BOMBAY NURSES’ STRIKE
Hospital Committee’s Notice
(From Our Correspondent)
Bombay, July 16

As an upshot of the nurses’ strike in Cama Hospital the committee has issued the following notice:- The Committee of the Cama and Allbless Hospital  Nursing Association thoroughly endorse the action of the Lady Superintendent in respect of the rules issued by her on July 10th.
They view with great surprise and disapprobation the action of the pupil-nurses in refusing to obey these rules which are in every respect reasonable and part of the ordinary duties of the nursing profession to be learnt by all pupil-nurses, and the action of the pupil-nurses in refusing duty on account of the issue of these rules is a grave breach of discipline and deserving of the severest censure. With the exception of the leaders in this insubordination, the committee are prepared to allow the pupil-nurses who immediately return to duty and fully accept these rules to
continue their present course of training.

ALLEGED embezzlement
Staff-Sergeant Charged At Bangalore
(From Our Correspondent)
Bangalore, July 16

The trial by district court-martial commenced today, with Major Marshall, R.E., as president, of Staff Sergeant J.W. Warner, late head clerk of the Bangalore Brigade Office, on three charges of misappropriating funds entrusted to him amounting in all to Rs 366, of which Rs 216 represented gratuities given to him to disburse on account of the Abor expedition and the rest were contingent items. Captain Mitford, Cameron Highlanders, is prosecuting. Accused pleaded not guilty and is undefended. Captain King Mason, officiating Station Staff Officer, is giving
evidence.

THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY
Protest Meeting At Dacca
(From Our Correspondent)
Dacca, July 16

A largely attended public meeting was held last evening in the Bar Association, presided over by the Hon. Mr. Ananda Chandra Roy. Several leading Hindu and Mahomedan gentlemen attended. The following resolutions were passed:- That this meeting places on record its respectful but strong protest against the enunciated in the letter of Mr. Sharp, published in the Gazette of India of February 21st, by which it is proposed to transfer the power of the Calcutta University to the Government of Bengal in the matter of affiliation and control of H.E. Schools and to abolish the Matriculation examination substituting school final in its place.That this meeting strongly deprecates the interference of the Government of India with the legislative function of the Calcutta University in the selection of university lecturers and the admission of a suitable number of students in the various classes of the colleges.
By the third resolution several Hindu and Mahomedan gentlemen were elected delegates for the forthcoming meeting at the Town Hall, Calcutta, to consider the educational policy of the India Government.

DINNER OF THE BURMA SOCIETY
Increased Grant From Government
London, July 16

Sir Frederick Fryer, presiding at the annual dinner of the Burma Society announced an increase in the annual grant from the Secretary of State by pound 100 on the understanding that the Society, while free to make its own arrangements regarding guardianship and educational advice, still remained under the general supervision and control of the Secretary for Indian Students. Mr. C.E. Mallet was the guest of the evening. Sir Frederick said Mr. Mallet had offered his best assistance to the officers of the Society in helping Burmese
students.

statesman news service
Patna, 16 July
The National Investigating Agency, struggling to get any breakthrough in the Bodh Gaya serial blasts case, today released two sketches of a suspected terrorist on the basis of CCTV footage and eyewitness account. 
The suspect, a bald man, is claimed to have been seen making rounds of the Mahabodhi temple complex and quietly leaving the place shortly before the blasts had taken place. The agency has also announced to suitably reward the informer and keep his identity confidential. 
In one of the sketches released today, the suspect dressed like a Buddhist monk is seen wearing a mask while in another one, his face is bare. The NIA has also released a video footage in which the suspect is seen moving in a monk attire inside the temple complex during the wee hours (around 3.30 a.m. to 4.30 a.m.). However, his face is not clear in the video probably due to insufficient lighting. 
“Two sketches (with and without mask) of the suspect who was wearing the dress of a Buddhist monk, have been developed with the leads available and are being shared with the public for wide publicity and for assistance to the ongoing investigation,” said the NIA, while releasing sketches on its official website today. 
It adds that the video clips have been merged to form one single clip, which is also being shared for wide publicity and assistance.
Initially, the NIA had suspected Maoist involvement in the attack but the latter denied any involvement, saying they had never targeted religious centres in the past and did not believe in doing so.

