Why is the city beautiful under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) most of the times? This is the question doing rounds in Chandigarh.

Even after years of the quashing of the 'disturbed area' tag by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the administration keeps the major part of the city under Section 144 for most of the year.

The Union Territory administration maintains that this is a preventive measure. But a large number of residents believe that the administration’s 'misuse' of this law is against democratic values.

They say it not only criminalises day to day activities of ordinary citizens, but also renders them to potential penal action. Section 144 of CrPC is issued in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger.
Under it the assembly of five or more people is banned.

"The use of Section 144 as an umbrella provision shows a deep disregard of democratic legislative procedures to pass appropriate laws to govern Chandigarh," advocate Arjun Sharon, national organising
secretary, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), told The Statesman.

The administration recently passed an order under this section banning the use of synthetic manjha (the thread to fly a kite). Likewise, eight other orders were passed under this section calling for
information regarding  tenants, business of dhabas, discos and restaurant, cyber cafes, consultancy firms and immigration consultancy.

The deputy commissioner, Ajit Balaji Joshi, defended the decision to impose Section 144. "This is a preventive measure. If I have to stop demonstration or a strike from taking place at a particular place, the
application of Section 144 is important," he told The Statesman.

But social activists like RK Garg said, "It has become a habit of the administration to use coercive and harsh measures for routine public issues. The administration has sufficient powers in the normal course
of action, therefore they should not give absolute powers to police
and use it to harass public."

City residents are of the view that the administration has been violating the letter and the spirit of the legislation in an entirely illegal and unconstitutional manner, trampling upon the citizens fundamental and other enshrined rights.

Who says cooking can't be fun? This weekend, take time to spend quality time in the kitchen. Eating out or ordering takeaway is quick and convenient, but food from outside may not be as healthy as the ones cooked at home. Use this healthy recipe and start experimenting in your kitchen.

Serves: 4; Preparation time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

French beans 250 grams

Garlic paste 1 tsp

Ginger paste 1 tsp

Carom seeds ½ tsp

Red chilli powder ½ tsp

Tamarind powder ½ tsp

Chaat masala ½ tsp

Salt To taste

Gram flour 6 tbsp

Method:

Cut beans into 3” long pieces.

Boil five cups of water with 1 tsp of salt.

Add beans and boil for two to three minutes. Do not let them become too soft.

Mix all the spices, ginger-garlic paste and 5 tbsp gram flour altogether.

Coat the paste on the beans and let them marinate for an hour.

Preheat the oven / air fryer or electric tandoor for five to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle little gram flour on the marinated beans and bake them golden.

Sprinkle chaat masala while serving.

The humble beans are actually quite a powerhouse of goodness. The value adding herbs are very common but they’re really nutritious. Enjoy it with any soup or mocktail. It’s just amazing!

The opposition staged massive protests inside the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday ahead of the crucial vote of confidence by the Edapady Palaniswami government with legislators tearing and throwing papers, breaking tables and even indulging in scuffles.

As tempers flared, Speaker P Dhanapal stalled the proceedings and was escorted out by marshals shortly after the House assembled to facilitate the floor test.

The opposition members were demanding a secret voting.

Palaniswami, who was sworn in as Chief Minister two days ago, opted to prove his majority on Saturday even though he was given 15 days time by Governor Vidyasagar Rao.

Earlier in the day, AIADMK rebel O Panneerselvam got a boost when Coimbatore North MLA Arun Kumar announced his decision to abstain from voting after Friday's decision by Mylapore MLA and former DGP R Natraj to vote against the government.

With the decision of the two, the Palaniswami camp is left with 122 MLAs in the 234-member House with one vacancy.

Ailing DMK supremo M Karunanidhi was not present in the House.

In another development, the Panneerselvam camp appointed Semmalai as the party whip in the assembly and sent a letter to the Speaker to this effect.

(With inputs from agencies)

Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade completed individual half-centuries as Australia added another 100 plus runs against India A reaching a commendable 436 for 6 at lunch, on the second day of the warm-up game.

Marsh was unbeaten on 64 off 135 balls in company of Glenn Maxwell batting on two. Matthew Wade was slightly more attacking than Marsh scoring 64 off 89 balls with nine boundaries before being dismissed by part-time off-spinner Akhil Herwadkar.

