Sensex recovers 81 points in morning trade

The 30-share barometer, which had lost 98.15 points in the previous session, recovered 81.43 points, or 0.30 percent, to 26,834.33 with the sectoral indices led by capital goods, banking, healthcare and realty were trading in positive zone with gains up to 0.52 percent.

Also, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty, regained the 8,000-mark by rising 20.60 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 8,012.30.

Brokers said sentiments turned better as funds and retail investors made fresh buying, tracking a mixed trend on other Asian markets ahead of US Federal Reserve's monetary policy meet.

Besides, expectations of encouraging earnings from more companies also supported the recovery, they said.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.20 percent, while Japan's Nikkei was trading 0.17 percent down in morning trade.

US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.07 percent up in Tuesday's trade.

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Tatas leave Singur behind, assure Mamata of project expansion

Asked about the 'bitter experience' of shifting of the Tata Nano car plant from Singur in 2008, Rana Sinha, one of the executives, said, "Forget the issue of the past and target the future."

In September 2008 during the previous Left Front regime, the Tatas left Singur in West Bengal and set up Tata Nano car plant at Sanand in Gujarat following an agitation by the then opposition Trinamool Congress' leader Mamata Banerjee over 'forceful' acquisition of land in the area. A case regarding this is now pending in the Supreme Court.

Singur issue was not in the agenda of the meeting, Tata Steel Processing and Distribution Ltd MD Sandipan Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty said Banerjee asked them if they were facing any problem and how the state government could assist them to overcome them.

"Such an interaction with the CM is unprecedented. The meeting was positive, optimistic and fruitful," Chakraborty, former MD of Tata Ryerson, said.

After the 90-minute long meeting, state Finance and Industry Minister Amit Mitra told reporters that Tata Group was keen on expanding many of their existing projects in the state creating more employment opportunities.

Five companies of the Tata Group have told the chief minister about their plan to invest and expand in existing projects, said Mitra who was also present at the meeting.

The Tata Group have offered employment to nearly 30,000 people in the state under various projects and they would offer more employment in near future, Mitra added.

Tatas were represented in the meeting by executives of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery, Tata Metaliks, metaljunction and TM International Logistics (TMILL).

Though no Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) executive was present at the meeting, Mitra said TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran wrote to him about its expansion plan.

Under TCS' new project at the 40 acres of land given at Rajarhat New Town, the company would create an employment opportunity for 20,000 people, Mitra said.

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Softbank Group to invest USD 627 million in Snapdeal

This is the largest investment made by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India. Other existing investors have also participated in this round of investment but the company declined to disclose the amount.

Snapdeal will use the investments in expanding its chain of fulfilment centres and make acquisitions in the coming few months specifically in the area of mobile technology.

With mobile commerce fast gaining pace in the country, the city-based firm also plans to set up an incubation centre to hone and harness start-up businesses in the mobile technology space within next 6 months.

Through this strategic investment and partnership with Snapdeal, the SoftBank Group aims to further strengthen its presence in India and leverage synergies with its network of Internet companies around the world, Snapdeal said in a statement.

Snapdeal has raised close to USD 1 billion during this calendar year. Founded in 2010, Snapdeal has more than 25 million registered users and more than 50,000 business sellers.

"We believe India is at a turning point in its development and have confidence that India will grow strongly over the next decade. As part of this belief, we intend to deploy significant capital in India over the next few years to support development of the market," SoftBank Corp Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said.

SoftBank has pledged an investment of USD 10 billion (over Rs 60,000 crore) in India's IT and communications space, one of the biggest investment commitments from a Japanese firm after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to that country.

"India has the third-largest Internet user base in the world, but a relatively small online market currently. This situation means India has, with better, faster and cheaper Internet access, a big growth potential," SoftBank Corp Vice Chairman and CEO of SIMI Nikesh Arora said.

Arora will join the board of Snapdeal as part of the strategic investment.

