests against police "high-handedness" during the violent clashes even as three policemen were suspended for "unprofessional" conduct.

Both Ramjas College and SGTB Khalsa College are on North Campus.

While the DU authorities maintained that the varsity proctor's office is looking into the issue, the HRD Ministry had yesterday sought a report from the university over the issue.

India's economy is in a "fairly good shape" and it is likely to be less affected than other emerging economies if there is a further shock to the global economy, according to a senior official of the IMF.

"We've seen pretty tepid global growth rates in the recent past. If there's any adverse shock to the global growth and thereby global demand, we think India will not be unaffected but will be less affected than other countries which rely on exports and trade far more than India does," Paul A Cashin, Assistant Director in IMF's Asia & Pacific Department, and mission chief of India, said.

"Until demonetisation there was very healthy consumption spending in India, which was basically propelling economic growth. India has an inward domestically demand-oriented economy, which is good when global growth factors are not exactly healthy," he said.

"That's why we think India will be, I'm not going to say immune, but less affected than other emerging economies if there's a further shock to the global economy, including a general global slowdown," Cashin said.

The International Monetary Fund this week in its annual report on India, projected the growth to slow to 6.6 per cent in 2016-17 fiscal due to "temporary disruptions" caused by the demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November.

It, however, said demonetisation would have only short term impact on the economy and it would bounce back to its expected growth of more than 8 per cent in the next few years.

The near-term adverse economic impact of accompanying cash shortages remains difficult to gauge, while it may have a positive economic impact in the medium term, it added.

Cashin said the IMF is "fairly pleased" with what India has done, certainly over the last couple of years. "They're in a much better fiscal position than they were, much better in terms of their monetary framework and monetary policy." 

"The external sector seems to be quite under control these days. Just on the inflation side, because of these eruptions in food prices which happen from time to time, now that they have formal inflation targeting, they need to properly implement a monetary stance to achieve their inflation targets," he said.

"Once the short-term dislocation to consumption from demonetisation passes, there'll be a little bit of a growth downturn this fiscal year, including the first quarter of the upcoming fiscal year. But after that, India should resume its previous above eight percent growth path in the medium term," Cashin said.

In its annual report, the IMF said in the absence of disruptive global financial volatility, slower growth in China, Europe and the United States would have only modest adverse spillovers to India, given weak trade linkages.

"On the external side, despite the reduced imbalances and strengthened reserve buffers, the impact from global financial market volatility could be disruptive, including from US monetary policy normalisation or weaker-than-expected global growth," it said.

An Indian-American engineer was killed and two others injured after an American man opened fire at them on Wednesday in a Kansas city bar after shouting “get out of my country”.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a 32-year old engineer employed with the Garmin headquarters in Olathe was out with his friend and colleague Alok Madasani when the attacker believed to be an ex-navy serviceman fired shots at them mistaking them for “Middle Easterners”.

Kuchibhotla died at the hospital while Alok also an Indian, sustained bullet injuries. Another identified as Ian Grillot, a white-man who tried to save the Indians was also injured during the shooting incident.

The a 51-year-old shooter, Adam Purinton was charged with murder and attempted murder on Thursday.

Kuchibhotla, originally from Hyderabad was a B Tech in electrical and electronics engineering from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in 2005 and attained master’s degree from the University of Texaas, El Paso.

Kuchibholta who was working as an aviation engineer in the Olathe-based technology company is survived by his wife Sunayan Dumala who is also an engineer working in Kansas.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked as software engineer in Rockwell Collins till 2014 before moving to Kansas.

Madasani has a B Tech from Vasavi College of Engineering in 2006 and completed his masters at the University of Missouri Kansas City.

India’s External Affairs Minister Susma Swaraj on Friday expressed shock over the incident and sent condolences to the ‘bereaved family’.

"I am shocked at the shooting incident in Kansas in which Srinivas Kuchibhotla has been killed. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved family,"the minister tweeted.

Kuchibholta is the first casualty of the racial, religious and ethnic discrimination that followed after the US election and the appointment of controversial President Donald Trump after Jews and Muslims residing in US reported surge of attacks on them and their institutions.

