The Delhi Commission for Women on Friday issued notice to the Delhi Police and the Safdarjung Hospital here over a missing twin soon after birth, and sought their response within 48 hours.

According to the complaint received by the commission, a woman delivered twins at the government-run Safdarjung hospital on December 22, but she was handed only one newborn.

The woman said that her ultrasound reports clearly showed "two live foetuses". A medical slip from the doctor also clearly mentioned the "twin" pregnancy.

When the young mother enquired about the second baby from the doctor and the nurse, they brushed her off saying that the second child might have been "dumped with the garbage". 

"The contents of the complaint are extremely serious," said the commission.

The DCW has started an immediate inquiry into the incident and issued notice to the Safdarjung Hospital seeking names of all staff members, including doctors, nurses, helpers who were present at the time of the delivery.

It also sought a report on the action taken by the Delhi Police and hospital authorities against the persons involved.

"Both Safdarjung Hospital and Delhi Police have been asked to respond within 48 hours," said the statement from the commission.

Following criticism over ex-servicemen's support to the Congress for coming assembly elections in five states, defence force veterans agitating on OROP issue on Friday said it was not different from support extended to the BJP in the 2014 general elections.

Major General Satbir Singh (retd), who is leading the ex-servicemen's protest on the 'One Rank One Pension' issue at the Jantar Mantar here, on Thursday announced support to the Congress, following which some ex-servicemen sought his resignation.

Objection was raised by a section of protesters that it was the Congress which allegedly denied them OROP for over 40 years.

Brigadier JS Sandhu (retd) said the demand for resignation was made by those who were not regular at the ongoing protest at the Jantar Mantar.

"All those who are making the demand are paper tigers, who do not come to the Jantar Mantar… what has been done is nothing different from what happened in Rewari when we extended support to the Bharatiya Janata Party," Sandhu said.

Narendra Modi had addressed ex-servicemen in Rewari in Haryana in 2013, ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and promised them OROP.

On Thursday, Satbir Singh had extended "full support" to the Congress in all state elections. 

Present at his press conference were Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh Chief Ministers Harish Rawat and Virbhadra Singh respectively.

The third edition of Rongali – Destination, Culture, Harmony festival, which aims at promoting Assam as a tourism destination, will take place here from February 3.

The three-day festival will showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Northeastern state. Like its previous edition, the fest, organised by Trend MMS, will offer adventure sports like aero sports, water sports, traditional boat race and much more.

The fest's chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta said in a statement: "Music is the essence of Assam and the entire Northeast. So, musicians like Parikrama, Euphoria, Ash King, Joi Barua, Alobo Naga and DJs Nuclyea, Teri Miko and Zaeden would be performing at the festival."

Assam's various tribes, including Bodo, Mising, Karbi, Dimasa, Rabha and Sonowal Kachari will also present their way of life, food, liquor, traditional handloom products and dance forms at the gala, which will be held at the Khanapara Veterinary Ground and Brahmaputra riverfront.

There will be fashion shows as well.

Telecom regulator Trai will soon form a joint committee with telecom operators to review tariff rules, telephone numbering plan and work towards making its monitoring more transparent.

"We will form a committee consisting of Trai officers and telecom operators' representative to suggest which are the provisions that have become obsolete and need to be changed.

This includes tariff order, regulations, licensing and others," Trai Chairman RS Sharma told reporters after meeting telecom operators.

Trai has put forward five subjects before telecom operators that need to be reviewed. BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said that regulatory intervention is required in the area of infrastructure sharing to bring cost of operations down and improve service quality.

The regulator also discussed the need to review existing telephone numbering plan, internet based calling services, current structure of Universal Services Obligation Fund, crowd sourcing of data for measuring service quality and next generation networks.

A sensational case of extortion by dubious Right to Information (RTI) activists have come to light in Uttarakhand.

The activist used RTI to obtain information about expenses made by Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM)- a agency involved in reconstruction work in flash-flood hit Kedarnath- and later started for asking money to settle issue.