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Switzerland acts iffy about India making Swiss bank a/c information public

However, the Swiss Foreign Ministry official hoped that with the advent of the new government in India, which has made taking action against black money a priority, the differences would be resolved much quickly.

Valentin Zellweger, Director and Legal Adviser, Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, at the same time asserted that there is no banking secrecy in case of illegal acts.

"There's no banking secrecy if we talk about illegal acts. So if we get a request from a prosecutor in another country, there's no banking secrecy. We have very stringent know your customer rules. So we are quick in being able to give the information," he said.

Responding to a question on the first list of names, allegedly having accounts in Swiss banks on unaccounted wealth, Zellweger said the talks with the Indian Government so far has been on tax evasion and not any other illegal acts.

"We have had long discussions with the Indian government. But that is for tax evasion. Tax evasion used not to be a criminal offense under Swiss law. That is changing. We are now adapting to international standards," he told a Washington audience, acknowledging that this is a issue of dispute.

"That is at the heart of the dispute. There is a disagreement with the Indian government and as to what exactly will have to be disclosed. There is a new Indian government. We now hope that we will be able to resolve the case much quicker than we could do so in the past," he said.

Appearing at a panel discussion on Returning Stolen Assets organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, Zellweger said this is now very much on the forefront of international news and argued that in recent years Swiss authorities have been very co-operative in repatriation of the unaccounted money.

"You take Tunisia, for example. You had a restitution of USD 27 million by Lebanon to Tunisia, what is it now, 2011 within three and a half years. The Swiss prosecutor general has decided to send back two-thirds of the funds we have frozen in Switzerland to Tunisia," he said.

"We never had that in the past. The quickest case we had so far was Abacha, and that took us five years. We were efficient because we had an excellent cooperation with Nigeria in that case. Now, in Tunisia, we solved the case within three years," he said.

"So I am pretty confident for two reasons. First, asset recovery is now a topic on the international agenda. And second, international cooperation has hugely increased over the past two years," he said.

In the run-up to Parliamentary polls, BJP had promised to bring back black money kept by Indians in overseas banks while targeting the UPA government for not taking effective action on the issue.

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US, China to hold trade talks in Chicago in December

US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Trade Representative Michael Froman will host a high-level Chinese delegation for the talks during the 25th session of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) from December 16 to 18, officials said.

US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will also take part in the dialogue to address key agricultural trade issues between the two countries. "Expanding the US-China bilateral trade relationship is critical to strengthening our nation's economy and supporting job creation in communities from Maine to Hawaii," Pritzker said. Noting that JCCT has played a vital role in their efforts to bolster mutually beneficial relationship for more than two decades, the Commerce Secretary said the upcoming high-level discussions will culminate a year of continuous work to address important issues facing the two nations.

"This dialogue comes at an important time for the two largest economies in the world who share an enormous stake in the global trade and investment system," Froman said. The JCCT continues to be a place where the bilateral ties that link the US and China are reinforced through cooperation and constructive face-to-face discussions focused on making concrete progress to address the challenges, he said.
  
Established in 1983, the JCCT is the primary forum for addressing bilateral trade and investment issues and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China. High-level plenary meetings are held annually and are co-chaired by the US Secretary of Commerce, the United States Trade Representative, and the Chinese Vice Premier in charge of trade and investment issues.

Sixteen JCCT Working Groups meet throughout the year to address topics such as intellectual property rights, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, information technology and travel and tourism. The 24th Annual JCCT meeting was held in Beijing in 2013. In the last year's meeting, significant progress was made on several important issues, including protection and enforcement against theft of trade secrets, government procurement and market access for US testing and certification companies.

China was the third-largest market for US exports in 2013 (after Canada and Mexico). US goods exports to China were USD 122 billion in 2013, up 652 per cent since 2000. Trade in services with China (exports and imports) totaled USD 52.1 billion in 2013.

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India ranks 114 out of 142 nations on WEF's Gender Gap Report

India's slipped 13 spots from its last year's ranking of 101 on the Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum. India is part of the 20 worst-performing countries on the labour force participation, estimated earned income, literacy rate and sex ratio at birth indicators.