Police will seek custody of the two key accused in the abduction and assault of a noted Malayalam actress for detailed interrogation after conflicting details emerged from their initial quizzing on the matter.

'Pulsar' Suni, the prime accused in the February 17 incident, and his accomplice V P Vijeesh would be produced before the magistrate court in Aluva in Friday.

Police are planning to seek their custody after going through all necessary procedures, including the identification parade of the accused during their judicial remand period.

"Certainly we will seek their custody," Additional Director General of Kerala Police B Sandhya told reporters here.

"We are carrying out a detailed interrogation of the arrested persons. They will be produced before the court today after gathering clear information about the incident from them," she said.

Meanwhile, police last night took the accused through the route they had travelled with the actress in a car after abducting her.

On information provided by the accused, police also conducted searches for the mobile phone they allegedly used to click photographs of the actress in the car.

Police carried out searches in a drainage after they were informed by the two that they had dumped the phone in it.

However, nothing could be traced, police said.

The duo was arrested on thursday as they entered a local court complex to surrender, six days after the incident which caused nationwide outrage.

The court premises witnessed high drama as police forcefully took into custody the duo who entered the court complex wearing a helmet.

The actress, who has also starred in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 and later escaped in a busy area in Kochi.

Rubbishing the Congress and the Left Front's allegations of a secret understanding between the BJP and Trinamool Congress at the Centre, the West Bengal chief of the saffron party says political opponents were alarmed as it was on way to becoming a "deciding factor" in the next assembly polls in the state.

"There is no doubt that BJP will be a decisive factor in the 2021 assembly elections," Dilip Ghosh said in an interview here.

However, in the run-up to the fight for the state secretariat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was focusing on a good show in the panchayat (rural body) polls next year, and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"We are initially targeting the panchayat election where our party plans to contest every seat and fight to win so that it can reach out to every household in Bengal.

"We are also targeting over 50 per cent seats in the parliament election. We'll make sure that when Narendra Modi-ji starts his second spell as Prime Minister, no one from Bengal can disturb him any further.

"If we can achieve what we are planning in these two elections, it would certainly have a positive perception in the people's mind," Ghosh contended.

The BJP leader, who was a RSS "pracharak" since his school days before joining mainstream politics just a couple of years back, said the party is getting "amazing response from all spheres of the society" in Bengal.

"People are joining our party in all the districts every day as they are attracted towards BJP's work ethics, principle and the wave of developments ushered in under Modi's leadership," he said.

Admitting that the BJP has a weaker organisation in Bengal compared to a lot of other states, Ghosh said steps were being taken to activate the party and reach out to new members.

"Though the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had a base here, the party was bleeding due to the lack of proper leadership. But our 2014 initiative of giving party membership through a missed call, saw nearly 4.2 million people became party members in Bengal."

"The party has taken various steps to engage with these new members. We have a target of training 50,000 members in the state; so far we have completed training of 30,000 members.

"We plan to have polling agents in more than 90 per cent of booths during the next election. We have increased the number of party units (mondols) from 496 to 1,054. Units comprising 60-80 booths have been created in every region to have a better control and make the whole party active," he said.

Denying any collusion with the Trinamool, Ghosh said the recent run in with the state government shows the BJP's readiness to fight it out for every inch of political space.

"The party might have looked for Trinamool's support in the past in passing some bills in parliament, but that does not mean they have any collaboration," he said.

Referring to the BJP getting over 10 per cent votes in last year's assembly elections, Ghosh said his party has increased its political might since then.

The BJP won three seats in 2016, even as its vote share dropped from the 16.80 per cent it got in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Dismissing the allegations of the Congress and LF about the BJP's "covert understandings" with the Trinamool, he said in politics, opponents often level such accusations to defame a party.

"But in Bengal, everyone including the party in power (Trinamool) knows how the BJP is gaining strength."

Accusing the Trinamool government of using the minority (read Muslim) community for vote bank politics, Ghosh said the struggling community needs proper education and professional opportunities, and not special aid, for their overall uplift.