NIM has filed a police complain against the fake RTI activists with Uttarkashi Police.

Acting on the complain the police has started investigation against four persons from Dehradun. NIM has produced video and audio of the RTI activists demanding money as evidence in support of their case.

Uttarkashi police has registered a case against Sumit Rawat, Sadanand Sati, Sunil Bodai and Digvijay Bisht of Dehradun under section 384 and 385 of IPC. Uttarkashi Police said that they have started investigation in the case.

NIM’s registrar G S Bisht said, “If the RTI applicants were not satisfied with the information provided, they should have approached the Uttarakhand State Information Commission. But, they started demanding money  and we recorded their conversation (audio/video). It is rather sad that when no agency was willing to do work in disaster hit Kedarnath, NIM went there and some people have started asking for extortion from us.”

Stocks see-sawed amid low volumes on Friday as traders hesitated to extend positions ahead of the weekend and before the crucially important US Payrolls data. There wasn't much action either in European equities or in the US index futures markets, prompting investors to take it easy.

Thick selling action, however, was concentrated on the software sector, which plunged to a 2-week low following a negative development in its main market, the United States. The IT Index dropped 2.8 per cent and closed at its lowest level since Dec 27.

The Nifty fell 30 points to 8,243, unable as it was to hold on to morning gains as sustained selling in index heavyweight software stocks pushed markets lower. Media reports said two US Congressmen have moved a Bill that may make it difficult for software exporters to procure H1-B visas, necessary to send developers to the US, which consumes a majority of India's $150 billion in software exports.

Meanwhile, here are the most important events of the trading day:

* HCL Technologies replaces Tech Mahindra as the top loser on the Nifty. Others to slip were Idea Cellular, TCS, Infosys and Wipro. These six stocks lost between 2.1-3.8 per cent and were among 29 shares trading lower on the Nifty .

* Yes Bank, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank and Bank of Baroda gain 1.9-3.1 per cent; and are among 22 shares advancing on the Nifty.

* Infosys, India's second largest software exporter, was the top traded stock by value, down 2.4 per cent. 

to its lowest level since December 8th, a 1-month low. More than 540 crore rupees worth of Infosys shares changed hands on the National Stock Exchange.

* Wockhardt Pharma, Yes Bank, TCS and Bajaj Finance were the other counters were substantial trading was witnessed.

* The Sensex dived 119 points to 26,759 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange. ONGC was the top gainer while TCS lost the most. Infosys was the top traded stock by volume on the Sensex.

* JSW Energy was the top gainer in the list of most active shares by volumes. HDIL, Jindal Steel & Power, Vedanta and Reliance Communications saw heavy actions as well.

* Broader market indices traded flat, with low volumes. The Nifty 100, 200 and 500 indices dropped about 0.3 per cent each. Mid Caps and Small caps ended lower too.

* Sectoral indices showed a mixed trend with a stroke of red on FMCG, Media and Realty benchmarks while the four bank indices, auto, metals and pharma benchmarks were painted with a shade of green. They gained between 0.5-0.9 per cent.

* Overall, the mood turned more bearish towards close of play as 949 stocks fell versus 542 that rose in the wider market, signalling that sellers had an upper hand on the last trading day of the week.

A sessions court on Friday pronounced Nongthombam Ajay, the son of former Congress minister and currently BJP leader N Biren, guilty of the murder of a youth Irom Roger on March 21, 2011.

District and Sessions judge M Manoj had earlier reserved his order in the case. The quantum of sentence will be announced on January 11.

After the court pronouncement, Ajay was sent to jail. He was out on bail in the case.

Armed policemen and prison staff had a tough time protecting Ajay in the court complex as dozens of persons rushed to beat him as soon as he was whisked away from the court room. 

Biren was a powerful Congress minister when the murder was committed near the Tulihal international airport. 

Two groups of youths were involved in a road rage case. In the subsequent firing, Roger, a Class 12 student in Bengaluru in Karnataka, was fatally shot. 

