The first installment of nearly Rs.5500 crore has been paid for implementing the OROP scheme Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said while asserting that he has quot;fulfilled the promisequot; he made to ex-servicemen on the issue that has been hanging fire for the last 40 years.

The Prime Minister while celebrating Diwali with army and ITBP personnel in Sumdo here over 270 km from state capital Shimla also lauded the role of the security force personnel guarding and protecting the country.

quot;Spent time with our courageous ITBP_official amp; Army Jawans at Sumdo Kinnaur district Himachal Pradesh. Jai Jawan! Jai Hind!quot; he tweeted.

Earlier in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme on All India Radio he saluted the valour of the armed forces and lauded their sacrifice while dedicating the festival of Diwali to them.

quot;The OROP was not about just Rs.200 or Rs.500 crore but Rs.10000 crore… After I became the PM and decided that I had to do implement it the entire government lost sleep over it… It was not possible for the government to pay in one go so I requested the ex-servicemen to accept it in four instalments.

quot;The money will reach them in four installments. Nearly Rs.5500 crore has been paid as the first installmentquot; Modi said.

He said the issue had been pending for quot;40 yearsquot; as certain people in the previous governments quot;did not knowquot; about OROP scheme and therefore quot;only Rs.500 crore was allocatedquot; for the purpose.

Modi also said that many people thought that if the scheme was not implemented a section of quot;ex-servicemen would turn against the governmentquot;.

The Prime Minister on his way to Sumdo met civilians at Himachal’s Chango village close to the Sino-Indian border.

quot;Made unscheduled stop at Chango village close to Somdu to wish people on Diwali. Was deeply touched by the impromptu reception amp; their joyquot; Modi tweeted.

quot;The Prime Minister spent time with ITBP jawans and personnel of Dogra Scouts of army at Sumdo on border of Kinnaur and Spiti and distributed sweets to themquot; an official said.

Modi also met personnel of the General Reserve Engineering Force GREF a branch of Border Roads Organisation BRO entrusted with construction and maintenance of border roads and also executing the Rohtang Tunnel project the official said.

After coming in power in 2014 the Prime Minister had celebrated his first Diwali with soldiers posted in Siachen and in 2015 he celebrated it at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.nbsp;

The government’s schemes for financial inclusion and to encourage small enterprise are attempts to free the common man from the clutches of moneylenders Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

quot;Small traders businessmen the vegetable vendor milkman barber…used to be all so completely in the grip of usurious moneylendersquot; Modi said in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address on the occasion of Diwali.

quot;Schemes like Mudra Stand up India Jan Dhan bank accounts are all ways for us to be rid of the evil of usuryquot; he added.

quot;Through direct benefit transfer DBT of subsidy and using the Aadhaar unique ID money is paid into the account of beneficiaries. For the common man these schemes are a way of getting free from the clutches of middlemenquot; he added.

Modi also praised the Haryana government’s initiative to make the state kerosene-free saying that often subsidies are continued even when not needed only to the benefit of middlemen.

quot;Homes in our country which have cooking gas electricity don’t need kerosene but the subsidy continues. But who questions all this in government as kerosene gas electricity are all being supplied simultaneously which is only an opportunity for middlemen to profitquot; the Prime Minister said.

quot;The Haryana government after verifying against the Aadhar number those families’ gas electricity connections has managed to make 7-8 districts kerosene-free and soon the whole state will become kerosene-freequot; Modi said.

quot;This will be a major change. Corruption and leakage will be checked the environment will benefit and precious foreign exchange saved. The only ones who will be hit are middlemenquot; he added.

The government’s schemes for financial inclusion and to encourage small enterprise are attempts to free the common man from the clutches of moneylenders Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

quot;Small traders businessmen the vegetable vendor milkman barber…used to be all so completely in the grip of usurious moneylendersquot; Modi said in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address on the occasion of Diwali.

quot;Schemes like Mudra Stand up India Jan Dhan bank accounts are all ways for us to be rid of the evil of usuryquot; he added.

quot;Through direct benefit transfer DBT of subsidy and using the Aadhaar unique ID money is paid into the account of beneficiaries. For the common man these schemes are a way of getting free from the clutches of middlemenquot; he added.

