Hundreds of opposition supporters and farmers on Thursday protested the Sri Lankan government's plan to lease a southern seaport to a Chinese-controlled joint venture in exchange for the heavy loans to build the port.

The protesters led by Marxist party People's Liberation Front said the proposed partnership is akin to a sellout of the country.

The government wants to lease the loss-making port to a joint venture company in which China will have 80 per cent ownership. The lease period will be 99 years.

The government also proposes to lease 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) in Hambantota district and adjoining Moneragala district for an industrial zone.

Protesters carried placards that read "hands off our lands" or "Stop selling Hambantota port." 

D K Sumathipala said farmlands are at risk of being taken over for the industrial zone and he was determined to fight.

"We are farmers; we can't move out of our lands," he said.

"I was born here, we have nowhere to go," said Premawathie Samarasekara, also a farmer. "We will not give away our lands to the Chinese," she said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told a gathering on Thursday that private lands will not be taken over for the industrial zone. He said the partnership was the only way to free the country from the debt burden.

China invested over $1.2 billion in the Hambantota port in what some analysts call its "string of pearls" strategy in countries surrounding India.

Sri Lanka's government criticised the project before being elected in 2015 but later approached China seeking help to make it viable. 

The prestigious Polavaram project, a multi-purpose irrigation venture which enjoys status of a national scheme, will be completed by 2019, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said.

The multi-crore project across Godavari river will be completed by 2019 and water for irrigation would be released by 2018 itself, he said.

Naidu was addressing a public meeting at Pithapuram town, about 35km from here, after laying the foundation stone for the Rs 1,645-crore Purushottam Patnam lift irrigation project.

The CM said once completed, this project would benefit five Assembly constituencies – Pithapuram, Peddapurm, Tuni, Jeggampeta and Prathipadu – bringing in 2.15 lake acres of land under assured irrigation.

Naidu said the scheme also envisages construction of a pump house at Purushottam Patnam to lift flood water from Godavari and take it 10km away to Polavaram left canal.

He criticised Opposition parties, especially Congress and YSR Congress, for "creating hurdles" in the path of the Polavaram project for their selfish political ends.

Conceived decades ago, the Polavaram project is likely to irrigate over seven lakh acres in Andhra Pradesh and produce 960 MW of hydel energy.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday appreciated President Pranab Mukherjee's statement on demonetisation and said President has now shown truth to PM Modi and his government.

“President has now shown truth to PM Modi and his government,” Surjewala said in a series of tweets.

“President of India has now spoken, will Modi ji listen and leave his arrogance of power and recoup the losses,” Surjewala said and added that head of the family gives lessons to truant child, that is the kind of lesson President of India has given.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said demonetisation will be beneficial in immobilising black money but may also slowdown the economy temporarily.

Mukherjee had welcomed Prime Minister Modi's announcement of demonetisation of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 notes on November 8 and had termed it a bold move.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was urged on Thursday to set up a regional immigration policy after Brexit under which some parts of Britain would be able to clamp down on the numbers of foreign workers while others could maintain an open-door policy.

According to a report in the Guardian, a group of British MPs said "regional immigration quotas" in Britain would help boost the public debate and significantly improve relations between new arrivals to Britain and longer established local communities.

The all-party group on social integration said that not enough has been done to acknowledge the impact of rapid migration on many communities. 

It also warned that the target to reduce migration to the tens of thousands had "unnecessarily stoked public anxiety" and given the impression that the government was not in control over immigration.

The group sought a comprehensive integration strategy from the government and for a requirement that immigrants speak English or are enrolled onto compulsory courses. It said that ability to converse in the local language was a "prerequisite for meaningful engagement with most British people".

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP who chairs the group, said: "It's clear that immigration has impacted on different communities in different ways and the pace of change has alarmed many. The government has a duty to address the lack of integration of immigrants if it is to address this." 

On a regional system, the report said: "Promoting the geographic dispersal of immigrants has been shown by numerous academic studies to lead to higher levels of integration."