Following public pressure, Ajay and four other youths surrendered before the police along with the loaded murder weapon and a jeep in which they were travelling at the time of the crime. The CBI took over the case on May 9, 2011.

Biren had resigned from the Congress and the assembly to join the BJP. He is now acting as the BJP spokesperson in Manipur.

Demonetisation could cut economic growth by 1 or 2 per cent in the current fiscal, former Deputy Chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Friday.

Ahluwalia also urged the government to immediately try to put the economy back over the 7 per cent growth. 

"The immediate objective should be to put the economy back over 7 per cent growth.

"Instead of 7 per cent, the economic growth will be 5 plus or 6 plus this year. However, the underlying strength remains.

"So, once the shock due to demonetisation is behind us, economic growth should be above 7 per cent," he said.

The Reserve Bank has cut the economy's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.1 per cent, from 7.6 per cent earlier. 

It said that short-term disruption in economic activity and demand contraction arising out of demonetisation had led to downside risks to growth.

Ahluwalia was speaking at an interactive session at the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

Asked about whether the note ban was required, he said: "I would not have recommended demonetisation.

"I would not have said that demonetisation is an instrument for digitisation," he added.

Team India got its new limited-overs captain on Friday as the selectors picked Virat Kohli to lead the side, days after former captain MS Dhoni announced his retirement.

Kohli will be leading the 15-man squads for the three-match ODI and T20 series against England in Mumbai.

The MCA Stadium in Pune will host the first ODI on January 15 (Sunday), followed by the second and third ODI in Cuttack and Kolkata respectively.

Following the ODI series, India will host three-match T20I series, to be held from January 26 to February 1 in Kanpur, Nagpur and Bengalore.

The selection committee meet was initially delayed due to logistical reasons, however, the Lodha Panel eventually gave a green signal to the selection meet.

Despite stepping down from the captaincy, Dhoni will be seen in action and will be keeping the stumps for the limited-over series ahead.

All-rounder Yuvraj Singh too has made a comeback thanks to his performances in the domestic circle.

“Yuvraj has played so real good domestic cricket. It’s a fair call to give him a chance,” chief selector MSK Prasad said after the announcement of the squad.

India’s Squad for ODIs: Virat Kohli (C), MS Dhoni (WK), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav

India’s squad for T20Is: Virat Kohli (C), MS Dhoni (WK), Mandeep Singh, KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra
 

Prone to natural disasters, Odisha government has raised 10 more units of the Disaster Rapid Action Force to strengthen the disaster management system of the state.

According to Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra, a state-level empowered committee meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi, has sanctioned Rs.70 crore for the purpose.

He said 10 units had been created about a decade ago and with the addition of 10 more such units, any emergency situation can be tackled.

Padhi also directed the Odisha disaster management committee to improve the efficiency of the fire officers and block level officers.

It was also decided to install rain forecast and weather forecast equipments at blocks and panchayat level.

Padhi also instructed the officials to link the information received from these systems with the crop insurance system.

Earlier, it was decided to set up three fire fighting forces and allocate Rs eight crore for purchasing 15 varieties of equipment, SRC Mohapatra said.

It also decided to set up Early Warning Dissemination System in the coastal districts by April, 2017. There will be 122 automatic alarm systems along 480 km-long coast through the project, Padhi said.

"The project will warn people, residing in the coastal regions, about tsunami, flood and cyclone directly from the State Control Centre," Mohapatra said.

A total 600 new automatic rain and weather forecasting equipments will be installed for drought management in the state, the SRC said adding at present around 502 such equipments have been installed.

He said that a proposal was also placed to increase the number of cyclone shelters. The proposal is for adding 100 more flood-cum-cyclone shelters. The state is already equipped with 1,500 cyclone shelters.

Prone to natural disasters, Odisha government has raised 10 more units of the Disaster Rapid Action Force to strengthen the disaster management system of the state.

According to Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra, a state-level empowered committee meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi, has sanctioned Rs.70 crore for the purpose.

He said 10 units had been created about a decade ago and with the addition of 10 more such units, any emergency situation can be tackled.