On the other hand, India is among the top 20 best-performing countries on the political empowerment subindex.

The index was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. The index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria.

On the criteria of economic participation and opportunity, India was ranked 134. Its female to male ratio in labour force participation was 0.36. The disparity in estimated earned income was high with females earning USD 1980 compared to USD 8087 earned by their male counterparts.

On educational attainment, India ranked 126 with female to male ratio in literacy rate at 0.68. India was the second-lowest performing country on health and survival, ranking 141 just ahead of Armenia.

However on political empowerment subindex, India ranked an impressive 15. It is the highest-ranked country on the years with female head of state (over the past 50 years) indicator.

There is also some evidence from India to suggest that women in local government roles make decisions with better outcomes for communities than men do when charged with budget decisions.

They also appear to be more competent representatives than men, obtaining more resources for their constituencies despite having significantly lower education and relevant labour market experience.

The report said that India has the highest difference between women and men on the average minutes spent per day on unpaid work—a difference of 300 minutes.

It is also among the countries with the highest difference in the female and male percentage of total R&D personnel. India has one of the lowest percentages of firms with female participation in ownership.

India had experienced improvement of its overall score since 2010, when it had ranked 112. It had ranked 105 in 2012 and 101 last year but saw a decrease in 2014 due to a drop in scores on the economic participation and opportunity and educational attainment subindexes.

India performed better than countries like UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Jordan.

Iceland, which has had a female head of state in 20 of the past 50 years, ranked number 1 on WEF's index. Iceland has taken the top spot on the index consecutively since 2009. The country was followed by its Nordic neighbours: Finland ranked 2, Norway (3), Sweden (4) and Denmark (5). US is ranked 20, putting it behind countries like Canada, South Africa and France, but ahead of other developed countries like the United Kingdom and Australia.

The report said that no country in the world has fully closed the gender gap, but all five of the Nordic countries have closed more than 80 percent of it. Yemen, the lowest ranking country has closed just over 50 percent of the gender gap.

At 141, Pakistan was the second lowest ranking country, scoring poorly on all the four parametres.

In 2014, 25 countries fully closed the gap in Educational Attainment (same as last year). Angola, Ethiopia, Yemen, Guinea and Chad hold the last five spots on this subindex, with Yemen and Chad having closed less than 70 percent of their education gender gap. In total, there are 22 countries where women still have less than 90 percent of the education outcomes that men have.

While eight countries—Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, France, Guyana, Latvia, Namibia, and the Philippines have fully closed the gap on both the health and education subindexes, no country has closed either the economic participation gap or the political empowerment gap.

On the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, 14 countries have closed more than 80 percent of gap, including from from Sub-Saharan Africa and five from Europe and Central Asia.

Burundi, Norway, Malawi, the United States and the Bahamas occupy the top five spots on the subindex.

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Travellers with Ebola should not be stigmatised: UN Chief

UN Secretary General said that the restrictions put particular pressure on health care workers and those who have been on the frontline of the Ebola response.

"The Secretary-General is concerned by the recent restrictions put in place in several countries and localities applying to people who have travelled to the main Ebola-affected countries," a statement issued by Ban's spokesman said here.

"Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity. They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science," he said in the statement.

"Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatised," he added.

Ban reiterated that the best way for any country to protect itself from Ebola is to stop the outbreak at its source in West Africa.

"This requires considerable international health care worker support and in return for this support, we have an obligation to look after them," he said.

According to UN World Health Organisation's latest situation report, there have been 9,936 cases of Ebola and 4,877 deaths so far.

In New York, after a doctor who treated Ebola patients returned from Guinea and tested positive for the virus, state government had put in place a mandatory 21-day quarantine for travellers returning from the most-affected West African countries.
  
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo came in for sharp criticism from health experts and had to loosen restrictions, allowing asymptomatic medical workers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa to remain at home during the quarantine period.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also faced backlash after a nurse who arrived from Sierra Leone last week was swiftly quarantined in a tent set up inside a Newark hospital, with a portable toilet but with no shower.