Gaya, 16 July: Taking strong note of security lapses resulting in serial bomb blasts in Maha Bodhi temple recently, the service of the private security company within the temple premises has been terminated.
Maha Bodhi Temple Management Committee took decision to terminate contract of private security company “Cobra” for lapses that resulted in explosions within the temple on 7 July wounding two monks.
The BTMC took strong exception to the fact that if the blasts took place after 5:30 a.m. on that day then why did the guards of the security company, who are supposed to be on duty from 5 in the morning, not see the bags left near the Maha Bodhi tree and elsewhere on the shrine premises, BTMC member Mr Arvind Kumar asked today. He said the committee served a month’s notice to the company to pack off from the temple.
Cobra had been assigned the job of security within the temple since 2009.     pti

statesman news service
New Delhi, 16 July 
A Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force has been dismissed from service for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 20,000 from officials of a French defence firm at the Aero India show in Bangalore in 2011. Wing Commander A K Thakur was dismissed after a General Court Martial found him guilty of taking bribe from French defence firm Dassault Aviation during the show in February 2011, IAF sources said today. The officer was accused of demanding bribe for allotting a “more advantageous position” for its Rafale aircraft in the “static” aircraft display section at the biennial airshow, sources said. An official of Dassault Aviation, who had filed a complaint against the officer, also appeared before the GCM headed by a Group Captain-rank officer, sources said.
Dassault Aviation&’s Rafale, which has now won the race for IAF&’s multi-bilion dollar combat aircraft deal, was one of the six contenders in the hotly-contested tender when the alleged incident took place.

statesman news service
Dehradun, 16 July
The Kedarnath temple has suffered massive damage in the flash floods of 15 June, stated the survey of the temple area made by the team from Archeological survey of India (ASI).
The ASI has been deputed on this task by the Union Culture Ministry. The four-member team surveyed the Kedarnath temple area and gave its report.
In its report, the team said cracks have been found on the walls of the temple and the stones of archeological importance from the north-eastern part of the temple have come out, while the entire temple area is packed with 4-6 feet high debris.
Damages have also been faced by the eastern and western parts of the temple and cracks have been observed on the walls, said the sources, adding that the main gate and stairs of the temple are also buried in the 4-5 feet debris which came gushing in the flash f
loods on the night of the disaster.
However, a big boulder which came down with the flash floods at the back of the temple
averted further damage to it. This boulder is 30 feet tall and 10 feet in width.
After the disaster in Uttarakhand, the Union culture ministry had constituted a five-member expert committee headed by ADG ASI B R Mani to ascertain the damage to the Kedarnath temple and to conserve and repair it.
The team had arrived to visit the disaster-hit temple area on 29 June but could not reach their destination because of bad weather and returned back
to Delhi empty handed. It arrived again exactly a month after the disaster and inspected the temple area to estimate the damages suffered by it.
However, work on the temple will start only after a final work plan is made by the ASI, though officials say that it is not yet sure whether repair work could be done by the them, after all, or if it would just give expert advice.
In the past, the ASI had also worked on the preservation of the famous Mahabalipuram temple after it was damaged by the tsunami. It is also preserving the Taj Mahal.
However, work on the Kedarnath temple will be the biggest challenge as the temple is situated at a height of over 11,000 feet, hence making it difficult to transport construction material, particularly when all roads leading to it are damaged.

Press Trust of India
Islamabad, 16 July
 The election to choose the next Pakistan President will be held on 6 August, over a month earlier than expected, in a move seen as an attempt to hasten the exit of incumbent Asif Ali Zardari.
The schedule for the presidential election was announced today by the Election Commission.
“The schedule has been approved by Chief Election Commissioner Fakhrudin G Ibrahim in a special meeting,” an Election Commission official, who did not want to be named, said.
Mr Zardari, currently on a private visit to Dubai and London, is set to complete his five-year term on 8 September. He has announced that he will not run for a second term.
The announcement of the date for the presidential poll came as a surprise to observers as the electoral college is currently incomplete. By-elections for 42 vacant seats in the national and provincial assemblies will be held on 22 August. The four Provincial Assemblies and the two Houses of parliament form the electoral college for the presidential poll and voting is held in the Assemblies.
According to the current strength of political parties in the National and Provincial Assemblies, the nominee of the ruling PML-N of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will easily win the election. Khurshid Shah, a senior leader of Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party, criticised the decision to hold the election before the President completes his term. “I don’t know why they are doing it before the completion of the electoral college. The presidential election can be legally held only after 22 August,” Mr Shah told reporters. 
Former Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad too criticised the decision. According to the official schedule, the last day for submitting nomination papers is 24 July. The nominations will be scrutinised on 26 July and the official nominees will be announced on 29 July.  Mr Zardari, 57, replaced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and managed to survive despite strong criticism from the media and Opposition. It is believed that the move to hold the poll on 6 August is part of efforts by Mr Zardari’s opponents to force him to resign as he will be a “lame duck” President after his successor is elected.