Padhi also directed the Odisha disaster management committee to improve the efficiency of the fire officers and block level officers.

It was also decided to install rain forecast and weather forecast equipments at blocks and panchayat level.

Padhi also instructed the officials to link the information received from these systems with the crop insurance system.

Earlier, it was decided to set up three fire fighting forces and allocate Rs eight crore for purchasing 15 varieties of equipment, SRC Mohapatra said.

It also decided to set up Early Warning Dissemination System in the coastal districts by April, 2017. There will be 122 automatic alarm systems along 480 km-long coast through the project, Padhi said.

"The project will warn people, residing in the coastal regions, about tsunami, flood and cyclone directly from the State Control Centre," Mohapatra said.

A total 600 new automatic rain and weather forecasting equipments will be installed for drought management in the state, the SRC said adding at present around 502 such equipments have been installed.

He said that a proposal was also placed to increase the number of cyclone shelters. The proposal is for adding 100 more flood-cum-cyclone shelters. The state is already equipped with 1,500 cyclone shelters.

Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav appears isolated with son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav coming on top in the ugly battle for political supremacy.

Having anointed himself the party's National President, in a dramatic coup against his wrestler-turned-politician father, the 43-year-old Akhilesh Yadav is in full control of the party, party insiders say.

Barring a few family members from his village Saifai in Etawah and not more than two dozen legislators, Mulayam Singh, the family patriarch, seems to be isolated, party leaders admit. 

Cornered through a Akhilesh-backed resolution that left him with the mere tag of 'marg darshak' (mentor), Mulayam Singh is now left with very little leg room to manoeuvre his way back as the party's unquestioned boss.

Egged on by uncle and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav has been making the right moves since raising the banner of revolt against his ageing father.

And Yadav junior has since gone on an offensive.

The Chief Minister enjoys the backing of 209 legislators and 51 MLCs, all of whom signed affidavits on Thursday swearing their support to his leadership.

On Friday, Shivpal Yadav, Mulayam Singh's brother, met Akhilesh Yadav at the latter's residence, apparently to discuss possible rapprochement. 

"The Chief Minister is clear. There is no going back now. He is not averse to his father but cannot stake his political career on the palace intrigues in the family," a close aide told IANS. 

Sunil Singh Sajan, an Akhilesh protege, says their faction was unfazed by reports that the party symbol 'cycle' may be frozen by the Election Commission.

"A lot of development has taken place under Akhilesh Yadav. People see him as a harbinger of good and prosperity, we will work on it," said Udayveer Singh, another MLC close to the Chief Minister. 

In another move, aided by legal eagles, the Akhilesh camp has told banks to freeze the Samajwadi Party accounts. 

As a result, more than Rs.500 crore belonging to the party, which till now was operational with the signature of Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of the Chief Minister, have been put on hold.

Most of the old guard and Mulayam loyalists like Reoti Raman Singh, Balram Yadav, Rajendra Chowdhary and Ahmad Hasan have turned their back on the party supremo who once dreamt of becoming the Prime Minister.

Even the new generation with its roots in the Yadav clan – Tej Pratap Yadav (Mainpuri MP), Budayun MP Dharmendra Yadav, Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav and many second-rung politicians – have accepted Akhilesh Yadav as their leader. 

Family elders too feel that Mulayam Singh should reconcile to the rise of the son. 

The other two brothers of Mulayam Singh – Abhay Ram Yadav and Rajpal Yadav – have come to Lucknow, in a rare appearance, to douse the family fire and thrash a respectable way out for the father and son.

Mulayam Singh is left with only a handful of diehard loyalists like brother Shivpal Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada. 

All eyes are on the Election Commission to see to who it will allot the 'cycle' symbol — the Mulayam or Akhilesh faction. 

With staggered Uttar Pradesh assembly polls set to start on February 11, the decision will have a major bearing on the electoral battle.

Russia on Friday began planned reduction of its military presence in Syria, led by aircraft carrier group "Admiral Kuznetsov", the chief of the Russian armed forces said.

