India's 1st solar water project in Nagaland

Nagaland minister for public health engineering department Noke Wangnao inaugurated an innovative water technology project — solar-powered water treatment unit — at Tsiesema village near Kohima on 27th June. Nagaland is the first state in the country to set up the unique technology.

Three similar projects had been installed in three most villages most hit by water scarcity in Kohima district - Tsiesema, Meriema and Kijumetouma. At a time when the state badly needed a solution to the water scarcity problem of the villages, a Mumbai-based company developed a suitable technology which could readily solve the water problem and produce good quality water, the minister added.

A brief technical project report by Er Kevisekho Kruse, Nagaland's chief PHED engineer, added that the Additya Solar-operated Advanced Membrane Filtration system was designed to produce pure drinking water. The system removes up to 99.99 % bacteria from water selectively without hampering other elements and taste. It is a fully automated, solar-operated water treatment unit with very low power consumption and operating costs. The capacity of the system is 6000l per day.

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New gecko species founded in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra

A new species of lizard has been discovered in the northwestern ghats of Maharashtra by four researchers from Bangalore’s National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Centre for Ecological Studies (CES).

The species has been named Cnemaspis Girii, after Dr. Varad Giri of the Bombay Natural History Society. The research paper on the subject was published in the prestigious journal Zootaxa this month.

The gecko from the genus Cnemaspis, or dwarf geckos, was discovered in the unexplored forests of the Kaas plateau in Satara district.

It was first sighted by Harshad Bhosle and Zeeshan Mirza in 2010. It was found on the rocks and pebbles near the water streams in those forests.

There are around 17 Cnemaspis species found in Maharashtra. Geckos of this genus have a unique rounded pupil, unlike the cat-like eyes of other geckos.

Dr. Giri already has a snake species named after him in 2012 — Dendrelathis Girii — which he discovered in the Western Ghats.

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West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan resigned

West Bengal governor M K Narayanan on 30th June resigned, becoming the fourth person occupying the gubernatorial post to put in his papers since the NDA government prodded some of the governors appointed during UPA rule to quit. His resignation comes at a time when the 1955 batch IPS officer (retired) is facing a CBI inquiry into the purchase of VVIP helicopter from AgustaWestland.

Mayankote Kelath (M K) Narayanan took over as the Governor of Bengal on 24 January 2010 and his term would have ended on 23 January, 2015, if he would not have resigned. But only a week after CBI interrogated the Governor in AgustaWestland helicopter purchase case, he decided to submit his papers to the country's President.

The 80-year-old officer was the Director of Intelligence Branch (IB) and used to share a cordial relation with Bengal government. Nagaland governor Ashwani Kumar, Uttar Pradesh governor B L Joshi and Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt have put in their papers in the last few days. 

All the four governors who have resigned so far are either former IPS or IAS officers. Joshi and Kumar are former IPS officers while Dutt is a former IAS officer. 

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Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's sarod has gone missing on British Airways flight

Indian classical musician Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's sarod, which he has been playing for the last 45 years, has gone missing while he was returning to Delhi from London by a British Airways flight.

The Padma Vibhushan sarod maestro had gone to London along with his wife Subhalaxmi for a performance at Dartington College to celebrate the life of Rabindranth Tagore on June 21 and returned on the night of June 28.

He and his wife were travelling first class on British Airways flight (BA-143) on their return journey from London.

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India, China signed three important pacts

India and China on 30th June signed three key MoUs, including one on industrial parks and flood data of Brahmaputra river, coinciding with the visit of Vice-President Hamid Ansari here.

The agreements were signed in the presence of Ansari and his Chinese counterpart Li Yuanchao after their talks.

The MoU on industrial parks is aimed at attracting Chinese investments in India and provides an enabling framework for Chinese companies to invest in industrial parks and zones.

