Calling Patidar leader Hardik Patel's arrest "bizarre", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday asked the Rajasthan government to immediately release him.

"Arrested? Bizarre. Vasundhara (Raje) government should release him immediately," the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.

Patel tweeted earlier that he was arrested after deboarding at the Jaipur airport and a police officer cited threats to his life as the reason for his detention.

Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel in a tweet on Friday claimed that he was "arrested" here, but the Jaipur city police have denied it, saying he was only escorted.

Patel earlier said he was arrested on landing at the Jaipur airport but the police officer told him that it was done as a precautionary measure as there were risks to his life.

"Jaipur police cited threats to my life as the reason," Patel said and added he was "taken into custody". He even quoted an unnamed senior police officer as saying that there were "orders from above" to "arrest" him.

However, the police in Jaipur have denied any such arrest.

"We neither arrested nor detained him. We only provided him escort as there were some security concerns," Jaipur (East) Deputy Commissioner of Police Kumwar Rashtradeep said.

"He (Patel) is now on his way to Udaipur where he is living for the last couple of months and has already crossed Ajmer district. If we would have arrested or detained him, would it be possible for him to tweet," the police officer said.

 Despite a complete halt to bilateral talks between India and Pakistan, 439 Indian fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails will return home in two batches, a pressure group said on Friday.

The move would bring good cheer to the fishing community as the first batch is scheduled to be home on Christmas.

Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) spokesperson Jatin Desai said that while 220 fishermen would be back on Sunday, the remaining 219 would return on January 5, 2017.

"The release is important as there is no bilateral talks and there is complete pause on the dialogue," he added. 

Desai said the PIPFPD has even urged the Indian government to reciprocate by releasing Pakistani fishermen languishing in Indian prisons.

Currently, there are 516 Indian fishermen nabbed and put in Karachi jails, while 80 Pakistani fisherfolk were put in prisons in Gujarat.

"The India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners (IPJCP), set up in 2008 must meet urgently," Desai said pointing out that both countries must pursue a 'No Arrest Policy' as far as fishermen were concerned.

They should also release all the confiscated fishing boats as it was their only means of livelihood, he added.

The IPJCP used to meet regularly every six months, but did not meet since the BJP-led government assumed power, Desai said.
 

The Rupee ruled higher against the Dollar, rising 9 paise to 67.90 in early trade at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange on Friday on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

Forex dealers said that besides selling of the American unit by exporters, the Dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas supported the Rupee but a lower opening of the domestic equity market restricted the gains.

The local currency had depreciated by eight paise to settle at 67.99 against the greenback on WednesdayThursday on massive capital outflows that induced further instability to the currency markets.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 64.19 points, or 0.25 per cent, to trade at 25,915.41 in early trade.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday criticised the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress for "doing politics" over the resignation of Delhi LG Najeeb Jung.

"I don't know what problems do the AAP and Congress have. When Jung was working, they were demanding resignation. Now since he has resigned, they are questioning why he has resigned. Should Jung have resigned by taking permission from AAP and Congress?," Rijiju said.

The Minister of State for Home said the AAP and Congress leaders have no locus standi to ask questions.

He asked the two parties "to give up doing politics" over Jung's resignation.

Rijiju also refused to speculate on the reasons behind Jung's resignation saying only Jung could tell it.

Raising questions over Jung's sudden resignation, Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken had demanded that the Centre should explain the reasons behind his "unceremonious exit", saying there is more to it than meets the eye.

The AAP had alleged that Jung worked under the "influence" of the Modi dispensation and questioned whether the power tussle between the Centre and Delhi government will continue even after the appointment of a new LG.

"Modi government promotes its people. We hope he gets a better posting after this. I am unhappy that his tenure was disgraceful. Now that he has gone, good luck to him."

"Najeeb Jung's behaviour was not his. He was under the influence of someone. We hope the next LG gives priority to issues concerning people and does not work under anyone's influence," AAP's Kumar Vishwas had said.

 As many as 28 suspected militants linked to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have recently been killed in nine separate US drone strikes across Yemen, the Pentagon said.