"In contrast, 'one size fits all' immigration systems tend to lead to lopsided patterns of chain migration, wherein new immigrants are attracted to areas with high immigrant concentrations," it said.

A government spokesman said, "Our country has long been home to lots of different cultures and communities, but all of us have to be part of one society — British society." 

"That is why we are rolling out funds for English language provision and have also made money available through the Controlling Migration Fund to local authorities to manage impacts on communities caused by issues such as poor English language skills," he said.

During the initial eight months of the present fiscal, the Haryana government has received more than Rs.20,000 Crore as total tax collection. Official data shows that by December 7, 2016, the total tax collection of the state is Rs 20,706.13 crore, nearly 59.67 per cent of the of the total tax receipts Rs.34,700 crore projected for the financial year 2016-17.

According to figures, major chunk of the total tax receipts between this period came in shape of value added tax + central sales tax (VAT+CST) as more than Rs.16,000 Crore have been received under this category by the end of November during the present fiscal. It was followed by the Excise as a total Rs 3,287.11 crore is the total figure of the tax receipts under this category while rest of the receipts are shared by luxury tax, entertainment tax, LADT, PGT and Compensation received for the loss of revenue.

Notwithstanding the decline in tax collection due to demonetisation announced by the Centre on November 8, a total Rs 2,760.78 crore were collected in shape of various taxes from November 9 to December 9 against a low amount of Rs 2,400.45 crore collected between October 8 to November 8. Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said the tax collection after the demonetisation in the state has refuted the reports were indicating slowdown in tax collection. We will end the present financial year with higher tax collection, he added.

During the financial year 2015-16 the total tax collection in Haryana was Rs 29,634.16 crore including Rs 21,546.98 crore as VAT + CST collection, Rs 4,373.71 as Excise tax, Rs 3,003.08 as Compensation. Captain beleives that the tax collection by the end of present fiscal would be higher than the previous one.

An FIR has been registered against unidentified persons who assaulted and injured four women constables and other policemen after a young woman was molested by a drunk mob on New Year's Eve here, Delhi Police said on Thursday.

No arrest has been made so far.

Police said the crime occurred late December 31 night when a huge mob comprising mainly students molested the woman while celebrating New Year at Batra Cinema in Mukherjee Nagar. 

"The inebriated revellers molested the young woman riding pillion on a bike with two men. The miscreants tried to grab the victim near a market. When four policemen deployed at a roadblock saw them molesting the victim, they caught one youth. Later, some of his accomplices manhandled the policemen," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijayanta Arya said.

The mob freed the youth from police custody and vandalised a police vehicle parked there as well as a police post where some women police personnel took shelter.

Four women constables were injured, Arya said.

"It took police one hour to bring the situation under control. A majority of the drunk mob included students residing in the Mukherjee Nagar locality. We have registered an FIR and are examining closed-circuit television footage to identify the accused," Arya added.

Those in the 200-strong mob melted away when additional police rushed to the spot, police said.

Mukherjee Nagar area is very near to Delhi University's north campus.

Mainly DU students and civil service aspirants reside in the area.

Demonetisation has pushed the banks' credit growth to historic lows and the rate cuts by banks may result in a rebound at least in the housing sector, a State Bank of India (SBI) report said on Thursday.

"The low credit growth is a matter of concern, as the fortnightly data of all scheduled commercial banks indicates that credit offtake year-on-year declined to a historical low of 5.1 per cent as on December 23," according to the SBI report titled 'Econwrap – Betting on credit growth'.

"During the period between November 11 and December 23, credit offtake has declined by Rs 5,229 crore, while banks' deposits grew by around Rs 4 lakh crore," the report stated. 

With rate cuts now being 90 bps at one go, clearly the evidence is strong for a credit growth rebound at least in the housing sector, it added.

The State Bank of India on January 1 had cut its lending rates by 90 basis points for maturities ranging from overnight to three-year tenures.

Regarding the issues of normalisation after demonetisation, the report said that by January-end, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should be able to replace 67 per cent of the demonetised currency and by February-end 80-89 per cent.