Under the MoU, the two countries have agreed to cooperate to increase mutual investment in each other's economies and this cooperation will be in accordance with the relevant domestic laws and regulations of each party and on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

An Industrial Park Cooperation Working Group made up of equal number of representatives from both the countries will be set up to identify and agree upon the detailed modalities for implementing cooperation under this agreement and will periodically review the progress, an official statement said.

The MoU on flood data sharing will provide India with 15 days more of hydrological data of river Brahmaputra. The data helps India in flood forecasting.

India provides money for maintenance of three hydrological centres on the Chinese side. The data will be provided from May 15 to October 15 each year.

The third MoU will help the two countries establish a framework for regular interactions between administrative officials to share experiences and learn from each other's best practices. Specific programmes of cooperation will be worked out subsequently.

The MoU will ensure cooperation between Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong, Shanghai.

The MOU envisages exchange of officials, cooperation in developing training programmes, field visits to each other's countries.

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Beijing to set up Chinese industrial parks in India

India and China on 30th June signed a key agreement to set up Chinese industrial parks in India as their commerce ministers held the first meeting here after the new NDA government came to power.

On her first visit to China, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman held talks with her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng here during which she flagged India's concerns over the trade deficit which averaged over $35 billion a year and sought greater access to Indian goods and services.

The two sides later signed the MoU on Cooperation on Industrial Parks India to facilitate more Chinese investment in India to compensate the ballooning trade deficit, which now average around $35 billion a year. The bilateral trade totalled to $65.47 billion last year.

Ahead of her meeting with Gao, Sitharaman, who is part of the delegation of Vice-President Hamid Ansari, told the media here on Sunday that she will make a strong pitch for greater access for Indian goods and services into China and seek big ticket investments into the Chinese industrial parks.

India is expecting China to set up four industrial parks in different states.

According to Chinese officials, its current investments in India stands at $1.1 billion, mostly in Gujarat.

India is asking China to open its market for Indian IT and pharmaceuticals besides step up investments to compensate the trade deficit.

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PM Modi asked Indian space scientists to develop Saarc satellite

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30th June asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop a satellite which will serve all the Saarc nations.

Addressing Indian space scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota after the successful launch of PSLV C23 rocket, the Prime Minister said the fruits of India's space missions should reach other developing nations, especially India's neighbours.

Minutes earlier, PSLV C23 had injected five foreign satellites into the specified orbits. The rocket lifted off at 9.52am and completed all four phases with textbook precision. Modi went around congratulating the scientists after promising bigger thrust on space science. The Prime Minister sought to dispel the notion that space science is for the elite. 

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ISRO PSLV-C23 launched Successfully from Sriharikota

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C23) successfully put on 30th June five satellites from abroad into their perfect orbits. This was the 27th PSLV launch and of these 27 lift-offs, 26 have been successful in a row, demonstrating what a reliable and robust launch vehicle the PSLV is.

It was a dedicated commercial launch in which the PSLV put into orbit SPOT satellite from France, AISAT from Germany, NLS7.1 and NLS7.2, both from Canada, and VELOX-1 from Singapore. Antrix, the commercial wing of the Department of Space, will be charging a fee for putting each of these satellites into orbit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the launch from the Mission Control Centre (MCC) at the spaceport at Sriharikota.

About ISRO PSLV-C23 :

1. The PSLV-C23 carried a 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7 as its main payload while a 14 kg satellite called AISAT of Germany, two 15 kg satellites from Canada CAN-X4 and CAN-X5  and seven kg Singapore satellite called VELOX-1 as piggy back payload on the flight.

2. The five satellites were launched under commercial arrangements that ANTRIX (ISRO’s commercial arm) entered with foreign agencies.

3. The commercial launch comes nearly 16 months after ISRO launched six small foreign satellites on board the PSLV C-20 in February 2013.

4. ISRO has so far put 35 foreign satellites in space on the PSLV on the basis of commercial agreements with other countries.

5. The space agency is banking on the realization of its GSLV heavy lift rocket program over the next couple of years to get into the big league of launching heavy communication satellites weighing more than 2000 kg.