"Strikes against AQAP in Yemen pressure the terrorist network and hinder their ability to attack the US and our allies," a Central Command spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

The strikes were carried out between September 23 and December 13, said the statement, which was released shortly before the anniversary of the attempted bombing of a commercial airliner in 2009 carried out by the terror group, Xinhua news agency reported.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was also blamed for the bloody attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January 2015. 
 

A prototype vaccine for Ebola may be "up to 100 per cent effective" in protecting against the deadly virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

If all goes well, the vaccine could become available in 2018 under a fast-track approval process, it said.

In a major clinical trial, nearly 6,000 people in Guinea were given the test vaccine last year, at the tail end of a lethal epidemic of Ebola.

Not one of the 6,000 contracted the disease.

But in a control group of volunteers that did not receive the vaccine, 23 Ebola cases occurred, researchers reported in The Lancet medical journal.

"If we compare zero to 23, this strongly suggests that the vaccine is very effective, that it could be up to 100 percent effective," Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO's assistant director-general and lead author of the study, said.

Her team of three dozen researchers calculated a 90-per cent likelihood during a full-fledged epidemic that the vaccine, dubbed rVSV-ZEBOV, would work in more than 80 percent of cases.

"After 40 years, we appear to now have an effective vaccine for Ebola virus disease to build upon," Thomas Geisbert, a scientist at Galveston National Laboratory in Texas who did not take part in the study, wrote in a commentary, also in The Lancet.

First identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola virus erupted periodically in outbreaks of up to a couple hundred cases, mainly across west and east Africa.

In early 2014, however, a handful of infections in southern Guinea mushroomed rapidly into an epidemic.

Over the next two years, more than 28,000 people fell ill, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Some 11,300 died.

With a mortality rate above 40 per cent, the disease -one of a category of so-called haemorrhagic fevers — has an incubation period of up to three weeks. It causes violent and painful symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhoea, organ failure and internal bleeding.

The new vaccine was initially developed in Canada by public health authorities before being taken over by pharmaceutical giant Merck.

It is slated to be submitted by Merck to health authorities in the United States and Europe sometime next year under a fast-track approval process.

"We may have a vaccine which is registered in 2018," Kieny told journalists at a press conference Thursday, noting that the standard approval process for a new drug takes a decade, if not more.

In the meantime, Merck has committed to ensuring that 300,000 doses of the vaccine are available for emergencies under a protocol called "compassionate use".

"They will be able to produce a million in very short period of time," Kieny noted.

On the eve of Christmas, Christians around the world will be celebrating family time and the birth of Jesus Christ. Traveling through Vietnam, governed by the Communist Party of Vietnam, Christmas was everywhere – in the shops, hotels and restaurants. It was a nice feeling to witness universal joy for Santa Claus, a time for giving and festivities.

As a Christmas present, I was given by an old friend a copy of Richard Wilhem’s translation of the I Ching (Book of Change), with a foreword by the famous Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung (1875-1961). The I Ching is probably the oldest surviving text on how to deal with uncertainty. Jung was one of the first Western scientists to recognize that if man is more affected by nature and the unpredictable behaviour of other men or women, then “every process is partially or totally interfered with by chance, so much so that under natural circumstances a course of events absolutely conforming to specific laws is almost an exception.”

In other words, Chinese thinking starts from a different premise than Western science of causality, which are statistical patterns that must allow for random events (what we today call Black Swans).

The dating of the earliest version of the I Ching goes back to probably 4,500 years ago, when the first Eight Trigrams were formulated as an early attempt to classify different ways of responding to random events. If correct, the I Ching predates the Axial Age, coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers for a period of flowering of civilization in the 8th to 3rd centuries BC in Greece, Babylon, India and China. The I Ching is considered the fount of many sources of Chinese culture, including mathematics, astronomy, historiography, music, architecture, medicine, philosophy, martial arts, political theory, art and religion. Both Taoism and Confucianism have their roots in the I Ching. For example, the German mathematician Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716) invented binary mathematics when given a copy of 64 hexagrams by a French Jesuit priest working in China. Leibnitz’s binary theory, the basis of computer science, found inspiration from the I Ching's depiction of the universe as a progression of interactions between contradicting polarities, between male and female, on and off or zero or one.