Marsh-Wade duo added 129 runs for the sixth wicket in 33.5 overs, hardly facing trouble from home team bowlers.

Wade, the lone batsman to be dismissed in the morning session, was caught behind off Herwadkar for 64.

Earlier, Australia, who had resumed at the overnight score of 327 for five, added 109 runs in 26 overs in the first session of play.

The tourists started cautiously as Marsh and Wade preferred to wait for the loose deliveries during the first hour of play. Both Marsh and Wade started to open out in the second hour's play.

The first hour produced only 33 runs in 13 overs with Wade, not out 7 last evening, striking two fours and Marsh just one an off-drive on the 27th ball he faced this morning.

The two raised the 50-run partnership in 94 minutes and then accelerated in the second hour to herald the 100 of the stand in 149 minutes and 184 balls.

Later, Marsh who was unbeaten with 16 on Friday – started to play a few more shots and struck Navdeep Saini, who had taken two wickets on Friday morning, for two fours in the bowler’s seventh over after he had bowled economically in his first six overs.

Wade, who had started with a streaky shot for four off Hardik Pandya in the morning, later square cut and then off drove the A team captain handsomely for fours when the bowler over-pitched.

Marsh, whose brother Shaun had scored a century yesterday along with visiting team's captain Steve Smith before both retired to the pavilion, reached his half century after two and a half hours' stay with a pulled tenth four off Ashok Dinda, the misfield by Ankit Bawne helping him in the process, in 103 balls.

The toothless India A bowling attack could do hardly anything worthwhile to disturb the sixth-wicket duo's poise.

They were also a bowler short with Krishnappa Gowtham, who suffered a hamstring injury after lunch on Saturday and limped off the field, was off the field in the morning session.

Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem came on to bowl after the first hour, but he could hardly get any purchase out of the track to trouble the batsmen and Wade punched him off the back foot square of the wicket for two fours. Marsh also smacked him straight to the roof of the stadium.

Wade smashed Shreyas Iyer, who bowled full tosses, twice in as many balls to the cover boundary, forcing Pandya to bring on Herwadkar who succeeded in breaking the stand by having the left handed Wade caught behind by Rishabh Pant off a top-edged sweep shot.

Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan had gone in during the first break for drinks after handing over his wicket-keeping duties to Pant.

Barack Obama ranks as the 12th best leader in US presidential history, according to a new survey.

The survey of 91 presidential historians conducted by C-SPAN placed the 44th president just below Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) and just above James Monroe (1817-1825), NBC News reported on Friday.

This is the third such survey by the organisation, which began polling the panel of presidential experts in 2000. 

The poll ranks each US president on various issues, including "crisis leadership", "moral authority", "international relations" and "pursuing equal justice for all".

Obama scored particularly high on the "equal justice" scale, coming in third behind only Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) and Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969). 

But Obama ranked fifth from the bottom on "relations with Congress", and got a middling 24th best score on "international relations", the survey showed

Historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said that Obama's presidency, despite its weak points, may age well and notch an even higher ranking as time passes.

"There tends to be kind of an upward mobility, particularly if you are a president who had no major scandals," he said, noting that presidents are also often judged in comparison to their immediate predecessors and successors. 

"If the Trump presidency is problematic, people may judge Obama even higher yet."

For the third time in a row, Abraham Lincoln ranked as the nation's best presidential leader, according to the panel. George Washington, the first US President (1789-1797), came in second, and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) rounded out the podium at third.

Others in the top ten are: Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961), Harry Truman (1945-1953), Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), John F. Kennedy (1961-1963), Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) and Lyndon Johnson.

George W. Bush's dismal ranking of 36rd in the 2009 survey has improved slightly with time. He is now ranked as the nation's 33rd best presidential leader.

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), whose populist movement has been compared by some historians to Donald Trump's unconventional political rise, dropped several pegs in the latest survey, falling from the 13th slot in 2000 and 2009 to 18th.

The survey named James Buchanan (1857-1861), as the worst leader whose incompetence to address the onset of the Civil War is noted as one of the greatest leadership failures in American history.