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Acer appointed co-founder George Huang as new chairman

Taiwan's Acer on Wednesday said it has appointed co-founder and board member George Huang as new chairman, tasked with overseeing the recovery of the PC maker's near-dominant position in a shrinking industry.

Huang, an Acer veteran who has served in various roles, was in November appointed executive secretary of the "transformation committee" whose remit was to reverse persistent losses brought about by smartphones and tablets taking demand away from PCs.

Acer, the world's No.4 PC maker by shipments, has since launched an aggressive push into cloud computing to reverse its fortunes, though the strategy puts it up against leaders Amazon.com and Google.

Acer announced Huang's appointment after the PC maker's annual general meeting (AGM) on 25th June. He will succeed co-founder Stan Shih who came out of retirement in November to lead a restructuring effort that welcomed a new chief executive and chief financial officer.

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Dravid named India consultant on England tour

With 1376 runs at an average of 68.80, it is safe to say that Rahul Dravid enjoyed batting in England. He has hit six centuries in England and he rounded off his last tour with three centuries in four Tests. Taking into account Dravid's success in England, the Indian team management has asked Dravid to join as a consultant. He will play a mentoring role in the run-up to the series as India prepare to take on England for the first Test starting on July 09.

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Saina Nehwal won Australian Open Super Series title

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal produced a dominating performance to lift her second title of the season, winning the $750,000 Star Australian Super Series after beating Spain's Carolina Marin in the summit clash on 29th June.

The sixth seeded Indian, who had won the India Open Grand Prix Gold earlier this year, prevailed 21-18, 21-11 in a 43-minute contest which left her richer by $56,000.

The 24-year-old Saina, who enjoyed a 1-0 head-to-head record against Marin going into Sunday's match, logged the first point and displayed some deft net play against her rival, stroking in some delectably timed volleys to take a 5-2 lead in the opening game.

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CBI questioned West Bengal governor M K Narayanan as witness in VVIP chopper deal

CBI on 27th June questioned West Bengal governor M K Narayanan as a "witness" in connection with its probe into allegations of bribery in the Rs 3600-crore VVIP chopper deal with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland. 

80-year-old Narayanan was asked to appear before CBI officers to record his statement in connection with the deal as he was part of the group which had gone into the tendering procedures before purchase of the helicopters.

Narayanan was the National Security Adviser in 2005 when Indian officials decided to amend technical specifications for the 12 helicopters the UPA government wanted to buy for use by the Prime Minister and President among others VVIPS.

CBI is also expected to record the statement of Wanchoo and he has been asked to appear before the agency. He was the chief of elite Special Protection Group (SPG) guarding the Prime Minister before he was appointed as governor. 

CBI had sought permission to record their statements as part of its probe into alleged Rs 360-crore bribe paid in the deal that was scrapped by the government in December last year. 



CBI had registered a case against former IAF chief S P Tyagi along with 13 others including his cousins and European middlemen in the case of alleged bribery.

The allegation against the former Air chief was that he had reduced the height of the VVIP helicopters so that AgustaWestland is included in the bids.

About the Agusta Westland Chopper deal:

India signed a contract to purchase 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters in February 2010 for the Communication Squadron of Indian Air Force, to carry the president, PM and other VVIPs. Controversy over the contract came to light on 12 February 2013, with the arrest of Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland's parent company by Italian authorities; the following day Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered a probe into the contract.

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Indian-origin judge V K Rajah appointed as 8th Attorney-General of Singapore

Indian-origin judge V K Rajah on 25 June 2014 was appointed as 8th Attorney-General of Singapore. President of Singapore Tony Tan Keng Yam presided at the swearing-in of Justice V K Rajah.

He will succeed Steven Chong. Steven Chong will return to the Supreme Court.

VK Rajah was also appointed as a member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights for a three-year term. 17-member council reports on matters, including Bills or other legislation.