"If there is no new investment or industrialisation in the state, how would they get jobs? The state government is trying to use an entire community as their vote bank. This is an example of bad politics, he said.

The state has a 27.01 per cent muslim population as per the 2011 census.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said Islamabad and New Delhi should maintain friendly and good relations, media reported on Friday.

"We [Pakistan and India] should maintain good relations and avoid involving in conspiracies against each other," Dawn news quoted Sharif as saying.

Speaking to media during his Turkey visit, he said his party did not adopt a policy of "India bashing".

He also expressed gratitude to Turkey "for its support on the Kashmir issue and also for its stance on Pakistan's inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group", the report added.

On the recent incidents of terrorism in Pakistan, Sharif blamed "elements" upset with the "progress of Pakistan" and expressed his government's resolve to eliminate terrorism at all costs.

"With our firm resolve, we will defeat those who are not digesting Pakistan's success on different fronts," he was quoted as saying.

Sharif also said Afghanistan's soil was being used against Pakistan, adding that he was in favour of stability in that country as it also in Pakistan's own interest.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said Islamabad and New Delhi should maintain friendly and good relations, media reported on Friday.

"We [Pakistan and India] should maintain good relations and avoid involving in conspiracies against each other," Dawn news quoted Sharif as saying.

Speaking to media during his Turkey visit, he said his party did not adopt a policy of "India bashing".

He also expressed gratitude to Turkey "for its support on the Kashmir issue and also for its stance on Pakistan's inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group", the report added.

On the recent incidents of terrorism in Pakistan, Sharif blamed "elements" upset with the "progress of Pakistan" and expressed his government's resolve to eliminate terrorism at all costs.

"With our firm resolve, we will defeat those who are not digesting Pakistan's success on different fronts," he was quoted as saying.

Sharif also said Afghanistan's soil was being used against Pakistan, adding that he was in favour of stability in that country as it also in Pakistan's own interest.

China has made a "mistake" of ignoring science and technology experts from India, Chinese official media said on Friday, underlining that the Communist giant should attract high-tech Indian talent for maintaining its innovation ability.

"China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country," the tabloid daily from the group of ruling Communist Party of China which has been carrying articles critical of India almost on daily basis in recent months said in a rare positive write-up.

"Over the past few years, China witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs as the country became an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres." 

"However, now some high-tech firms are turning their attention from China to India due to the latter's relatively low labour costs. Attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability," it said.

Referring to reports that US-based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its almost 300-person research and development team in China while setting up a team in India with some 2,000 scientific and technical professionals over the past few years, it said, "with a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive." 

"China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors. The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the US and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power," it said.

China in recent year boosted the budget for technological innovation by allocating billions of dollars of incentives for start-ups and research firms as it witnessed decline of its labour force due to rapid increase in old age population.

China has carried out a lot of measures, including increasing research spending and creating a favourable investment environment for high-tech firms, to enhance its innovation capability.

"However, one issue has become increasingly prominent: The talent pool in China is not large and flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability," the article said.

"In Silicon Valley, a considerable number of software developers working there are born outside the US. China should also strive to attract more foreign talent into the country as it aims to build itself into a world-class research hub," it said.

"A total of 1,576 foreigners were granted Chinese permanent residence in 2016, registering an increase of 163 per cent from the previous year. It seems that China is aware of the importance of tapping into international talent," it said.

"Some reports claim that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, which means Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China," it said.

"Some enterprises in Southwest China's Guizhou Province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation and could enjoy a much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore," it said.China has made a "mistake" of ignoring science and technology experts from India, Chinese official media said on Friday underlining that the Communist giant should attract high-tech Indian talent for maintaining its innovation ability.

"China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country," the tabloid daily from the group of ruling Communist Party of China which has been carrying articles critical of India all most on daily basis in recent months said in a rare positive write-up.

"Over the past few years, China witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs as the country became an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres."

"However, now some high-tech firms are turning their attention from China to India due to the latter's relatively low labour costs. Attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability," it said.