There are three fundamental principles of change embodied in the I Ching. The first constant is that everything changes. The second principle is change through simplification which is the exact opposite of the Second Law of Thermodynamics that everything becomes more complex. The third principle is that even though things change, things may not change.

The first concept of constant change was recognized by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (535-475 BC), who argued that change was the fundamental essence of the universe, encapsulated in his saying “no man ever steps in the same river twice.” He also understood the unity of opposites that “the path up and down are one and the same.”

The second principle of “simplification” is that the universe can be reduced to very simple principles, which are easy to understand and easy to follow. That is very much the reductionism of physics that tries to find the theory of everything in simple mathematical form.

The third principle of “no change” can be interpreted as “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” Everything is formed by opposite poles, such as order and chaos. Without order, there will be chaos, and without chaos, there cannot be order.

These ideas of timeless existence and unchanging reality were also expounded by the Greek philosopher Parmenides of Elea (late sixth or early fifth century BC), who conceptualized that reality is unchanging, but perceptions or senses of reality are fleeting.

people think that the I Ching is a book of oracles or mystic mumbo jumbo, since one can interpret the 64 different hexagrams in very different ways. Those of us who use the I Ching ask: if life is affected by many random and unpredictable ways, how should we think about handling or facing such challenges?

simple answer is that there are books like the Bible that reveal the truth to the reader. But as we know, every written word is subject to interpretations, which each of us feel or assess differently depending on our individual experience. Furthermore, the more complex the situation, the more different the interpretations or options available for action or non-action.

The I Ching is useful, at least to those of us who consult it, not for actual predictions, but the process of analysis. Firstly, every piece of information, however random or unrelated, may be relevant, because life or nature is inter-connected in ways that are not always obvious. For example, when Trump won the elections, every world leader was scrambling to find the right connections to get through to him. Some of them found it through the son-in-law. That is almost second nature to many Asians. The second process embedded in the I Ching, is to ask questions that you do not normally ask yourself. For example, have you considered factors that are outside your normal frame of analysis? It is fashionable to talk about elephants in the room that everyone sees but refuse to talk about, or the black swan event that is rare but catastrophic in outcome. The I Ching questions everything, because there are no certainties. The third part of I Ching is that we must think about the system as an interacting whole, not in compartments that do not add up. You cannot fix a system by just surgically removing one part of it. The human body is an interconnected whole in which pain in the toe could be symptom of an organ dysfunction.

In 2017, Brexit and Trump’s assumption as President will bring many more surprises and what appear as random events. My Christmas present will be often consulted, not for predictions, but how to prepare psychologically for radical surprises. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all.

The writer, a former Central banker, comments on global affairs from an Asian perspective.

Special to ANN

Model Janice Dickinson has slammed reality TV personalities Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner saying they are not models.

Dickinson called Kendall a "lovely" person before attacking her career in an interview, reports people.com.

"I don't think she's a supermodel, I don't. Give me a break. You think that's supermodel? That is not supermodel. She can't beat me. She can't. Apples and oranges," she said on a TV show "The Tomorrow Show With Keven Undergaro".

Dickinson said she was shocked and disappointed when Kim and husband Kanye West landed their own Vogue cover in 2014, an opinion which was also shared by other celebrities at the time.

"Kim Kardashian made the cover of Vogue which made me want to vomit. It was crazy. They're not models! They're reality TV stars! You know modelling is extremely hard work you have to have perfect proportions. The Kardashians do not have couture proportion," she said.

Railways has given more than 8,000 acres of vacant land for farming purpose under grow more food scheme.

The vacant railway land is given on license to railway employees working in Group C and D category under Grow More Food (GMF) scheme, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

According to railway policy, licensing of railway land to private parties for the purposes not connected with railway working is not permitted.

"Railways has given 8859.18 acres of land under grow more food scheme," he said adding "it helps preventing encroachment of vacant railway land."