About Justice V K Rajah

Justice Rajah is graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1982, and worked for law firm Rajah & Tann.
 In 1997, he was appointed a Senior Counsel and in 2007, he was appointed a Judge of Appeal.

He has been the Chairman of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education as well as the Board of Judicial Learning since 2010.

In 2012, he chaired the Fourth Committee on the Supply of Lawyers.

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A.K. Dubey appointed as Chairman of Coal India Limited

Additional secretary A.K. Dubey on 25 June 2014 was appointed as Chairman of Coal India Limited with immediate effect. He will serve his post as an additional charge till a full-time chairman is appointed. 

He will serve as the Chairman for a period of three months until the new chairman of the state-owned company is duly appointed.

The post of Chairman was lying vacant since May-end 2014 when the then Chairman of CIL S Narsingh Rao resigned from the post.
 
About Coal India Limited

Coal India Limited is an Indian state-controlled coal mining company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is a Navratna company and is the largest coal producer company in the world and contributes around 81% of the coal production in India.

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Government granted Navratna status to EIL and NBCC

The Union Government has granted Navratna status to Engineer India Ltd. (EIL)and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) on 24th June.

Department of Public Enterprises under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises granted the navratna status to enhance the greater financial and operational autonomy.

The Navratna status to two Central Public Sector (CPSEs) will provide the companies greater leeway in deciding on business propositions such as forming joint ventures or taking call on projects involving major investments.

About Engineers India Ltd 
EIL has emerged as one of India's leading companies in the engineering consultancy.EPC sector with a diverse portfolio of projects in oil and gas, petrochemicals, mining and metallurgy, fertiliser, power and infrastructure sectors.

About National Buildings Construction Corporation
NBCC provides civil engineering construction services in wide gamut of projects of varied nature, complexities & at socio-political geographical locations, both at home & overseas. NBCC has been operating in infrastructure segment as well, wherein it has been executing projects such as chimneys, cooling towers, and various types of power plant works.

Criteria for Navratna status
The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) fulfilling the following criteria are eligible to be considered for grant of Navratna status:

• Having Schedule A and Miniratna Category-1 status.
• Having at least three Excellent or Very Good Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ratings during the last five years.
• Having a composite score of 60 or above out of 100 marks based on its performance during the last three years on the following six identified efficiency parameters such as Net Profit to Net Worth, Manpower cost to cost of production or services, Gross margin as capital employed, Gross profit as Turnover, Earnings per Share and Inter-Sectoral comparison based on Net profit to net worth.

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Kerala to be host 35th National Games from January 31

The 35th National Games to be hosted by Kerala will be held from January 31 to February 14 next year.

Making the formal announcement in this regard at a function arranged at the Members’ Lounge of the Kerala Legislative Assembly complex here on 26th June, the Indian Olympic Association president, N. Ramachandran expressed hope that the 15-day event, to be attended by a total of 11,641 participants, including 7,744 athletes and to be held across seven districts across the State, would provide a great impetus for Indian sport in the years to come.

Inaugurating the countdown clock to 218 days, the Union Minister of Sports, Sarbanand Sonowal, hailed the contribution of Kerala athletes both at the National and international level over the years and expressed the hope that Kerala would put in place a proper legacy plan for the optimal utilisation of the state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities being created for the Games.

The IOA secretary general, Rajeev Mehta, unveiled the various manifestations of the Games mascot, ‘Ammu’, at the meeting. The 15-day event will see competitions for a total of 365 gold medals, an equal number of silver medals and 477 bronze medals.

This is for second time Kerala will hosting the games. for the first time Kerala conducted 27th National Games in 1987. 34th National Game was held in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is Goodwill ambassador of 35th National Game.

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Delhi University roll back four-year undergraduate programme

Under pressure from UGC to act on its directive, the Delhi University today scrapped its controversial four-year undergraduate programme and reverted to the previous three-year structure.

In a statement, DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh asked principals of various colleges affiliated to the varsity to start admissions for the new session.