Referring to reports that US-based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its almost 300-person research and development team in China while setting up a team in India with some 2,000 scientific and technical professionals over the past few years, it said, "with a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive."

"China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors. The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the US and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power," it said.

China in recent year boosted the budget for technological innovation by allocating billions of dollars of incentives for start ups and research firms as it witnessed decline of its labour force due to rapid increase in old age population.

China has carried out a lot of measures, including increasing research spending and creating a favourable investment environment for high-tech firms, to enhance its innovation capability.

"However, one issue has become increasingly prominent: The talent pool in China is not large and flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability," the article said.

"In Silicon Valley, a considerable number of software developers working there are born outside the US. China should also strive to attract more foreign talent into the country as it aims to build itself into a world-class research hub," it said.

"A total of 1,576 foreigners were granted Chinese permanent residence in 2016, registering an increase of 163 per cent from the previous year. It seems that China is aware of the importance of tapping into international talent," it said.

"Some reports claim that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, which means Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China," it said.

"Some enterprises in Southwest China's Guizhou Province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation and could enjoy a much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore," it said.

China has made a "mistake" of ignoring science and technology experts from India, Chinese official media said on Friday, underlining that the Communist giant should attract high-tech Indian talent for maintaining its innovation ability.

"China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country," the tabloid daily from the group of ruling Communist Party of China which has been carrying articles critical of India almost on daily basis in recent months said in a rare positive write-up.

"Over the past few years, China witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs as the country became an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres." 

"However, now some high-tech firms are turning their attention from China to India due to the latter's relatively low labour costs. Attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability," it said.

Referring to reports that US-based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its almost 300-person research and development team in China while setting up a team in India with some 2,000 scientific and technical professionals over the past few years, it said, "with a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive." 

"China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors. The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the US and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power," it said.

China in recent year boosted the budget for technological innovation by allocating billions of dollars of incentives for start-ups and research firms as it witnessed decline of its labour force due to rapid increase in old age population.

China has carried out a lot of measures, including increasing research spending and creating a favourable investment environment for high-tech firms, to enhance its innovation capability.

"However, one issue has become increasingly prominent: The talent pool in China is not large and flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability," the article said.

"In Silicon Valley, a considerable number of software developers working there are born outside the US. China should also strive to attract more foreign talent into the country as it aims to build itself into a world-class research hub," it said.

"A total of 1,576 foreigners were granted Chinese permanent residence in 2016, registering an increase of 163 per cent from the previous year. It seems that China is aware of the importance of tapping into international talent," it said.

"Some reports claim that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, which means Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China," it said.

"Some enterprises in Southwest China's Guizhou Province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation and could enjoy a much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore," it said.China has made a "mistake" of ignoring science and technology experts from India, Chinese official media said on Friday underlining that the Communist giant should attract high-tech Indian talent for maintaining its innovation ability.

"China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country," the tabloid daily from the group of ruling Communist Party of China which has been carrying articles critical of India all most on daily basis in recent months said in a rare positive write-up.

"Over the past few years, China witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs as the country became an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres."

"However, now some high-tech firms are turning their attention from China to India due to the latter's relatively low labour costs. Attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability," it said.

Referring to reports that US-based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its almost 300-person research and development team in China while setting up a team in India with some 2,000 scientific and technical professionals over the past few years, it said, "with a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive."

"China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors. The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the US and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power," it said.

China in recent year boosted the budget for technological innovation by allocating billions of dollars of incentives for start ups and research firms as it witnessed decline of its labour force due to rapid increase in old age population.

China has carried out a lot of measures, including increasing research spending and creating a favourable investment environment for high-tech firms, to enhance its innovation capability.

"However, one issue has become increasingly prominent: The talent pool in China is not large and flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability," the article said.

"In Silicon Valley, a considerable number of software developers working there are born outside the US. China should also strive to attract more foreign talent into the country as it aims to build itself into a world-class research hub," it said.