There are about 930.75 hectares of railway land which is currently encroached upon including over 206 hectares of land is under illegal occupation in Northern Railway zone alone.

To outwit land encroachers, the Railways is now planning to lay new tracks on the extreme ends of existing lines.

This would effectively deal with the problem of land encroachment, a politically-sensitive issue in the country.

The construction of additional railway lines will be in Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Recently, the government announced projects worth Rs.24,000 crore comprising laying of new railway lines at various sections of the country's railway network spanning thousands of kilometres.

Railways has recently undertaken digitisation of records related to vacant plots owned by it across the country.

Land which is not required for operational purposes in the foreseeable future is being identified by all railways zones as vacant land, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Railways has approximately 43,000 hectares of vacant land which can be exploited commercially.

Besides, a web based application called Land Management Module integrated with Track Management System (TMS) Railways, has been developed, he added.

A pilot project of GIS mapping of railway network and land parcel has already been started on Delhi division of the Northern Railway.

After its successful implementation, the exercises will be extended to the entire Indian Railway network.

Railways require land for laying of tracks, construction of yards, station buildings, platforms, setting up of workshops, repair and maintenance facilities and housing colonies for its staff.

Land is also licensed for commercial purposes.

India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday was named the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Cricketer of the Year, while Test skipper Virat Kohli was chosen to lead the ODI Team of the Year.

Ashwin was the only Indian in ICC's Test Team of the Year and was also named the Test Cricketer of the Year. Batsman Rohit Sharma and all-runder Ravindra Jadeja were named in the ODI team.

Pakistan captain Misbah-Ul-Haq won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award, becoming the first player of his country to win the award.

South Africa's Quinton de Kock was selected the ODI Cricketer of the Year.

Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad was named the ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year while the West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite won the T20 International Performance of the Year.

Bangladesh’s pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman was given the Emerging Cricketer of the Year.

Legends Rahul Dravid, Gary Kirsten and Kumar Sangakkara selected the ICC Test and ODI sides based on players' performances in the period from September 14 2015 to September 20 2016.

England's Alastair Cook was named the captain of the Test Team of the Year, which included four Englishmen, three Australians, and a player each from New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

it was the third time Cook has been appointed captain, while it the eighth time in nine years that Dale Steyn was selected. Joe Root, David Warner and Kane Williamson have been chosen for the third successive year.

The Test team: David Warner (Australia), Alastair Cook (England, captain), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Joe Root (England), Adam Voges (Australia), Jonny Bairstow (England, wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (England), R. Ashwin (India), Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Steve Smith (Australia)

The ODI Team of the Year, included three Australians, Indians, South Africans each, and one each from England and the West Indies. AB De Villiers has been selected for the sixth time since 2010, while Starc has been picked up for the third time in four years.

Starc and his team-mate Warner are the only two players to have been selected in both the Test and ODI sides in 2016.

The ODI team: David Warner (Australia), Quinton de Kock (South Africa, wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma (India), Virat Kohli, (India, captain), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Jos Buttler (England), Mitchell Marsh (Australia), Ravindra Jadeja (India), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Sunil Narine (West Indies), Imran Tahir (South Africa)

The Income Tax Department has warned taxpayers against sharing their user ID and password with any unauthorised person, saying they too will be liable to face consequences for misuse of their confidential information.

In an advisory to taxpayers, the department's TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) Centralised Processing Cell (CPC) told assessees that their "user ID and password are the most sensitive information, misuse of which can lead to tampering of confidential TDS-related information, your own sensitive data and deductee-related confidential information".

It further said that "if a password is hacked or stolen, it can result in information security breach, leading to undesirable consequences, including privacy violations".

It asked taxpayers to exercise caution in use of log-in credentials at TRACES, which should not be disclosed to any unintended or unauthorised individual. "If shared, the person using login credentials shall also be liable to consequences," it added.

TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System (TRACES) helps easy filing of tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS) correction statements by deductors/collectors and related functionalities.

The taxman asked users to secure their password with at least eight characters in length and a combination of lower case, upper case, numeric and special characters.

"Do not write your password on notepads or the whiteboard at your desk," it cautioned.