"In line with the directive of the UGC, the University has decided to roll back the FYUP. Consequently, the admission process shall be conducted under the scheme of courses that were in force in the academic session 2012-13 in all the colleges of the University of Delhi," Singh said.

The decision puts an end to the uncertainty over the admission process for 2014-15 which was triggered due to the stand-off between DU and UGC over FYUP.

Over 2.7 lakh students have applied for admission to more than 54,000 seats in 64 colleges of the varsity.

The admissions were to begin on June 24 but have been delayed due to the stalemate.

Singh said DU recognises the need of the hour and it is of "paramount importance" to protect the interests of the students by ensuring the start of the admission process.

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14 killed, 15 injured in GAIL pipeline blast in Andhra Pradesh

In a major blast in a gas pipeline 14 people were burned alive and 15 others received severe burns at Nagaram village of Mamidikuduru mandal of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh on 27th June.

Villagers woke up to deafening noise and huge flames after the pipeline belonging to Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) suddenly caught fire near an ONGC connecting station. Villagers allege negligence on the part of officials as the pipeline developed rust and authorities failed to replace it.

A pall of gloom descended on Mamidikuduru mandal with people running in panic and wailing for help as huge flames engulfed an entire village trapping about 30 people, and burning hundreds of tall coconut trees and reducing about 50 houses and shops to ashes. Many birds and domestic animals were feared burnt in the mishap as flames rose to as high as 250 metres.

Andhra Pradesh's chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu ordered an inquiry to ascertain the reasons for the gas pipeline blast in the Nagaram region of the state's Guntur district. He expressed shock over the loss of lives in the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also extended his condolences to the bereaved families of the victims and to the families of the injured survivors.

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Luis Suarez banned for nine matches, four months over biting

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was banned for nine matches by Fifa on 26th June after being found guilty of biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez was also suspended from any football-related activity for four months and fined 100,000 Swiss francs ($111,000).

The incident occurred 10 minutes before the end of Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy in their final Group D match in Natal on 24th June. 

The 27-year-old, voted England's Footballer of the Year after scoring 31 Premier League goals for Liverpool last season, has now been involved in three incidents of biting opponents, the other two during league matches in the Netherlands and England. 

Suarez was also banned for one match at the last World Cup in South Africa for a deliberate handball that cost Ghana a match-winning goal in a quarterfinal. 

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Delhi court issued summons Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case

A Delhi court on 26th June has summoned Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders as accused in National Herald newspaper case filed on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating.

Other senior leaders summoned include Motilal Vohra, Oscar Fernandes and Sam Pitroda. They have been asked to be present in the court on 7 August.

The petition in the National Herald case was filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

The National Herald newspaper was established in 1938 by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was shut down in 2008.

Subramanian has accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi of criminal breach of trust, appropriating land belonging to the National Herald case.

Swamy earlier accused the Gandhis of diverting Congress party's funds to the family-controlled enterprise, and of letting out a part of Herald House to the passport division in blatant violation of the lease condition stipulating that the premises could be used only for publishing a newspaper. 

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N Srinivasan became ICC chairman

 N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, has been confirmed as chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the 52-member Full Council approved amendments to the ICC's Memorandum and Articles of Association at the Annual Conference in Melbourne.

Srinivasan, 69, was nominated by the BCCI for cricket's top position and will assume charge following the conclusion of the ICC Annual Conference this week. The approval of the constitutional changes, which flowed from an ICC board resolution taken in Singapore on February 8 and finalised on April 10, also means that a new Executive Committee was formed, which will report to the ICC board.

The initial Chair of the Executive Committee will be Cricket Australia's Chairman, Wally Edwards, while the chair of the ICC's Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) will continue to be England and Wales Cricket Board's chairman, Giles Clarke.

From 2016, the ICC board, which will continue to be the primary decision-making body, will elect the ICC chairman for a two-year term.

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At least 4 killed as Rajdhani Express derailed in Bihar

At least four passengers were killed and eight injured when the Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express derailed at Golden Ganj station near Chapra on 25th June .