Melbourne, 16 July: Cheap at-home DNA tests can predict whether your partner is likely to be a cheating love rat or they are marriage material. Experts say just using a strand of your partner’s hair and one USB-like device that can be plugged into the side of a laptop can find out whether your partner is likely to cheat on you. They said it won’t be too long before it’s on a supermarket shelf near you, The Age reported.
“I think it’s inevitable because it’s going to be really easy to do. It’s quick, cheap and you’ll be able to buy it off the shelf and just do it,” said Prof Michael Gillings from Macquarie University in Australia. The tests using the technology, called nanopore DNA sequencing, can detect whether someone is more likely to commit long-term or to cheat among other things.   PTI

Passengers to face 16 more years of stacking & stress before a runway rival can come up
simon calder

London, 16 July
Airline passengers flying into Heathrow face 16 more years of stacking and stress at the world’s busiest airport before a four-runway rival could relieve the capacity crunch, according to Boris Johnson.
As Friday’s deadline approaches for applications on increasing Britain’s airport capacity, the London Mayor dismissed adding extra runways at Heathrow and Gatwick as “intellectual cul-de-sacs”. He came out firmly in favour of a new airport on the Isle of Grain in north Kent designed by Lord Foster ~ but that would open no earlier than 2029.
Launching Transport for London’s evidence to the Davies commission, which will assess the varying options, Mr Johnson yesterday lambasted politicians for failing to provide more airport capacity earlier. "We’ve been sitting around like puddings for the past 40 years doing nothing," he said. "We have squandered decades and other countries are eating our lunch."
Until a new hub is ready, he said, London’s airport system would struggle on as it is. “There is no quick fix, there is nothing you can do in the short term that addresses the problem.”
He ruled out "mixed mode" at Heathrow, where more capacity is extracted by allowing landings and take-offs on both runways, saying: “The government has tiptoed towards that minefield and has stepped away from it”.
The commission has already attracted a bid from Birmingham International Airport, which is aiming to rival Heathrow in passenger capacity, as revealed earlier this year by The Independent.
TfL has whittled down its 16 options to three, each with four runways. "The Isle of Grain best combines regeneration with connectivity," said Mr Johnson. A rail link would reach central London in less than half an hour. Its other options are a new airport on reclaimed land in the Thames Estuary, nicknamed Boris Island, and massive expansion at Stansted. Whichever is chosen, TfL envisages a sharp increase in destinations served, with more than 100 new international routes ~ including four times as many links to China and Latin America.
Two out of three passengers using a new four-runway airport will be expected to arrive by public transport, compared with just 40 per cent at Heathrow at present. All three options call for the closure of Heathrow, with the site becoming the focus for 1,00,000 new homes in a ‘Royal Borough of Heathrow’.
A Heathrow spokesman said: “It seems extraordinary that any Mayor of London would propose forcibly buying and then closing Heathrow. The mayor’s proposals would leave 1,14,000 people facing redundancy, cost taxpayers more and take longer to deliver than building on the strength we already have at Heathrow.”
 the independent

Asylum-seekers die: Four asylum-seekers died after a people-smuggling ship carrying around 150 passengers capsized off Australia’s remote Christmas Island on Tuesday, triggering a major rescue operation.         AFP
Bahrain arrests 3: Bahraini authorities on Tuesday arrested three “terrorists” who allegedly hurled firebombs at the home of a Shi’ite lawmaker without causing casualties, police said in Dubai.     AFP
Boston bomber: Alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seeking to beef up his legal team by hiring an additional attorney who specialises in death penalty and terrorism cases, it has emerged on Tuesday.               AFP
Drug  leader: Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the notoriously brutal leader of the feared Zetas drug cartel, has been held in the first major blow against an organised crime leader by a Mexican administration.       AP
Antarctica quake : A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake,with an epicentre 10 km deep, struck off the
coast of Antarctica on Tuesday generating large waves but there were no reports of damage or injuries.    AFP
Russian wargames: Russia on Tuesday launched its biggest military maneuvers  to boost the army’s mobility, involving 1,60,000 troops and about 5,000 tanks which was watched by President Vladimir Putin.     AP
Royal Beckham?: Soccer star David Beckham thinks the royal baby should be named after him and is certain the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will make amazing parents to their little one.     pti
McDonald in Vietnam: McDonald&’s will open its first burger restaurant in Vietnam after awarding the franchise to the son-in-law of the nation&’s prime minister.     AP
Marriage markets: China&’s public parks are turning into marriage markets where parents of “left over women” gather during weekends to find suitable grooms for their ageing daughters.     PTI
Self-driven cars soon: The first ever trial of self-driving cars on Britain’s busy roads will take place later this year. The cars will be driving themselves, a back up driver will be seated inside as a safety measure.     afp
Neptune moon: Scientists have discovered a new moon,
estimated to be no more than 12 miles across, orbiting planet Neptune using the Hubble Space Telescope, said US space agency, Nasa.      PTI