Buchanan joins four other presidents – Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), Franklin Pierce (1853-1857), Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) and John Tyler (1841-1845) – at the bottom of the presidential barrel, below even William Henry Harrison (March 4-April 4, 1841), who died after a month in office.

Photo-sharing mobile service Snapchat is reportedly planning to launch an Android smartphone that will give consumers more control over the camera features.

"A California-based marketing firm has unveiled a concept handset equip with a 360-degree camera, buttons that let users scroll through filters and a one touch capture function for easy sharing," Daily Mail reported.

The device might also inlcude a lock screen that allows users to easily swipe for Snapchat notifications and updates, messaging, and syncing with Spectacles. It may also pack Discover screen that combines GPS and maps, Snapchat Stories, and advertisements. 

Earlier this year, Snap Inc., parent company Snapchat, has made its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) filing public, seeking to raise up to $3 billion.

Snapchat aims to derive most of its revenue from advertising where it will compete against Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Snap Inc. has recently rolled out major changes in its app that will make it easier to navigate the app with a universal search bar that's always accessible at the top of the app. 

Snapchat is also introducing "Our Story" — a new global live story that any user can contribute to at any time. 

Opposition Congress on Saturday said it would vote against the Edappadi K Palaniswami government in the motion of confidence in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

"We have decided to vote against the Edappadi K Palaniswami government in the Assembly", TNCC President Su Thirunavukkarasar told reporters at the party headquarters here.

Congress has eight MLAs in the 234 member House.

Thirunavukkarasar said the "unanimous" decision was taken after he chaired a meeting of party legislators, led by Legislature Party leader K R Ramasamy and senior functionaries at the party headquarters Satyamurthi Bhavan.

On Friday, Thirunavukkarasar had said the party would decide its stand on voting based on the advice of the high command.

He had said the party State unit expected the feedback of the top leadership and that party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi would be apprised of the views of the state leadership.

 The third phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held for 69 seats across 12 districts on Sunday.

A total of 2.41 crore voters will decide the fate of 826 candidates.

There are 1.31 crore men, 1.10 crore women and 1,026 voters from the third gender who will exercise their franchise on February 19, a poll official said. 

There are 16,671 polling centres and 25,603 polling stations in this phase.

The 12 districts where polling is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. are Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Hardoi, Kannauj, Kanpur rural, Kanpur city, Unnao, Lucknow, Barabanki, Auraiyya and Sitapur. 

Prominent personalities whose fate would be decided in this phase include Ministers Arvind Singh 'Gop', Fareed Mehfooz Kidwai, Vijay Bahadur Pal, Abhishek Mishra, Nitin Agarwal, Narendra Verma, Rajeev Kumar Singh and former Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav. 

The maximum number of candidates in fray are from Etawah (21) — the home town of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, while the least number is in Haidergarh (3) assembly constituency of Barabanki, neighbouring the state capital here. 

Lucknow Central and Lucknow West have 17 candidates each, while Farrukhabad and Bhojpur have 20 each.

The third phase comes as the biggest litmus test for the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) as it held 55 of these 69 seats in the 2012 assembly polls. 

Of the remaining seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) held six, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) five and Congress two in the last election. One seat was won by an independent. 

Other than the stronghold of Etawah, which is the home turf of the Yadav clan, the popularity of Akhilesh Yadav is also up for test, especially after the ugly power struggle that was witnessed over the past few months in the state's first family and the ruling party.

Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has not campaigned for the SP which he founded 25 years ago. 

Sullen at his unceremonious ouster by son Akhilesh Yadav in January from the post of national president, Mulayam Singh has only sought votes for his younger brother Shivpal Yadav, who is contesting from the Jaswantnagar seat in Etawah and daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who is a candidate from Lucknow Cantt.

Two days after the Supreme Court ordered the shifting of former RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin from Bihar's Siwan jail to Delhi's Tihar Central Jail, he was brought to Patna on Saturday amidst tight security.

He will be taken to Delhi by the Rajdhani Express on Saturday evening, the police said.

Shahabuddin, is a criminal turned politician and locally known as 'Bahubali'. He faces 35 criminal cases including murder, extortion, kidnapping and has been convicted in seven.

"Process to shift Shahabuddin from Siwan jail to Tihar jail began late Friday night with a team of special task force (STF) along with top district administration officials brought him to Patna on way to Delhi," a district police officer said.