"Keeping sensitive information such as passwords in e-mails, folders and files in the computer can be risky. If the e-mail or computer account is hacked, then the perpetrator could misuse the passwords, steal money from your bank accounts, misuse your e-mail account or credit/debit card to access sensitive information from your machine," it said.

It has also asked users not to use the same password for different accounts.

"Using the same password for more than one account is similar to carrying one key that unlock your house, car, office and safety deposit box. One lost key could let a mischievous unauthorised user unlock all doors," the department warned.

It went on to advise against sharing log-in credentials as also using the login credentials of any person other than the authorised one appointed by the deductor for carrying out any activity on TRACES.

"You are requested to similarly treat Digital Signature Certificate with utmost security, as the user ID and password on TRACES," it said.

Christmas is one of the grandest religious festivals and a widely-spread holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world. Christmas celebrations for many nations include the installing and lighting of Christmas trees, the hanging of Advent wreaths, Christmas stockings, candy canes, and the creation of Nativity scenes depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas carols are sung and stories are told about Baby Jesus, St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Christkind or Grandfather Frost. The sending and exchange of Christmas card greetings, observance of fasting and special religious observances such as a midnight Mass or Vespers on Christmas Eve, the burning of a Yule log, and the giving and receiving of presents. Along with Easter, Christmas is one of the most important periods on the Christian calendar. However, Christmas traditions vary from country to country.

Iceland: The Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and marks the official start of the Christmas season in Iceland. It’s when things start getting magical, with lights shining through the winter darkness, concerts and events, and everyone getting into the Christmas spirit. Christmas trees in Iceland are made of wood and decorated with juniper branches and candles. The tradition is to decorate them just a day or two before Christmas. They then stay up for the 13 days of Christmas before they are taken down along with all other decorations. One of the best traditions, particularly for Icelandic kiddies, is putting shoe in the window. This starts 13 days before Christmas, when the Icelandic Yule Lads, who live in the mountains, start coming to town, one per night, bringing presents. Before they go to sleep, kids take one of their best shoes and leave near an open window to get filled by chocolates. Leaf bread, wafer-thin wheat breads are traditionally cut with intricate decorative patterns and are then deep-fried. During Advent, families and friends often get together to make leaf-bread. Food and cooking are a major part of Icelandic Christmas celebrations. For most people, the Christmas meal is the most special meal of the year. Popular fare at Christmas includes rjúpa, or ptarmigan, a member of the grouse family that feeds on ling, berries and herbs, and hamborgarhryggur, glazed rack of ham, traditionally a Danish meal.

Russia: Christmas in Russia is celebrated on 7 January, which is primarily a religious event. On Christmas Eve (6 January), there are several long services, including the Royal Hours and Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy. The family on Christmas Eve savours ‘Holy Supper’ which consists of 12 dishes, one to honour each of the twelve Apostles. Principal dishes on the Christmas table include a variety of pork (roasted pig), stuffed pig’s head, roasted meat chunks, jelly (kholodets), and aspic. Christmas dinner also includes goose with apples, sour cream hare, venison, lamb, whole fish, etc. Finely sliced meat and pork are cooked in pots with semi-traditional porridge. Pies were indispensable dishes for Christmas, as well as other holidays, and included both closed and open style pirogi (pirozhki, vatrushkas, coulibiacs, kurnik, boats, saechki, shangi), kalachi, cooked casseroles, and blini.

Delectable sweet dishes of berries, fruit, candy, cakes, angel wings, biscuits, honey are served on the Christmas table. Beverages include drinking broths (kompot and sweet soups, sbiten), kissel, and Chinese tea.

China: In this country, 25 December is designated as a public holiday in special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Customs like trimming and lighting the Christmas tree, sending cards and gifts, and holding parties are widely popular in major cities. The prosperous commercial streets and shopping malls are well decorated and the festival music can be heard everywhere. The most popular Christmas songs in China include “Jingle Bells”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Silent Night”. Chinese companies doing business with foreigners hold some activities and give Christmas presents to their employees. Young kids go to exciting places with their families, friends or lovers. City centres, tourist areas, downtown streets are beautifully decorated and crowded with people.