Ban is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the start of a joint trip uniting the capacities of the United Nations, World Bank, European Union, Islamic Development Bank, and African Development Bank and targeting a swathe of countries in the Horn of Africa, spanning Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

Ban announced a new USD 8 billion development initiative aimed at boosting economic growth, reducing poverty and spurring business activity across the African region's eight countries.

As aid workers and medical personnel return to their countries after working to provide treatment to Ebola patients in West Africa, several restrictions have been put on their movement by governments as they aim to prevent the spread of the virus.

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India should refrain from complicating boundary issue: China

"China's position on China-India boundary question is consistent and clear. We are committed to finding a solution to the boundary question with the Indian side through friendly negotiation as soon as possible and working together to safeguard peace and tranquillity along the border," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
  
"Pending the final settlement of the boundary question, we hope that the Indian side could refrain from taking any action that may complicate or exaggerate the question," Hua said in an e-mail response to a query about 54 new Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force border outposts to be built along the Arunachal Pradesh border.
  
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet.
  
China's reaction is a trifle different from its reaction on October 15 to the plans announced by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju to build new roads along the boundary from Mago-Thingbu in Tawang to Vijaynagar in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh to match China's infrastructure development.
  
"There is a dispute about the east part of the China- India border. Before final settlement is reached we hope that India will not take any action that may further complicate the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said earlier while reacting to the road proposal.
  
"We should jointly safeguard the peace and tranquillity of the border area and create favourable conditions for the final settlement of the border issue," he had said.
  
Subsequently, officials from India and China held the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) meeting in New Delhi during which the two sides discussed a host of issues relating to the management of the boundary and maintaining of peace and tranquillity along the borders.

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Centre hopeful of UP sugar mills falling in line & start operations

Few months back, private sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh the country's second biggest producer threated not to open their mills in the current 2014-15 season (October-September) till the state government links cane prices with sugar rates.

Mills were forced to issue suspension notice as they suffered huge losses during last season on account of high cane prices fixed by the state and lower realisation from sugar sales.

"There is no way that UP sugar mills will remain shut for long. My reading is that all mills will run. But they may start 10-15 days late," Food Secretary Sudhir Kumar said.

Kumar said that mills do not have any option but to run their mills as they cannot shift to other business, while farmers can easily shift to some other crops.

However, the Secretary clarified that this is the matter between the state government and UP millers, and the Centre does not have much role to play.

On likely impact on the country's sugar production due to delay in crushing operation in UP, he said, "It is too early to say. Let the crushing begin. We will assess it at the end of the season."

Meanwhile, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) Director General Avinash Verma said: "UP sugar mills have taken one step forward and have agreed to start maintenance activity which should take 40-45 days."

"However, they would wait for a mechanism or a policy that determines sugarcane price in relation to revenue generation before start of the crushing operations, so that they are in a position to pay cane price on time," he said.

The UP sugar industry has shown confidence in the state government that a rational cane price formula would be announced and the industry would pray that the state should not fix the cane price, he added.

Crushing operation in western UP normally begins from October 15 and five days later in other parts the state.

According to industry estimates, sugarcane arrears in Uttar Pradesh have come down to Rs 2,400 crore now from Rs 7,500 crore at the end of March this year.

Sugar production for this season is pegged at 25-25.5 million tonnes, against 24.3 million tonnes last year.

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Microsoft plans to launch smartwatch within weeks

The wearable gadget's battery life will exceed two days of regular use, Forbes reported, citing unnamed sources close to the project. It will arrive in stores soon after being unveiled in an effort to capture the holiday season, Forbes reported.

Microsoft declined to comment.

Apple Inc unveiled a smartwatch on Sept. 9 that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications and will go on sale in early 2015, while Samsung Electronics Co unveiled its Galaxy Gear smartwatch in September 2013.