The total amount of the spiked high value denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in circulation on November 8 was Rs 15.44 lakh crore, according to the Finance Ministry figures.

The latest data of RBI shows that by December-end, 44 per cent of the demonetised currency has been replaced. 

"If we assume that RBI continues to print as it is doing as of now, things will be closer to normal by February-end," the SBI report said.

A delegation of the West Bengal BJP unit on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here and submitted a memorandum alleging that the Mamata Banerjee government has failed to protect the party's interests in the state.

In the memorandum, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary and the party's state affairs in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya said there is complete breakdown of law and order in the state.

He accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of attacking BJP offices in various parts of the state.

"There have been arson and attacks by the ruling party goons on January 3, 2017, in different parts of the state. The principal target of the ire is the BJP."

"The violence has the blessings of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and therefore police are silent spectators," Vijayvargiya said.

He alleged that despite repeated phone calls to police in the wake of attack at the BJP office in Kolkata, no help came from them.

"Many of our workers were injured in the brutal aggression in our state office. Several of the ruling party leaders were seen in the mayhem, encouraging their goons," he said.

"Trinamool leaders such as MLA Shashi Panja and Councillor Santanu Sen were seen marshalling the mob," he added.

Terming it "an unfortunate and serious situation", he urged the Home MInister for immediate review of law and order situation in the state.

The Trinamool Congress and BJP workers have clashed since the arrest of Trinamool MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay by the CBI in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.

California-based all-electric automaker Tesla and Japanese electronics company Panasonic have started the mass production of lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory in Nevada. Initially, the manufactured cells will be used for Tesla’s Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy products. However, the company will start manufacturing cells for the upcoming Model 3 from the second quarter of 2017. Although the production of cells started in December 2016, they were being checked for qualification and the first cells to actually be used in products were manufactured on January 4, 2017.

'2170 cell', the high-performance cylindrical cells have been jointly designed and engineered by Tesla and Panasonic. Tesla claims that the 2170 cell offers the best performance at the lowest production cost in an optimal form factor for both electric vehicles and energy products. By 2018, the Gigafactory will produce 35GWh/year of lithium-ion battery cells, which is nearly as much as the rest of the world’s battery production combined.

Currently, with a total of 1.9 million square feet of footprint, the Gigafactory is less than 30 per cent complete. Once complete, the Gigafactory will have the largest footprint of any building in the world and will provide direct employment to 6,500 people. Tesla claims that once the production of cells increases, the cost of cells will decline significantly thanks to economies of scale.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, wants to establish more Gigafactories in the future. At a media event on July 26, 2016, the LA Times even quoted him as saying, “It makes sense to have a Gigafactory in Europe, one in China, one in India – wherever there is a huge demand for the product.” Tesla currently offers two EVs in the international market – the SUV Model X and the sedan Model S. The production of its most affordable EV, the Model 3, will begin this year and it is likely to be introduced in India by late 2018.

Source: CarDekho

The Centre is using the CBI to "implicate" Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a false case to arrest him, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

Sisodia also said that there was a growing feeling that after raiding Kejriwal's office in December 2015 and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain's office last month, the CBI was preparing to raid his (Sisodia) office as well. 

"The CBI has registered nine cases against the AAP government. There are attempts being made to arrest Satyendar Jain and me as well," Sisodia told the media.

He pointed in this connection to Kejriwal's former Principal Secretary Rajendar Kumar's statement that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had put pressure on him to implicate the AAP leader.

"The CBI was putting pressure on Kumar during interrogation, repeatedly telling him to implicate Kejriwal and that he (Kumar) will be exonerated.

"The intention of the CBI was to pressurise Kumar to name Kejriwal as they were planning to raid the Chief Minister's Office and arrest him (Kejriwal).

"It was the same set of people who forced bureaucrat B K Bansal and his family to commit suicide," Sisodia said.

He said the CBI was not focused on taking action against the corrupt and terror outfits but was concentrating all its energy in implicating Kejriwal in a false case.