Japan: Christmas in Japan is quite different from the Christmas celebrated in most countries. Christmas parties are held around the Day; Japanese Christmas cake, a white sponge cake covered with cream and decorated with strawberries, is often consumed.

Christmas lights decorate cities, and Christmas trees adorn living areas and malls. Presents are exchanged between people as well as close friends. The presents often include teddy bears, flowers, scarves, rings and other jewellery.

Christmas cards are also given to close friends. For the elderly couples, many hotels host dinner shows featuring major singers, actors, and actresses. They also have turkey for dinner, Christmas trees, evergreens and mistletoe (a leathery-leaved parasitic plant which grows on apple, oak, and other broadleaf trees and bears white glutinous berries in winter) in their stores and homes and even Hoeiosho, the Japanese equivalent of Santa Claus, who is a Buddhist monk who bears gifts for the children.

Africa: On Christmas Day in this country carols are sung from Ghana to South Africa. Meats are roasted and gifts are exchanged between close ones and family visits are made.

A new set of clothes to be worn to the church service while singing Christmas carols. A few people in rural parts of Africa fail to afford frivolous gifts or toys. In that case gifts are exchanged in poorer communities that usually come in the form of school books, soap, cloth, candles and other practical goods. Celebrating Christmas dinner with friends and family tops the list after attending church. In East Africa, goats are purchased at the local market for roasting on Christmas day. In South Africa, families typically barbecue (or braai, as it is known locally), or salute their colonial British heritage with a traditional Christmas dinner complete with paper hats, mince pies and turkey or gammon.

In Ghana, Christmas dinner is not complete without fufu and okra soup; and in Liberia rice, beef and biscuits are the orders of the day. Decorating shop fronts, mango trees, churches, and homes is common throughout African Christian communities. One will find fake snow decorating store fronts in Nairobi, palm trees laden with candles in Ghana, or oil palms loaded with bells in Liberia.

Brazil: Christmas in Brazil is unique in its own way. Brazilians celebrate Christmas in summer. In the small cities in the entire country, as well as in the largest cities, like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Salvador, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Brasília, Manaus, Belém, Natal and Belo Horizonte, the celebrations resemble in many ways the traditions in Europe and North America, with the Christmas tree, the exchanging of gifts and Christmas cards, the decoration of houses and buildings with electric lights and the nativity scene.

Families and friends get together to pray the last Novena and wait until midnight to open the presents, parties are held until sunrise on Christmas Day, kids stay up late playing with their new presents while fireworks fill the skies. Families gather around meals, music, and singing.

A day after Rahul Gandhi hurled corruption allegations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made fun of him, asking where was the "earthquake" the Congress leader had threatened.

"There is a youth leader in the Congress who has just learnt to speak. I am glad that he (Gandhi) has started to speak now. In 2009, it was very difficult to find out what was inside this packet. Good he has started speaking. And there was no possibility of any earthquake."

"Had he not spoken, the county would have faced a big earthquake. And the country could not have recovered for 10 years," Modi said sarcastically at an event at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency.

Gandhi had threatened to make damning disclosures against Modi.

On Wednesday, he said in Gujarat that Income Tax documents showed Modi had taken kickbacks from corporate houses when he was the chief minister.

Modi is on a day-long trip to Varanasi where he is to lay foundation stones of several projects and address Bharatiya Janata Party activists.

Modi did not spare former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram either.

Like Gandhi, both have denounced the demonetisation of high value currency.

Modi said he never thought that a few political leaders and political parties would stand with the corrupt when the government tried to clean up black money through the note ban.

About Manmohan Singh, Modi said: "When I spoke about cashless economy, he said how can this technology function where 50 per cent people are poor."

"Now, tell me whether he is giving his own report card or mine? Whose legacy am I bearing now?"

In similar vein, Modi attacked Chidambaram: "He said in a country where there is no electricity in 50 per cent of the villages, how can you implement cashless economy. I want to ask if he is talking about his report card or mine?"