According to police officer here, Shahabuddin has been kept in Beur jail under tight security.

Hearing the petition of Asha Ranjan, wife of slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, the apex court on Wednesday ordered shifting Shahabuddin from Siwan to Tihar jail.

Asha, a contractual teacher in a government-run school in Siwan, in her petition feared a threat to her life if Shahabuddin remains in Siwan jail. 

Rajdeo Ranjan was the Siwan Bureau Chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the Hindustan Times Media company. He was shot dead in May last year.

Chandrakeshwar Prasad, father of three brothers allegedly killed at the instance of Shahabuddin, voiced his happiness at the development.

Last September after spending 11 years behind bars, Shahabuddin was released from Bihar's Bhagalpur jail and termed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad as his leader. 

After the Patna High Court granted bail in a case related to the killing of a murder witness, he was finally released from prison.

But after 19 days, Shahabuddin surrendered in a court in Siwan district soon after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail, and was taken into custody and sent to Siwan jail.

 The International Space Station crew will soon get to eat some Chinese cabbage, thanks to the efforts of astronaut Peggy Whitson who has harvested the space station's first crop of Tokyo Bekana Chinese cabbage after tending to it for nearly a month.

This is the fifth crop grown aboard the station, and the first Chinese cabbage. While the space station crew will get to eat some of the Chinese cabbage, the rest is being saved for scientific study back at Kennedy Space Center, NASA said in a statement on Friday.

"I love gardening on Earth, and it is just as fun in space …" Whitson tweeted in early February. 

"I just need more room to plant more!" Whitson said.

The crop was chosen after evaluating several leafy vegetables on a number of criteria, such as how well they grow and their nutritional value. 

The top four candidates were sent to Johnson Space Center's Space Food Systems team, where they brought in volunteer tasters to sample the choices. The Tokyo Bekana turned out to be the most highly rated in all the taste categories.

Later this spring, a second Veggie system will be sent up to be seated next to the current one, NASA said.

It will provide side-by-side comparisons for future plant experiments and will hopefully make astronauts like Whitson happy to have a bigger space garden.

The O Panneerselvam camp has appointed sitting MLA Semmalai as the party whip and sent a letter to the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal to this effect.

AIADMK Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan and AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerselvam in the letter said they have appointed S Semmalai as the party whip, prior to the motion of confidence in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

As per AIADMK party rules and regulations, in the absence of the General Secretary, party functionaries appointed by the previous General Secretary shall perform these functions 

"As such we are herewith submitting the name of S Semmalai for your acceptance and orders urgently," the letter said.

"We also request the same may be forwarded to the Government and the approval thereafter be obtained urgently", the letter, signed by Panneerselvam and Madhusudhanan said.

The O Panneerselvam camp has appointed sitting MLA Semmalai as the party whip and sent a letter to the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal to this effect.

AIADMK Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan and AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerselvam in the letter said they have appointed S Semmalai as the party whip, prior to the motion of confidence in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

As per AIADMK party rules and regulations, in the absence of the General Secretary, party functionaries appointed by the previous General Secretary shall perform these functions 

"As such we are herewith submitting the name of S Semmalai for your acceptance and orders urgently," the letter said.

"We also request the same may be forwarded to the Government and the approval thereafter be obtained urgently", the letter, signed by Panneerselvam and Madhusudhanan said.

The night temperatures showed remarkable improvement across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as the weather office forecast rain and light snowfall till Monday.

"There has been remarkable improvement in the night temperatures during the last few days because of cloud cover and the changing season," a Met official said.

"Rain is expected in the plains and light snowfall might occur in the higher reaches during the next 48 hours (till Monday)."

The minimum temperature was 6.5 degrees Celsius here while it was 16.7 in the Jammu city.

Pahalgam recorded 1.8 degrees Celsius and Gulmarg minus 0.8 degrees Celsius as the night's lowest temperatures.

Leh town in the Ladakh region also showed improvement with the minimum temperature settling at minus 1.3 degrees Celsius, while Kargil recorded minus 3 degrees Celsius.

"Katra town recorded 16.8 degrees Celsius, Batote 11.3 degrees Celsius, Bannihal 8.3 and Bhaderwah witnessed 7.5 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperatures on Saturday," the official said.