Sisodia said the Aam Aadmi Party was unfazed and would not bow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Modiji, do whatever you want. Use CBI to arrest our officers, MLAs, ministers and even me and Kejriwal. Your countdown has started. The people of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and other states will teach you a lesson."

Sisodia also accused BJP President Amit Shah and the Prime Minister's Office of colluding with a senior journalist to spy on the AAP government in Delhi.

He was referring to a story published in Frontline magazine according to which the PMO took "an extraordinary interest in matters linked to the administration of Delhi since the AAP came to power" in February 2015.

Urging Modi not to resort to such tactics, Sisodia challenged him to take on the AAP politically.

"You are a democratically elected Prime Minister… If you want to fight us, fight us us on policies, not (resort to) conspiracies," Sisodia said.

The Union government is all set to introduce a uniform emergency number — 112 that will work across the country, officials said.

The scheme is expected to be launched soon and sources in Chandigarh said that emergency services including Police have put in place all necessary measures and are awaiting a go ahead from the Centre.

However, the final call by the Central government will be taken once all the states express their readiness.

The emergency number will help people connect to police, ambulance and fire services instantly making different numbers for different emergency services redundant.

Sources in the police department revealed that the number 112 is already operational in Chandigarh from the back end of the BSNL as all the calls meant for the fire, ambulance and Police Control Room (PCR) are being diverted to the number 112. They are received in the police control rooms which are further forwarded to the concerned department as per requirement.

“Our control room receives close to 3,000 calls every day. Most of the calls are regarding some inquiry or to get a particular number of different departments. The number of emergency calls is roughly 300 calls,” said a police officer.

When asked about whether diverting all the class to the police control room will add to the work load there, the official said, “We are prepared and there will not be any added pressure. As such we are already handling all the calls pretty well.”

An extensive awareness drive for the use of number 112 will be carried out once the Centre officially announces the launch of the scheme.

After being left out for three consecutive years, Delhi’s tableau will finally return to Rajpath for Republic Day parade this year and the theme would be education, a source said.

The model schools project, skill development centre, parent-teacher training programme and the mega parent-teacher meetings taken up by the AAP government are the prime enterprises that will be displayed.

A special song about education is also being prepared.

The Department of Arts and Culture and the Sahitya Kala Parishad were tasked to finalise the concept for the tableaux.

The Delhi tableaux last participated in 2013 Republic Day parade with the theme ‘The cultural hub of the country’.

The worried Congress after denying tickets to many aspirants has put its ‘top brass’ on the job to convince ‘rebels’ to control the damage. The party has announced two lists of candidates so far and there has been heartburn over the choice of candidates at certain places in the state. Day by day the anti-party sentiments have been coming to fore after being denied tickets on ‘winnability’ or ‘one-family-one-ticket’ norms.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) leaders including its president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi have asked Punjab Congress Chief Captain Amarinder Singh, AICC general secretary-cum-Punjab election-in charge Asha Kumari and AICC’s national secretary Harish Chaudhary to keep a vigil on the rebel activities and concise a solution, sources said.

On Wednesday, exploding his anti-party sentiments after being denied ticket, Tarlochan Singh Soondh, a Congress sitting legislator from the Banga constituently in Nawanshahar district has announced to contest the February 4 assembly elections as an Independent. Targeting the Congress high command, Soondh said, “The party has ignored the sacrifices made by my family. When most of sitting Congress MLAs are being given tickets, why has the party ignored me?”

Similarly, in yet another setback to Punjab Congress, a permanent invitee to the PPCC Inderjit Singh Randhawa, who is the brother of sitting Dera Baba Nanak legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, has resigned from the party over non-allotment of ticket to his son Deepinder Singh Randhawa. Deepinder, who is secretary of Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) too has quit along with 294 other office bearers of different ranks.