Choreographer-filmmaker Farah Khan says Deepika Padukone was "completely raw" when she entered Bollywood with her film Om Shanti Om, but has now become a fabulous actor by becoming confident of her abilities.

Farah spotted Deepika's talent and honed it for her 2007 film Om Shanti Om – which also features superstar Shah Rukh Khan. But much before that, she was a successful model and had endless endorsement deals to her credit. 

"Deepika in 'Om Shanti Om' was a very different person and Deepika in 'Happy New Year' was a very different person. When she was in 'Om Shanti Om', she was completely raw and she was all in awe. She would hardly speak. She would do everything but she was very nervous and literally we had to coach her – look left, look right, look up, look down, say it like that," Farah said. 

Farah talked about Deepika with actress Neha Dhupia during an episode of her audio talk show "#NoFilterNeha", read a statement. 

Farah, known for making several big budget films, added: "But in 'Happy New Year', she was very confident. She had also become a fabulous actor. 

"She got confidence in her acting abilities because after 'Om Shanti Om', she did various movies and I would look at the movies and think why is she wasting herself doing these movies and she's worthy of a lot more. Till "Cocktail" came and suddenly I was like 'Oh, Okay!'"

Deepika is credited with path-breaking roles in films like Cocktail, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani and Piku, and will soon be making her debut in Hollywood with xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. 

Bayern Munich’s first-half blitz was enough to beat 10-man Leipzig in the summit clash, while Hertha Berlin tamed Darmstadt 2-0 to move into the top three at the closer of the 16th round of Bundesliga.

The "Bavarians" will spend the winter break atop the Bundesliga standings as they moved 3-0 past the surprise title rivals Leipzig, who suffered their second loss of the season on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Newly-promoted Leipzig grabbed the first chance of the game as Timo Werner's square pass dangerously crossed Bayern's goal area in the opening period.

As the match progressed, Bayern Munich assumed full control of the proceedings on the pitch as Thiago Alcantara poked home Robert Lewandowski's shot on target, which dropped off the left post in the 17th minute.

The hosts gained momentum and doubled the lead through Xabi Alonso, who capitalised on an assist from Alcantara and a turnover from Leipzig's Naby Keita to slot home from the edge of the box in the 25th minute.

Things went from bad to worse for the Bundesliga newcomers as Emil Forsberg received his marching orders after seeing a straight red card, following a rude foul play to Philipp Lahm 30 minutes into the game.

Bayern continued their relentless performance and tripled the lead as Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulasci brought down Douglas Costa inside the box allowing Robert Lewandowski to bag his 12th goal of the season from the penalty spot just before the break.

After the restart, Bayern remained in control of the game and pressed Leipzig into the defence. But the German giants were unable to add another goal to their lead, despite promising opportunities from Juan Bernat, Franck Ribery and Douglas Costas.

With the result, front-runners Bayern moved three points clear of Leipzig, who remain in 2nd place of the standings.

The Bundesliga will return from the winter break on January 20 when Freiburg host leaders Bayern Munich for the opener of the 17th round. 

Income Tax (IT) officials on Thursday ended their raid at the house of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P.Rama Mohana Rao.

The raids began on Wednesday morning and continued all night.

On Wednesday, searches were also conducted in Rao's office in the state secretariat and in several other places connected to Rao, his son and others.

According to IT officials, raids were held in 12 locations.

A senior official in the IT Department said cash in new currency was seized from the raided premises.

Ironically, Rao holds the additional charge of Vigilance Commissioner and the Commissioner for Administrative Reforms.

Rao was appointed to the post overlooking the seniority of several IAS officials.

Informed sources said the searches of Rao's residence and office were linked to the earlier IT raids on the residence of businessmen J. Shekhar Reddy, Srinivasalu and Prem.

The IT department recently seized 177 kg of gold and cash totalling Rs.96 crore in old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes and Rs.34 crore in new currency from the three.

A contractor, Reddy had reportedly executed a lot of work for the Tamil Nadu government. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested all three on Wednesday.

Leaders of the DMK and PMK demanded the immediate dismissal of Rao.