Modi also praised the Haryana government’s initiative to make the state kerosene-free saying that often subsidies are continued even when not needed only to the benefit of middlemen.

quot;Homes in our country which have cooking gas electricity don’t need kerosene but the subsidy continues. But who questions all this in government as kerosene gas electricity are all being supplied simultaneously which is only an opportunity for middlemen to profitquot; the Prime Minister said.

quot;The Haryana government after verifying against the Aadhar number those families’ gas electricity connections has managed to make 7-8 districts kerosene-free and soon the whole state will become kerosene-freequot; Modi said.

quot;This will be a major change. Corruption and leakage will be checked the environment will benefit and precious foreign exchange saved. The only ones who will be hit are middlemenquot; he added.

India is expected to see a significant uptick in mobile subscriptions broadband and connectivity with almost a billion unique mobile subscribers expected by 2020 marking a period of rapid development of the country’s mobile economy a new study has revealed.

The new report ‘The Mobile Economy: India 2016’ by GSMA Intelligence noted that at the end of June 2016 616 million unique users had subscribed to mobile services in India making it the second-largest mobile market globally.

India also overtook the US in 2016 to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market with an installed base of 275 million devices.

The report forecasts that improving affordability falling device prices and operator investments in network coverage and quality will help deliver an additional 330 million unique subscribers in India by 2020 lifting the country’s penetration rate to 68 per cent of the population up from 47 per cent in 2015.

India is also seeing an ongoing technology shift to mobile broadband services; the number of 3G4G mobile broadband connections is forecast to reach more than 670 million by 2020 48 per cent of the total connection base it said.

There will also be an accelerating move to 4G over this period. The number of 4G connections is forecast to grow rapidly growing from just 3 million at the end of 2015 to 280 million by 2020. In addition the industry is set to invest heavily with operator capex growing to USD 34 billion for the period 2016 to 2020.

quot;With this report all signs point to a period of tremendous growth for India’s mobile economy which will strongly support and enable the government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative aimed at providing broadband connectivity to allquot; said Mats Granryd Director General GSMA.

quot;To fully realise India’s tremendous market potential review and reform in key areas including modernising regulation and long-term planning for spectrum allocation would accelerate mobile broadband access and adoption across the countryquot; he said.

The government defended itself against Chief Justice of India TS Thakur’s charge that it was sitting on judicial appointments.

It claimed to have increased the sanctioned strength of high court judges from 906 to 1079 and insisted that there was no abnormal increase in the vacancies in high courts under NDA rule.

The average annual rate of appointment of judges in high courts did not decline during last two years though no new appointments were made during April-December 2015 due to hearing of the NJAC matter sources said.

quot;Government of India has utmost respect for the judiciary and its independencequot; a source said against the backdrop of strong statement by the CJI over the vacancies not being filled up.

A source said the government was concerned about the increasing pendency in the judicial courts and quot;hence government has been making all out efforts to see that the vacancies are filled upquot;.

He said that ldquo;it is being presented in the media that the number of vacancies of judges in high courts has increased abnormally in recent times. However an analysis of data for the last 10 years indicates that there is no such abnormal increase.quot;

Amid avian influenza scare in several states the wildlife authorities in Chilika have taken precautionary measures as the migratory birds have started flocking the brackish lake in the state.

quot;We have asked the authorities of the Animal Diseases Research Institute Phulanakhara near Cuttack to take samples from the suspected migratory birds for testing of the bird fluquot; Divisional Forest Officer Chilka wildlife Bikash Ranjan Das said.

He said they had taken surveillance measures to detect dead or sick bird in the lake spread over 1100 sq km.

Besides the personnel engaged in the anti-poaching camps are also inspecting the lake to detect any sick or dead bird. As many as 18 anti-poaching camps have been set up.

Around 15000 birds of 55 species have arrived in the lake so far he said.

Most of the winged guests are seen in 15.59 sq km Nalabana island declared as a bird sanctuary and Mangalajodi.

Most of the duck species have come to the lake so far wildlife wing officials said. Late arrival of the migratory birds is attributed to bad weather.

Last winter 8.86 lakh birds of 161 species had visited the blue lagoon against the previous year’s 7.62 lakh of 172 species they said.

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government’s resolve to work for soldiers’ welfare asking the Prime Minister to first implement the ‘one rank one pension’ scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The Congress Vice President wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks quot;which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain insteadquot;.

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing quot;our gratitude both in words and in deedquot; Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation’s frontiers to boost their morale.

The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.

quot;Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disabilityquot; the Congress leader said.

quot;OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nationquot; Rahul said claiming that some decision of the government have quot;adversely affect the morale of our armed forcesquot;.

The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs.500 crore for it.

Rahul said quot;As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us feel the love support and gratitude of 125 crore people.quot;

quot;I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation disability pension or parity with civil employeesquot; he said.

Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

quot;As we celebrate Diwali and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed.

This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure ournbsp;tomorrowquot; the letter further said.

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government’s resolve to work for soldiers’ welfare asking the Prime Minister to first implement the ‘one rank one pension’ scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.

The Congress Vice President wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks quot;which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain insteadquot;.

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing quot;our gratitude both in words and in deedquot; Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation’s frontiers to boost their morale.

The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.

quot;Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disabilityquot; the Congress leader said.

quot;OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nationquot; Rahul said claiming that some decision of the government have quot;adversely affect the morale of our armed forcesquot;.

The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs.500 crore for it.

Rahul said quot;As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us feel the love support and gratitude of 125 crore people.quot;

quot;I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation disability pension or parity with civil employeesquot; he said.

Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.

quot;As we celebrate Diwali and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed.

This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure ournbsp;tomorrowquot; the letter further said.

Harmanpreet Kaur was on Saturday named the new captain of the Indian women’s T20 team replacing veteran Mithali Raj who has retained her ODI captaincy.

Mithali is however a part of the T20 squad led by Harmanpreet.

The BCCI on Saturday announced the India squad for the home series against the West Indies from November 10 and Asia Cup to be played in Thailand from November 27.

Mithali was captain in the team’s last international T20 campaign which was the World T20 at home. The venue of the West Indies comprising three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals is Vijaywada.

Asia Cup squad: Harmanpreet Kaur captain Smriti Mandhana Mithali Raj S Meghna Vanitha VR Anuja Patil Veda Krishnamurthy Sushma Verma Nuzhat Parween Poonam Yadav Ekta Bist Preeti Bose Jhulan Goswami Shikha Pandey Mansi Joshi.

ODI squad for West Indies series: Mithali Raj captain Harmanpreet Kaur Smrit Mandhana Thirush Kamini Mona Meshram Veda Krishnamurthy Devika Vaidya Sushma Verma Jhulan Goswami Shikha Pandey Sukanya Parida Ejta Bisht Rajeshwari Gayakwad Deepti Sharma.

T20 squad for the West Indies series: Harmanpreet Kaur captain Smriti Mandhana Mithali Raj S Meghna Vanitha V R Anuja Patil Deepti Sharma Nuzhat Parween Ekta Bisht Poonam Yadav Preeti Bose Veda Krishnamurthy Jhulan Goswami Skhika Pandey Mansi Joshi.

nbsp;

Harmanpreet Kaur was on Saturday named the new captain of the Indian women’s T20 team replacing veteran Mithali Raj who has retained her ODI captaincy.

Mithali is however a part of the T20 squad led by Harmanpreet.

The BCCI on Saturday announced the India squad for the home series against the West Indies from November 10 and Asia Cup to be played in Thailand from November 27.

Mithali was captain in the team’s last international T20 campaign which was the World T20 at home. The venue of the West Indies comprising three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals is Vijaywada.

Asia Cup squad: Harmanpreet Kaur captain Smriti Mandhana Mithali Raj S Meghna Vanitha VR Anuja Patil Veda Krishnamurthy Sushma Verma Nuzhat Parween Poonam Yadav Ekta Bist Preeti Bose Jhulan Goswami Shikha Pandey Mansi Joshi.

ODI squad for West Indies series: Mithali Raj captain Harmanpreet Kaur Smrit Mandhana Thirush Kamini Mona Meshram Veda Krishnamurthy Devika Vaidya Sushma Verma Jhulan Goswami Shikha Pandey Sukanya Parida Ejta Bisht Rajeshwari Gayakwad Deepti Sharma.

T20 squad for the West Indies series: Harmanpreet Kaur captain Smriti Mandhana Mithali Raj S Meghna Vanitha V R Anuja Patil Deepti Sharma Nuzhat Parween Ekta Bisht Poonam Yadav Preeti Bose Veda Krishnamurthy Jhulan Goswami Skhika Pandey Mansi Joshi.

nbsp;

Actress Lea Michele says she is really happy with where her life is going.

quot;Beauty I think comes from the happiness within. And I’m really happy with my life right now. I’ve never thankfully had a period where I had an unhealthy relationship with my body or foodquot; Michele said.

quot;But just the fact that I went from being someone who casually worked out to now someone who really works out I think is the biggest accomplishment of the yearquot; Michele said.

The quot;Gleequot; star who was in a relationship with her co-star Cory Monteith before his tragic death in 2013 credits her family and friends for her happiness reports femalefirst.co.uk.