The Dera Baba Nanak Youth Congress chief too has resigned in Randhawa’s support. Also, the case of former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala’s family is no different, which is eyeing the Congress ticket from Dhuri constituency. Gaganjeet Singh Barnala, son of Surjit Singh Barnala and a former legislator is eyeing on a ticket for his son Simarjit Singh Barnala. “Despite missing two lists we are waiting for the final announcement. We were promised a ticket by party high command so are still hopeful,” Gaganjeet Singh Barnala said.

When contacted, AICC national secretary Harish Chaudhary, who has been given a task to control rebellion by high command, said. “We all are trying to convince those who are not given tickets. Everyone cannot be given tickets and this needs to be understand. We are in talks and hopeful to get a solution,” he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was urged on Thursday to set up a regional immigration policy after Brexit under which some parts of Britain would be able to clamp down on the numbers of foreign workers while others could maintain an open-door policy.

According to a report in the Guardian, a group of British MPs said "regional immigration quotas" in Britain would help boost the public debate and significantly improve relations between new arrivals to Britain and longer established local communities.

The all-party group on social integration said that not enough has been done to acknowledge the impact of rapid migration on many communities. 

It also warned that the target to reduce migration to the tens of thousands had "unnecessarily stoked public anxiety" and given the impression that the government was not in control over immigration.

The group sought a comprehensive integration strategy from the government and for a requirement that immigrants speak English or are enrolled onto compulsory courses. It said that ability to converse in the local language was a "prerequisite for meaningful engagement with most British people".

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP who chairs the group, said: "It's clear that immigration has impacted on different communities in different ways and the pace of change has alarmed many. The government has a duty to address the lack of integration of immigrants if it is to address this." 

On a regional system, the report said: "Promoting the geographic dispersal of immigrants has been shown by numerous academic studies to lead to higher levels of integration."

"In contrast, 'one size fits all' immigration systems tend to lead to lopsided patterns of chain migration, wherein new immigrants are attracted to areas with high immigrant concentrations," it said.

A government spokesman said, "Our country has long been home to lots of different cultures and communities, but all of us have to be part of one society — British society." 

"That is why we are rolling out funds for English language provision and have also made money available through the Controlling Migration Fund to local authorities to manage impacts on communities caused by issues such as poor English language skills," he said.

To decongest Connaught Place, the national capital’s iconic commercial hub, the Delhi government is mulling to ban the entry of vehicles inside the upscale market for a period of three months starting February, sources said on Thursday.

The move is said to be on trial basis. The final decision to make CP free of vehicles will be taken after examining the trial report.

One of the most controversial contestants of reality show Bigg Boss 10, Om Swami has been evicted from the house much to the relief of other participants.

Self proclaimed spiritual leader Swami has always been in the news for his objectionable behavior inside the house.

The reason behind his ouster was his obnoxious action while performing a task for captaincy.

The incident left the other contestants infuriated and led to his sudden exit.

However, when Swami refused to step out of the house, security was called in who then dragged the Goodman out.

The show's finale will be telecast on January 18.

BJP on Thursday dubbed as "anti-poor and anti-farmers" the Opposition for its protests against the proposal to start the Budget session from January 31 but suggested no announcements specific to five poll-bound states may be made when Union budget is presented on February 1.

Rejecting the demand of Congress and other rival parties that the session be postponed till the elections are over, it said the government's pro-poor schemes needed to continue and be supported by budgetary provisions on time.

Taking a dig, its National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said on the one hand Opposition parties have termed demonetisation a "big scam" and a "failure" and on the other they were against the session to start from January 31.

The two stands are contradictory, he said.

"The Opposition parties are rattled as their defeat in five state polls is a certainty and BJP will emerge victorious. These parties have had a history of negative politics and by opposing presentation of the budget on scheduled time they have again shown that they are anti-poor and anti-farmers.

"The Modi government has started a number of pro-poor and pro-farmers measures and they need budgetary support on time.

We will certainly keep the precedents and past practices in mind," Sharma said, suggesting that announcements specific to the poll-bound states may not be made.

Presenting budget is a constitutional requirement which the government is bound to fulfil, he said.

Citing opinion polls which have projected a good BJP performance in the state polls, he said the Opposition parties are rattled due to this.