"A total of 1,576 foreigners were granted Chinese permanent residence in 2016, registering an increase of 163 per cent from the previous year. It seems that China is aware of the importance of tapping into international talent," it said.

"Some reports claim that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, which means Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China," it said.

"Some enterprises in Southwest China's Guizhou Province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation and could enjoy a much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore," it said.

A power-packed trailer of Rahul Bose directorial venture–Poorna was launched recently by the actor/director at an event.

A biopic based on the life of Poorna Malavath, a 13-year-old Indian girl who created history by becoming the world’s youngest person to scale the Mount Everest has already garnered lot of attention. The film attempts to bring to life an exceptional and awe inspiring journey of Poorna.

At the event, Rahul Bose and Poorna Malavath shared their journey of making the film. Poorna also spoke about her struggles and how she strived towards achieving an impossible dream with much dedication and perseverance.

Poorna's first look poster was launched on Mount Kilimanjaro Summit! Poorna herself undertook the expedition to scale another height to unfurl the longest Indian Flag along with the poster to her biopic.

A special screening of the film was hosted for the Indian cricket team. Virat Kohli took to Twitter to express, "Last night we saw @PoornaTheFilm, and must I say it’s an inspirational story for everyone. Hats off!!"

Produced by Rahul Bose and Amit Patni and directed by Rahul Bose, Poorna is set to inspire in theatres on March 31, 2017.

A power-packed trailer of Rahul Bose directorial venture–Poorna was launched recently by the actor/director at an event.

A biopic based on the life of Poorna Malavath, a 13-year-old Indian girl who created history by becoming the world’s youngest person to scale the Mount Everest has already garnered lot of attention. The film attempts to bring to life an exceptional and awe inspiring journey of Poorna.

At the event, Rahul Bose and Poorna Malavath shared their journey of making the film. Poorna also spoke about her struggles and how she strived towards achieving an impossible dream with much dedication and perseverance.

Poorna's first look poster was launched on Mount Kilimanjaro Summit! Poorna herself undertook the expedition to scale another height to unfurl the longest Indian Flag along with the poster to her biopic.

A special screening of the film was hosted for the Indian cricket team. Virat Kohli took to Twitter to express, "Last night we saw @PoornaTheFilm, and must I say it’s an inspirational story for everyone. Hats off!!"

Produced by Rahul Bose and Amit Patni and directed by Rahul Bose, Poorna is set to inspire in theatres on March 31, 2017.

Manipur, which is officially a dry state, seems to be on a high during electioneering with huge amount of liquor being regularly seized by the Excise Department.

Since the announcement of elections in Manipur on January 4, enforcement agencies have seized more than 51 litre of IMFL and country made liquor worth Rs.57 lakh during raids in different parts of the state.

Manipur has been a dry state since 1991, after the state government passed a law following widespread demand to curb alcohol and drug use there.

The seizure of liquor has been a matter of concern for the EC since it apprehends that the liquor might be used to influence the voters.

"It is true that Manipur is a dry state, but the flow of liquor is rampant through inter-state and international borders…. Chances are there that it can be abused to influence voters," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said during his recent visit to the state.

"We have asked the chief secretary to ensure that Manipur should really remain dry in letter and spirit," Zaidi had told reporters. .

Manipur, which is officially a dry state, seems to be on a high during electioneering with huge amount of liquor being regularly seized by the Excise Department.

Since the announcement of elections in Manipur on January 4, enforcement agencies have seized more than 51 litre of IMFL and country made liquor worth Rs.57 lakh during raids in different parts of the state.

Manipur has been a dry state since 1991, after the state government passed a law following widespread demand to curb alcohol and drug use there.

The seizure of liquor has been a matter of concern for the EC since it apprehends that the liquor might be used to influence the voters.

"It is true that Manipur is a dry state, but the flow of liquor is rampant through inter-state and international borders…. Chances are there that it can be abused to influence voters," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said during his recent visit to the state.

"We have asked the chief secretary to ensure that Manipur should really remain dry in letter and spirit," Zaidi had told reporters. .