Twelve coaches were derailed in the incident at around 0200 hours.

Five coaches — B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4 and pantry car — overturned in the derailment while seven other coaches — B-5 to B-10 and power car — got derailed at the station.

Following is the chronology of 27 major train accidents since 2000:

June 5, 2014: Shunting locomotive derailed at Tiruchi. Chennai-bound Rockfort Express delayed.

June 4, 2014: Yeswantpur-Howrah express derails in Kuppam, AP.

May 27, 2014: Delhi Gorakhpur Gorakhdam Express derailed at Sant Kabir Nagar, UP. Death toll stood at over 40.

May,4, 2014: Diva-Savantwadi road passenger derails in Raigad district in Maharashtra. 22 dead, over 145 injured in the mishap.

April 14, 2014: Goods train derails at Ukshi, Maharashtra. Konkan Railway route trains affected.

November, 2013: Ernakulam bound Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Mangala Lakshadweep derailed at Ghoti. 4 dead, 23 injured in the incident.

July 19, 2010: Speeding Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express rammed into the Vanachal Express at Sainthia station in Bhirbhum district killing over 60 people.

May 28, 2010: Gnaneshwari Express derailed by Naxals killing at least 148 people.

January 16, 2010: Three people died and around a dozen were injured when two express trains — Kalindi Express and Shram Shakti Express — collided in thick fog in Uttar Pradesh.

January 16, 2010: Three people died and around a dozen were injured when two express trains — Kalindi Express and Shram Shakti Express — collided in thick fog in Uttar Pradesh.

October 21, 2009: Twenty-two people were killed and 26 injured when the Goa Express rammed the Mewar Express at Banjana on the Mathura-Vrindavan section of the Northern Railway in Uttar Pradesh.

November 14, 2009: The Delhi-bound Mandore Express derailed with some portion of the track piercing its AC compartment, leaving seven passengers dead and over 60 injured in in Bassi town near Jaipur.

November 9, 2006: About 40 died and 15 injured in a West Bengal rail accident.

December 1, 2006: A portion of 150-year-old bridge being dismantled collapsed over a passing train in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, killing 35 and injuring 17.

August 18, 2006: Two carriages caught fire on Chennai-Hyderabad Express near Secundrabad railway station.

December 15, 2004: 34 persons, including 11 women, died and about 50 injured when Ahmedabad-bound Jammu Tawi Express collided head-on with a local train about 40 km from Jalandhar in Punjab.

February 27, 2004: 30 people killed when Guwahati-bound Kanchenjunga Express rammed into a truck at an unmanned level-crossing in West Bengal’s Dinajpur district.

July 2, 2003: A train engine and two adjoining coaches fell off a bridge in Warangal, killing 18 people.

June 22, 2003: 53 were killed and 25 injured when Karwar-Mumbai Central Holiday Special train derailed after crossing Vaibhavwadi Station in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra.

June 22, 2003: 53 were killed and 25 injured when Karwar-Mumbai Central Holiday Special train derailed after crossing Vaibhavwadi Station in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra.

Sept 10, 2002: One hundred and twenty are killed when the Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed over a bridge in Bihar.

September 9, 2002: 100 passengers were killed and 150 hurt when a bogie of Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express plunged into Dhave river in Bihar’s Aurangabad district.

June 4, 2002: Thirty-four killed when the Kasgunj Express rams into a bus at a rail crossing.

March 23, 2002: Seven injured when 13 bogies of Lokmanya Tilak Superfast Express from Patna to Mumbai derailed near Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh.

May 12, 2002: Twelve killed when the New Delhi-Patna Shramjeevi Express derails in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

January 5, 2002: 21 killed and 41 injured when Secundarabad-Manmad express train rammed into a stationary goods train at Ghatnandur station in Maharashtra.

Dec 3, 2000: Forty-six killed and over 130 injured as the Howrah-Amritsar Mail rams into a derailed goods train between Sarai Banjara and Sadhugarh in Punjab.