"In accordance with the decision of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, (President) Vladimir Putin, the Russian Defence Ministry is beginning to reduce its armed forces deployment in Syria," TASS news agency quoted Army General Valery Gerasimov as saying.

Gerasimov said Russia's naval fleet led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, which has been operating in the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast, would be the first to leave.

The Russian President last month ordered a partial pullout of military forces from Syria after negotiating a ceasefire deal with Iran and Turkey. He said it offered an opportunity to end the six-year armed conflict in the Middle Eastern nation.

As the Russian military pulls out of Syria, Damascus reiterated its gratitude for Russia's help in the conflict.

"The support that the Russian Air Force offered was crucial for our victories, which paved the way for a ceasefire and created the conditions for launching a political settlement of the Syrian crisis," the chair of the general staff of the Syrian armed forces, Lt. General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, said, as reported by Russian news agencies.

A rag picker in Rishikesh became rich for few hours on Friday, when he found Rs.9.85 lakh old 500 rupee notes in garbage. Sensing trouble, the rag picker handed the money over to police.

Uttam Kumar, a rag picker, was doing his routine work in the holy township when he found bundles of old currency lying on a waste dump.

After finding the old currency, Uttam picked and kept them safely in his plastic sack, which he carries on his shoulder for daily work.

The rag picker made attempt to buy something from the market and offered a Rs 500 note to the shopkeeper. When the shopkeeper told him that such notes are no longer in circulation and might land him in problem. 

Uttam instantly realized the danger and approach the local police. Muni-ki-Reti Police station‘s SHO Ravi Saini said, “Acting on the advice of the shopkeeper and other people available in the shop, the rag picker handed over the discovered currency to police. A total of Rs.9.85 lakh worth of old 500 notes was deposited by Uttam. ”

The Rishikesh Police has approached the Income Tax department. In a similar incident, a coin collector in Haridwar found Rs.4.35 lakh on the bank of Ganga on 21 December last year. 

Uttam hails from Nepal and makes a living by waste picking in the city. Lady luck smiled on the poor rag picker for a brief period. But, Uttam is thanking his stars now that the old currency did not land him behind bars and his timely action saved him from facing any grave problem.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation and the arrest of two of her ministers – Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay and said that a national government was the need of the hour and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should step down.

“In current situation a national government should be formed with another BJP person at helm. He (PM Modi) has to go," Mamata said in a tweet.

"To save country, let a national government be formed. Advaniji, Rajnathji or Jaitleyji can head it. Current situation unacceptable,” she added.

Both the TMC ministers have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam.

Tripura has registered a 2.56 per cent increase in the total number of its electorate, an Election Department official said here on Friday after the final electoral rolls were published.

The official said the total voters as per the final rolls were 2,505,906 compared with 2,443,438 earlier. Of the total, 1,230,212 are women.

The official said 41,907 of the newly-enlisted voters – including 17,679 females – were enrolled on attaining the age of 18.

The latest rolls – published on Thursday after a four-month special summary revision – showed the gender ratio has increased to 964 females per every 1,000 males. The national gender ratio in electoral lists is 933 females to 1,000 male electorate.

"Though I have no readily available exact data, the gender ratio in four Northeastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh is much higher than in other Indian states."

In 2012 and 2014, the gender ratio in the voters lists of Tripura was respectively 958 and 962 females to 1,000 males.

Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday said he would expose and punish the Badals in the Nabha jail break case and the Fazilka sub-jail episode.

Addressing a press conference here, Amarinder said that the Fazilka incident had exposed the nexus between the Badals and the criminals in the state, which was in the grip of total lawlessness, with as many as 52 armed gangs on the loose, as per the DGP’s own admission.

Jakhar, who earlier went to submit a memorandum on the issue on behalf of Amarinder and the party to the state chief electoral officer VK Singh, said, “The Badal government was still influencing the probe into the incident and was soft peddling the case.”

“The police were trying to save the culprits by distorting facts and were lying that the meeting was held in the superintendent’s office,” he added.