The night temperatures showed remarkable improvement across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as the weather office forecast rain and light snowfall till Monday.

"There has been remarkable improvement in the night temperatures during the last few days because of cloud cover and the changing season," a Met official said.

"Rain is expected in the plains and light snowfall might occur in the higher reaches during the next 48 hours (till Monday)."

The minimum temperature was 6.5 degrees Celsius here while it was 16.7 in the Jammu city.

Pahalgam recorded 1.8 degrees Celsius and Gulmarg minus 0.8 degrees Celsius as the night's lowest temperatures.

Leh town in the Ladakh region also showed improvement with the minimum temperature settling at minus 1.3 degrees Celsius, while Kargil recorded minus 3 degrees Celsius.

"Katra town recorded 16.8 degrees Celsius, Batote 11.3 degrees Celsius, Bannihal 8.3 and Bhaderwah witnessed 7.5 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperatures on Saturday," the official said.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan along with wife Jaya, superstar Salman Khan, his rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur and Katrina Kaif were among attendees at the wedding reception of actor Neil Nitin Mukesh here.

Neil and Rukmini Sahay, who met through their parents, tied the knot on February 9 in a grand ceremony in Udaipur, which was attended by family, friends and a few close Bollywood colleagues.

The couple hosted the reception last night for their friends from the film industry, at a city hotel.

Salman, who worked with Neil in 2015 hit Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, entered quite late, and hours after Iulia came.

Looking radiant in an all-black lehenga choli, Iulia attracted maximum attention as she attended the reception.

Also present at the event were Rekha, Abhishek Bachchan, Sooraj Barjatya, Swara Bhaskar, Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh Grover, Abbas Mustan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Pamela Chopra, Sahara chief Subrata Roy and wife, Udit Narayan, son Aditya, Alka Yagnik, Pooja Hegde, Sanjay Khan, Zayed Khan, Sophie Choudry, Mugdha Godse and others.

Neil and Rukmini looked stunning in co-ordinated ivory and emerald green outfits by designer Manav Gangwani. Rukmini opted for a green heavily embroidered lehenga and Neil wore a royal Jodhpuri suit.

The decor for the reception was European themed, highlighted by white and pink carnations. The hotel's nightclub was reserved for younger guests while a separate banquet was booked for celebrities to unwind.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan along with wife Jaya, superstar Salman Khan, his rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur and Katrina Kaif were among attendees at the wedding reception of actor Neil Nitin Mukesh here.

Neil and Rukmini Sahay, who met through their parents, tied the knot on February 9 in a grand ceremony in Udaipur, which was attended by family, friends and a few close Bollywood colleagues.

The couple hosted the reception last night for their friends from the film industry, at a city hotel.

Salman, who worked with Neil in 2015 hit Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, entered quite late, and hours after Iulia came.

Looking radiant in an all-black lehenga choli, Iulia attracted maximum attention as she attended the reception.

Also present at the event were Rekha, Abhishek Bachchan, Sooraj Barjatya, Swara Bhaskar, Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh Grover, Abbas Mustan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Pamela Chopra, Sahara chief Subrata Roy and wife, Udit Narayan, son Aditya, Alka Yagnik, Pooja Hegde, Sanjay Khan, Zayed Khan, Sophie Choudry, Mugdha Godse and others.

Neil and Rukmini looked stunning in co-ordinated ivory and emerald green outfits by designer Manav Gangwani. Rukmini opted for a green heavily embroidered lehenga and Neil wore a royal Jodhpuri suit.

The decor for the reception was European themed, highlighted by white and pink carnations. The hotel's nightclub was reserved for younger guests while a separate banquet was booked for celebrities to unwind.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday moved a motion of confidence in the assembly in favour of his government.

Soon after Palaniswami moved the motion, heated arguments began with Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin urging the speaker to allow AIADMK MLA S. Semmalai to speak.

Semmalai is part of former Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam's AIADMK camp.

Semmalai has been appointed the party whip by by AIADMK Presidium Chairman E. Madhusudanan, who is part of Panneerselvam camp.

The ppposition DMK, Congress and Panneerselvam camp are demanding a secret ballot.