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App that enables deaf people to 'hear'

Transcense is the brainchild of four graduate students from the University of San Francisco and Berkeley, who have all been affected by hearing loss in different ways.

"Transcense brings meaning to the conversation and allows the deaf person to actively engage again," the creators said.

Transcense is the first mobile app that makes group conversations effortless between deaf people and their hearing peers.

Transcense transcribes a group conversation and uses a voice recognition algorithm to detect individual voices and link each of them with a color, which makes it easy for the app's user to see who is talking on their smartphone screen.

A deaf person can also use the app to speak for them using a digital voice, or to get the attention of all the people present, via their smartphones.

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iPhone app to ensure eye health

The system consists of a PanOptic Ophthalmoscope (a lighted instrument to examine the inside of the eye) and an adapter that attaches the ophthalmoscope to an iPhone to enable taking photos and videos.

It can image key structures of the back of the eye in a single view without necessarily requiring dilation drops.

The associated app facilitates capture, storage and transfer of data.

This also makes it possible for real-time tele-medicine consultation without violating patient identity as no external facial features are revealed.

"This system could be useful not only to ophthalmologists but also physicians, hospitals and general practitioners," said lead researcher Jiaxi Ding from the Ross Eye Institute at University at Buffalo in US.

Because it can instantly capture photos and videos of the back of the eye through an undilated pupil, "there is potential for prompt tele-medicine consultations with an ophthalmologist and getting preliminary triage answers to the patient more quickly than waiting for standard office referral," he added.

Photography plays a critical role in documenting and tracking the progression of eye diseases.

The results were shared at 'AAO 2014' - the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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Lenovo's Yoga 2, Yoga 2 Pro tablets launched in India

The 8-inch and 10-inch Yoga 2 tablets have been priced at Rs 20,990 and Rs 28,990, respectively. The Yoga 2 8-inch Windows tablet has been priced at Rs 34,990. The 13-inch Yoga 2 Pro tablet will be available at Rs 47,990.

The Yoga 2 8-inch and 10-inch tablets will be exclusively available Flipkart, while the other tablets will be available by mid-November.

The new Yoga 2 tablets feature a new Hang mode and improved kickstand that rotates nearly 180-degrees. The Hang mode lets users hang their device to display content.

The tablets are powered by Intel Atom processors and dual band speed Wi-Fi. The tablets sport dual front speakers with cinematic Dolby Audio and Wolfson Master HiFi for enhanced sound and an 8MP rear camera and 1.6MP front-facing camera.

It comes with 16GB internal storage and a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 64GB capacity. The company claims a battery backup of 18 hours.

The Windows Yoga 2 tablet sports similar hardware specifications but comes with 32GB internal storage and claimed battery backup of 15 hours.

The Yoga 2 Pro tablet features a built-in Pico projector with up to a 50-inch projection. The projector lets users turn inside walls into an instant TV or movie screen.

It also has an 8watt sound system with a subwoofer. The multi-mode tablet features a larger kickstand compared to previous generation Yoga tablets for greater stability and a new release button to open the kickstand easily. Even the Yoga 2 Pro comes with a Hang mode.

The tablet is powered by up to 1.86GHz quad-core Intel Atom Processor Z3745 and 2GB RAM. It comes with 32GB internal storage and a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 64GB capacity.

Yoga 2 features an 8MP rear camera and 1.6MP front-facing camera along with 13.3-inch Quad HD (2560x1440p) IPS display. The tablet sports dual front speakers with cinematic Dolby Audio and Wolfson Master HiFi for enhanced sound.

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Coming soon Google Nexus 9, to be sold at Rs 28,900 in India

The tablet has not yet been launched but once it does, the tablet to cost Rs 28,900 for the 16GB model and Rs 44,900 for the 3G version and 32GB memory.

The official leather cover for the tablet has also been listed. That will cost Rs.2,900.

However Google describes Nexus 9 as a tablet that 'is for work and play, with its just-right 8.9-inch screen and front-facing stereo speakers'.