June 22, 2001: Forty people killed when the Mangalore-Chennai Mail fell into Kadalundi river near Kozhikode in Kerala.

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Import ban on milk items from China extended till June 2015

The government has again extended the ban on imports of milk and its products from China for one more year till June 2015.

The ban, which expired on June 23, is extended every year.

India had first imposed the ban in September 2008 due to presence of melamine, used for making plastics and fertiliser.

India, however, does not import milk products from China, but as a preventive measure, it has imposed the ban.

The country’s milk production is estimated to have increased by 6 per cent to about 140 million tonnes in 2013-14 from 132.4 million tonnes during the previous fiscal. India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk.

Among states, Uttar Pradesh continued to remain the leading milk producer, followed by Rajasthan and Gujarat, whereas, the per capita demand was maximum in Punjab followed by Haryana in 2013-14.

Recently, all major milk producers including Mother Dairy and Amul had raised milk prices by Rs. 2 per litre across all variants due to increase in procurement costs.

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HSBC sold USD 12.5-bn worth Swiss assets to LGT Bank

In a multi-billion dollar deal that could have bearing on India's fight against black money, global giant HSBC sold its Swiss private banking assets worth USD 12.5 billion to Liechtenstein's LGT Bank on 24th June.

India is probing cases of alleged black money stashed by Indians abroad through these two banks -- HSBC Geneva in Switzerland and LGT Bank.

However, lists of Indian account holders in both places were received by India through indirect channels -- HSBC list came from France and LGT list from Germany. Swiss authorities have been refusing to provide any assistance or share further information in these cases.

Switzerland says that it cannot provide any help to Indian authorities as their requests are based on 'stolen data' as Germany and France got the secret lists of account holders after certain bank employees had stolen the data.

The lists were later shared by Germany and France with India and other nations whose citizens figured on those lists.

The announcement of HSBC-LGT deal comes at a time when there is a renewed debate on Indian government's attempts to trace alleged black money stashed by Indians abroad.

UK-based HSBC Holdings Plc said in statement its wholly-owned subsidiary HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA has entered into an agreement to sell a portfolio of its private banking assets in Switzerland (with assets under management of USD 12.5 billion as at December 31, 2013) to LGT Bank (Switzerland) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of LGT Group Foundation of Liechtenstein.

The so-called HSBC list reportedly contains names of about 700 Indians, but the details about their accounts have not been forthcoming despite repeated requests from India to Swiss authorities.

The list of about 3,000 secret bank account holders was stolen by a French employee of HSBC Geneva in 2008-09 and later found its way to the government in France. Later in 2011, French government shared the names with other countries, including about 700 names with India.

The LGT list was received by India in 2008 from German government. Later in 2010, the Income Tax department also slapped penalties on some persons figuring in this list, while names from this list were also submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this year.

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Andhra court issued arrest warrant against Dhoni

A local court in Anantapur issued the arrest warrant as Dhoni did not appear in the court despite three summons served in the past. It directed police to present Dhoni in the court July 16.

The case relates to a picture on the cover of a magazine.

Business Today in its April 2013 edition had carried the picture. Dhoni was portrayed as Hindu god Vishnu with a sub title "God of Big Deals" and holding products of several companies including a shoe in his hand.

Y. Shyam Sunder, a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), had filed a petition in the court in February this year alleging that the cricketer hurt the sentiments of Hindus by denigrating a Hindu god.

The summons issued by the court to Dhoni on three occasions were returned. The court, which took up the hearing Tuesday, issued the arrest warrant.

Similar petitions against Dhoni were filed in Delhi, Pune and other cities

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SSC CGL 2013 Re-exam on 20th July

Staff Selection Commission (SSC) will conduct combined graduate level 2013 re-exam on 20th July, 2014.The candidates who have appeared in exam conducted on 21st April and 19th May, 2013 will be allowed to appear in re-examination on 20th July, 2014 except for those who have already appeared in the re-exam at seven exam centres which was held on 27th April, 2014.