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Kolkata, 16 July
Slow progress in pushing through reforms in India may lead to lower economic growth, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). An ADB report released today said that growth in the country is likely to be 5.8 per cent this year, slower than the previously forecast six per cent.
However, ADB has maintained its 6.5 per cent growth forecast for 2014. Elsewhere in South Asia, Sri Lanka continues to grow strongly while other parts of the region will see softer than anticipated growth.
Continued tepid demand from the major industrial economies coupled with slower growth in the People&’s Republic of China are weighing on the outlook for developing Asia, says the ADB report.
The latest Asian Development Outlook Supplement released today trimmed the 2013 growth forecast for the 45 developing member countries of ADB to 6.3 per cent and cut its 2014 forecast to 6.4 per cent. In April, ADB had predicted the region to grow 6.6 per cent this year and 6.7 per cent next year.
“The drop in trade and scaling back of investment are part of a more balanced growth path for China, and the knock-on effect of its slower pace is definitely a concern for the region. But we are also seeing more subdued activity across much of developing Asia,” said ADB chief economist Changyong Rhee.
The People’s Republic of China ~ home to developing Asia&’s largest economy ~ is likely to see its economy expand 7.7 per cent this year and 7.5 per cent in 2014 after a growth of 7.8 per cent in 2012. The report notes that import and export growth has slowed given weak external demand, but notes continuing robust consumer confidence. Slower growth in China has subdued the outlook for the entire East Asia region, as well as, to a lesser extent, for Southeast Asia, where the Philippines and other large Asean countries are otherwise seeing solid growth.
The report has also trimmed forecasts for Central Asia, reflecting the sluggish economic performance of Kazakhstan and Georgia, and for the Pacific where Timor-Leste is seeing a slowdown in government spending.
Inflation pressures, meanwhile, are waning on the back of declining energy and food prices, given slower global demand for fuels and bumper grain harvests.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, 16 July
Bank of America Merill Lynch (BofA-ML) today lowered India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.5 per cent for this fiscal from 5.8 per cent earlier, as the Reserve Bank’s tightening measure is likely to push back lending rate cuts.
“We have cut our financial year 2014 growth forecast to 5.5 per cent from 5.8 per cent earlier as the RBI’s tightening will push back lending rate cuts,” BofA-ML said in a research note today.
The global brokerage firm in March had trimmed the growth forecast to six per cent and in June again it revised the growth estimate to 5.8 per cent.
“We had earlier expected growth to stage a shallow recovery to 5.8 per cent on the back of better rains and lending rate cuts,” BofA-ML said, adding: “We have now removed the 30 bps (0.3 per cent) we had expected from softer rates.”
In a move to stem the continuing fall of rupee, the RBI last night came out with a slew of measures, including hiking the lending rates for banks and sucking up of Rs 12,000 crore.
According to the global brokerage, the steps taken by the RBI yesterday are likely to push back softening of interest rates.
“We expect the RBI to cut rates by 25 bps (0.25 per cent) each in October and January, skipping September,” BofA-ML said.

Leyland loss: Ashok Leyland today posted a net loss of Rs 141.75 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June 2013. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 66.93 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal.     pti
SBI rates: State Bank of India today ruled out increasing its lending rates following the Reserve Bank of India&’s move to hike short-term borrowing costs as part of a slew of steps to support the falling rupee.     pti
JP Morgan fund: JP Morgan Asset Management India today launched JP Morgan US Value Equity Off-shore Fund. With this, it has opened up an opportunity to invest in the world&’s largest stock market.     sns
Jet Airways: Jet Airways will seek its shareholders’ approval to elevate promoter Naresh Goyal’s daughter Namrata and son Nivaan at the company’s annual general meeting slated to take place early next month.     pti
Registered firms: The total number of registered companies in the country has crossed 13 lakh mark, but 1.44 lakh of these firms are "dormant" and have not filed their annual returns for past three years.     pti
Stake purchase: SBI Mutual Fund today acquired 43 lakh shares of air compressor manufacturer Elgi for about Rs 39 crore through open market transactions, as per information available with the stock exchanges.     pti

Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, 16 JULY: Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid felt cheated by the conduct of pacer S Sreesanth and two of his other teammates ~ Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila ~ when the sensational IPL spot-fixing scandal broke out in May.
Dravid, a former Indian captain, has mentioned that he felt cheated by his own teammates in his statement to the Delhi Police, which was recorded last Wednesday at his Bangalore residence under Section 161 of the CrPC.
In a bid to strengthen their case in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, Delhi Police has decided to rope in Dravid as a prosecution witness in the case which involves bookies with alleged underworld connections.
Considering Dravid’s star status and respectable standing, Delhi Police did not summon him to their Delhi office like Raj Kundra but decided to record his statement in Bangalore, police said.
Dravid was asked whether he had any inkling that the three players were under-performing and whether there was any pressure to select them in the final eleven, police said.
“I never had any doubt about these players. I used to select players on a match-to-match basis,” Dravid said in his statement. The officer said that no fingers have been raised against Dravid in this case. They had recorded his statement in order to nail the tainted trio and make a strong charge-sheet.
Special Cell also plan to record the statement of Rajasthan Royals’ coach Paddy Upton, who is in South Africa.
“Upton could also be made a prosecution witness once he returns to India,” the officer said.
Delhi Police arrested Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila in Mumbai during the sixth edition of the IPL on charges of spot-fixing, throwing the cash-rich league into one of its biggest credibility crisis.
Sreesanth and Chandila stayed in jail for about 27 days before being released on bail, while Chandila is still in jail.
Another former Rajasthan Royals player Amit Singh and a few other domestic players were also arrested in connection with the case.
The scandal took another extraordinary turn when Gurunath Meiyappan, the Team Principal of Chennai Superkings and son-in-law of Board President N Srinivasan, was arrested on charges of betting alongwith actor Vindu Dara Singh. Both were later released on bail.

Press Trust of India
CHHAPRA (Bihar), 16 JULY: As many as 11 students died and 48 others fell ill today after consuming mid-day meal served to them at a government primary school in Bihar’s Saran district, police said.
The tragedy took place at the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from here, they said.
The children fell ill soon after eating the meal, which consisted of rice, pulse and soyabean, police said.
They were rushed to Chhapra sadar hospital where 11 of them were declared dead on arrival. The others are undergoing treatment, police said.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a high level inquiry into the incident, sources in the CMO said, adding that a Forensic Science Laboratory team will assist in the probe, which will be conducted jointly by Saran Divisional Commissioner and DIG.
Mr Kumar also announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each to the families of the deceased. Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh is from the Disaster Management Fund and Rs 50,000 from CM’s Relief Fund. Chhapra falls in the Lok Sabha constituency of RJD president Lalu Prasad.

Press Trust of India
JAIPUR, 16 JULY: Asserting that rupee price will be market determined, finance minister P Chidambaram today said last night’s measures by the Reserve Bank have nothing to do with the upcoming monetary policy review and may not impact interest rates of banks.
RBI’s measures, he said, were aimed at checking excessive volatility and speculation in the forex market.
“These measures (RBI decisions) should not be read as prelude to any policy rate changes. This has nothing to do with upcoming policy review of RBI. I don’t expect banks to increase interest rates as a result of yesterday’s measures” Mr Chidambaram said at a press conference here.
RBI last night announced a slew of measures like raising cost of borrowing by banks by 2 per cent to 10.25 per cent and announcing sale of bonds worth Rs 12,000 crore through open market operations to suck liquidity to check rupee slid, which had earlier in the month touched a all low of 61.21 to a dollar.
“Measures are taken to curb excessive speculation and reduce volatility and stabilise the rupee,” Mr Chidambaram added.
The value of rupee, he said, will depend upon “how much foreign exchange we earn and how much foreign exchange we spend”.
  Admitting that there will be some depreciation of rupee in view of high current account deficit and inflation, Mr Chidambaram said the value of domestic currency will be market determined and it will find its price.
“We know that in forex market sometimes there is excessive speculation. Excessive speculation leads to volatility in market. So what any central bank or RBI and government can do or should do is ensure that volatility is reduced and there is not too much speculation in forex market”, the minister said.
Mr Chidambaram was here in the city to address media along with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as head of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on media.
The initiatives announced by the RBI, he elaborated, were “intended to quell excessive speculation in forex market and to reduce volatility in forex market. These measures should not be read as a prelude to any policy rate changes. This has nothing to do with policy rate changes”.
RBI is scheduled to announce first quarter monetary review on 30 July amid demand from industry to cut interest rates to boost sagging growth.
Mr Chidambaram said the measures were taken by the RBI in consultation with the government and “both are on board”.
Ruling out the possibility of ban on import of gold, the minister appealed to the people to reduce consumption of the precious metal which was costing nation USD 50 billion in foreign exchange.
Referring to growth, Mr Chidambaram stressed that the measures taken by the RBI “will in no way affect our commitment to growth. We must increase credit delivery and must stimulate growth”.
In the current fiscal, he said, growth rate would be over 6 per cent, higher than 5 per cent recorded in 2012-13.
“This year, by all estimates, it (growth rate) will be 6 per cent or slightly above. This is not satisfactory level of growth.” he said, attributing the moderate increase in growth to slowdown in advanced economies.