Other highlights of the phone include a powerful dual core processor Nvidia Tegra K1 and a sleek body with metal frame. It runs on Android Lollipop, as per the announcement by Google.

Nexus 9 has a 8.9-inch screen with 4:3 aspect ratio. On paper, it looks like an incredibly powerful device. It is powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, which is a 64-bit quad-core processor running at 2.3GHz.

It has 2GB RAM. The screen has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The device has an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.6-megapixel front camera. It has 6700 mAh battery.

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Delhi Metro proposes over 103 km long corridor in phase IV

A Detail Project Report (DPR) for phase IV has been prepared and submitted to Delhi Government and the Union Urban Development Ministry for approval, a DMRC spokesperson said.
  
The corridors being proposed under this are Rithala to Narela (21.73 km), Janak Puri West to R K Ashram (28.92 km), Mukundpur to Maujpur (12.54 km), Inderlok to Indraprastha (12.58 km), Aero City to Tughlakabad (20.20 km), Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block (7.96 km), as per the report.
  
The corridor will cover Rithala to Narela via Barwala and Bawana, West Janakpuri to R K Ashram via Peeragarhi Chowk, Mukundpur to Maujpur via Wazirabad and Khajuri Khas, Tughlakabad to Aerocity via Saket G Block, Mehrauli and Mahipalpur with a spur from Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block, Inderlok to Indraprastha via Dayabasti, New Delhi Railway Station, Delhi Gate and Delhi Sachivalaya.
  
"As per the acquired experience, total work can be completed in 72 months period from date of start. The work should be started by April 2016, and various sections can be opened in phases by March 31, 2022," the spokesperson said.
  
Project completion date is subject to land required for the project, which is made available to DMRC within six months period from date of sanction of project.
  
In the phase III, construction work on Jhangirpuri-Badli 4.489 km work on which work started in September 2011 has been 80 percent completed till last month and is likely to complete by March next year.
  
The 13.875 km lond Faridabad extension corridor, work on which began in September 2011 will be completed by May next year as 88 percent work on it has been completed.
  
On the 9.37 km Mandi House-Kashmere Gate, 78 percent work on the line which started in May 2011 has been completed and it is likely to be totally completed by December 2015.

The longest 55.697 km Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor, work on which began in September 2011, is expected to open in March 2016 and only 55 percent construction has been completed till last month.
  
About 45 percent work has been completed on the 33.494 km long Janakpuri-Kalindi Kunj Metro corridor by September and it too will be ready by March 2016.
  
Besides these only 15.57 percent work has been over on the 4.373 km long Dwarka-Najafgarh and 24.90 percent work has been done on 11.18 km long Mundka-Bahadurgarh corridor. Work on both the sections commenced in September 2012 and is expected to be over by March 2016.

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Ensure safety of North East people, Rajnath urges Haryana, Karnataka

The Home Ministry statement which said Rajnath Singh had spoken to both the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Karnataka was later re-issued with revisions, clarifying he had spoken to the Haryana Governor, not the Chief Minister. It also said he had spoken to the Karnataka Chief Minister on Thursday.

"The Home Minister requested both the governments to maintain law and order under all circumstances and also urged them to ensure the safety of all citizens, including those hailing from the northeast," said the statement.

Citing some incidents of attacks on citizens from the northeast in the past couple of days in Bangalore, Karnataka and Gurgaon, Haryana, he said that it is a matter of concern.

"In Bangalore, three people found to be involved in the attack have been arrested. Similarly, in Gurgaon, three attackers have been arrested by the Haryana Police," the official statement said.

"Considering these attacks, both the state governments have issued directions to the police to deal with such people strictly," the statement said.

The statement informs that Karnataka and Haryana Police have taken a number of security measures to ensure the security of the people including those hailing from the northeast and the Home Ministry has also sent advisories to state governments and union territories in this regard.

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Disinvestment programme on track, schedule soon: Arun Jaitley

"The process (of disinvestment) is well on the way and the schedule will be announced (soon)," he told reporters here.