Click here for link

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New evidence showed particle found in 2012 is the Higgs boson

In a breakthrough, researchers at CERN have found the first evidence for the direct decay of the Higgs boson into fermions — a strong indication that the particle discovered in 2012 is the Higgs boson.

The findings confirm that the bosons decay to fermions — a group of particles that includes all leptons and quarks — as predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.

In July 2012 researchers from the ATLAS and Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), said they had observed a new particle in the mass region of 125 to 126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

Preliminary studies showed the new particle’s properties were consistent with those predicted for the Higgs boson by the Standard Model, but much more work was needed to confirm.

Researchers wanted to clarify whether there was a single Higgs or many different Higgs particles, as predicted by various extensions of the Standard Model, Klute said.

Previous analysis of the data produced by experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, in Switzerland, has shown that like the Higgs boson of the Standard Model, the new particles have no spin, and rapidly decay by splitting into pairs of photons, W bosons, or Z bosons. But it remained uncertain whether they could also decay to fermion pairs, Klute said.

Now the team from the CMS Collaboration has demonstrated that the bosons also decay to fermions in a way that is consistent with the Standard Model Higgs.

To determine whether the particles could decay to fermions, the researchers fired protons at each other in a 6—metre—diameter solenoid and used specialised detectors to determine which particles were produced in the resulting collisions.

The researchers were hunting for particles called tau leptons, which have a mass of around 1.7 GeV, making them around 3,500 times heavier than their little sibling, the electron.

They were able to confirm the presence of decay to tau leptons with a confidence level of 3.8 standard deviations — a one in 10,000 chance that the signal they saw would have appeared if there were no Higgs particles.

The study was published in the journal Nature Physics.

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Large Hadron Collider geared up for second run

The world’s largest atom smasher is gearing up for its second three-year run after 16 months of maintenance and upgrades.

The Large Hadron Collider, which was used to discover a long-theorised subatomic particle, is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around a 27 km tunnel on the Swiss-French border near Geneva. The world’s top particle physics lab, known by its French acronym CERN, said on 24th June that the $10 billion collider is being improved and is on track to resume early next year at double its former energy level.

Once it restarts, two beams will be fired again within the collider at the same time in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the Big Bang, which scientists theorise was the massive explosion that created the universe. The next CERN experiments could reveal more about “dark matter,” antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time.

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Himachal park is included in Unesco World Heritage Site

The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh was accorded the Unesco World Heritage Site status on 24th June.

The Unesco World Heritage Site Committee at Doha in Qatar granted the status to the park under the criteria of “exceptional natural beauty and conservation of biological diversity.”

The GHNP has now come in the league of Indian World Heritage Sites (WHS) such as the Taj Mahal, Ellora, Kaziranga National Park, Keoladeo National Park, Manas National Park, Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve and the Sunderbans.

Boost for ecotourism

This would help in boosting ecotourism in the hill State. What is noteworthy is that there would be no dislocation of villages or families living in the core park area and their rights had been recognised and would stay protected.

The GHNP was declared a National Park under the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972, by the Himachal Pradesh government in 1999. A total of 832 plant species, representing 128 families and 427 genera, which cover 26 per cent of the total flora of Himachal Pradesh, have been recorded in the GHNP.

It is also home to a number of threatened species, providing them with habitats critical to their survival. It supports self-sustaining populations of near-threatened, vulnerable and endangered species like leopard, Himalayan Black Bear, Royle’s Vole, Himalayan tahr, Himalayan serow, Himalayan goral, Himalayan musk deer, western tragopan and cheer pheasant. The endangered snow leopard and the critically endangered Red-headed vulture are also present.

 The park has been inscribed under category 10 of the World Heritage Convention that covers areas that “contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.” The inscription comes as recognition to the efforts at conserving and managing the unique natural heritage of the country. 

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