Referring to the Food Security Bill, Mr Chidambaram said it would be the first item on agenda in the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning on 5 August. He said the ambitious scheme would be rolled out in the next six months in all the states.
“Ordinance (on Food Security) will go to Parliament. Parliament will have to approve the law within 6 weeks after the session begins. The session is beginning on 5 August. It will be the first item before the monsoon session,” he said.
Mr Chidambaram expressed confidence that all political parties would vote for the Food Security Bill in Parliament.
Justifying the government’s decision to come out with an Ordinance on the Food Bill, he said, “how long can we wait to make this into a law? "Therefore, after finding that principal opposition party was not able to speak in one voice and was not responding in a manner it should respond, government took the decision to come out with an Ordinance”.
He further said the government would endeavour to get Bills on real estate sector, street vendors and land acquisition passed in the monsoon session.
On Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the minister said by the end of the year all LPG consumers would get the subsidy transferred into their bank accounts.
“LPG, which touches practically every home, is being brought under the DBT. By the end of the year, all LPG consumers will get their subsidy through the DBT”, he said.
The DBT scheme, which currently covers 20 per cent of population in 121 districts, is being rolled out rapidly, the minister added.
Answering questions on fiscal deficit, he said, efforts would be made to contain it to 4.8 per cent of the GDP.
“That is a red line and that would not be breached. Over a couple of years, we will bring it down to below 3 per cent. A fiscal deficit below 3 per cent is entirely tolerable, entirely serviceable and there is no reason for any fear or alarm on that account”, he said.
The fiscal deficit in 2012-13 worked out to be 4.9 per cent, lower than the target of 5.1 per cent envisaged in the budget for the fiscal.
 

Press Trust of India
THANE, 16 JULY: Four persons including three women have been arrested on the charges of abusing a teenage girl and forcing her to abort, as informed by the police.
According to API Walmik Patil of Palghar police station, Sandeep Balwant, 36, a resident of Jiwdani Nagar of Palghar East was in a illicit relationship with the girl from the same locality following she became pregnant.
Mr Balwant then threatened the girl into silence and forcibly took her to Vaishali Nursing Home and got their child aborted, the complaint by the victim’s mother said.
The complaint said that at the time of abortion in the hospital, besides the arrested accused, his two wives, sister in law and one more person was present in the hospital.
Based on the complaint, Mr Balwant, his two wives Mrs Shama and Mrs Manisha and sister-in-law Mrs Salma in connection with the offence, police said.
Mr Patil said the arrested have been charged under sections 376, 317 and 318 of the IPC besides section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act 2012. All the arrested were produced before the local magistrate who remanded them in police custody up to 20 July.
 
 

Associated Press
HANOI, 16 JULY: State media say a Vietnamese court has sentenced five people to death for dealing heroin, lengthening the country’s list of condemned criminals even as it struggles to obtain the chemicals needed to execute them.
Vietnam has not executed anyone since 2011, when it decided to switch from firing squads to lethal injection on humanitarian grounds.
But it has been unable to get the chemicals needed because of an EU ban on its factories exporting drugs used in lethal injections.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency said today that three men and two women were convicted Monday in northern province of Bac Giang for dealing in 78 kilograms of heroin.
Four other people were convicted of the same charges last week, and there are currently more than 500 people on death row.