He was responding to queries related to the government's stake sale programme in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

Last month, the government had approved diluting its equity stakes in Coal India Ltd (CIL), ONGC and NHPC. The stake sales in these three bluechip companies could fetch government about Rs 42,000-43,000 crore.

Sources say the disinvestment in the three companies would be done through the Offer For Sale (OFS) process, popularly known as the auction route.

The government has already selected merchant bankers for managing ONGC and NHPC disinvestment and is in the process for doing so for CIL.

In his Budget speech, Jaitley had set a disinvestment target of Rs 43,425 crore. Also, government is eyeing Rs 15,000 crore from sale of its residual stake in the erstwhile government companies, as per the Budget document.

In 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscals, the government had raised Rs 22,144 crore and Rs 13,894 crore through divestment, against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore in each year.

In 2012-13, it had raised Rs 23,956 crore while the goal was Rs 30,000 crore.

In last fiscal, the government could raise Rs 16,027 crore, as against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore. The target in revised estimates was scaled down to Rs 16,027 crore.

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India beat West Indies by 59 runs in 4th ODI

A brilliant century from Virat Kohli (127 off 114 balls), aided by Suresh Raina's 58-ball 71, helped India reach an imposing 330 for six.

In reply, Marlon Samuels smashed 112 runs off 106 balls but that wasn't enough as India bowled out the West Indies for 271 in 48.1 overs.

Aided by a Virat Kohli master class century, India defeated the West Indies by 59 runs in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium.

Set a target of 331 runs after Indian batsman, man-of-the-match, Virat Kohli slammed his 20th ODI century (127) to help the home team post an imposing score of 330 for six, the West Indies innings folded for 271 runs in 48.1 overs, despite Marlon Samuels' fighting century (112).

It was always going to difficult for the Windies team, embroiled in an ongoing pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players' Union (WIPA) that had their tour of India to be abandoned midway, to chase that imposing target.

They were quickly on the back foot, reduced to 27 for two in the 11th over.

But Samuels, their in-form batsman, struck his second century of the series to give them hope. However, they lost wickets at regular intervals to fall way short of their target.

The Indian bowlers performed well with as many as five bowlers taking two wickets each.

Kohli scored a stroke-filled century to help India post 330 for six.

The visitors won the toss and elected to field, but they were left to rue the decision as India made a strong start through Shikhar Dhwan (35) and Ajinkya Rahane (68), who added 70 runs for the opening wicket.

Kohli then extended the misery of the Windies who earlier had announced their pulling out of the remainder of the tour with a superb 114-ball knock, studded with 13 fours and three sixes.

Suresh Raina gave Kohli able support and hammered his way to 71 off just 58 balls, including three fours and five sixes.

The duo strung together 138 runs off 108 balls as India sped to 280 in the 45th over. The visitors did manage to remove Raina and the dangerous Mahendra Singh Dhoni too failed to get going.

But that didn't stop the Indian juggernaut, led by Kohli, as the hosts manage to score 30 runs off the final 16 balls to post an imposing target.

Spinner Sulieman Benn was the most economical of the Windies bowlers and also managed to pick up a wicket.

Jerome Taylor, Jason Holder and Andre Russell all picked up a wicket each too.

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SBI says most of Hudhud-hit branches in AP now operational

"Of the 225 branches in the affected districts of Visakhapatnam, Vijaynagaram and Srikakulam, as many as 195 branches have been brought to normal as of today with only 30 branches remaining out of bounds," SBI Managing Director for national banking and Group executive B Sriram said.

Out of 502 ATMs in these three districts, 102 are operational now, he said, adding the rest of branches and ATMs will be functional in a week. The bank also has 179 on-site ATMs, of which 29 are in the worst-hit Visakhapatnam city.

Last on Sunday, the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were hit by 'Hudhud'. The cyclone caused large- scale damage in Andhra Pradesh, where 38 people have been killed till now.

The bank has started a mobile ATM and 5-6 more such facilities will be operational soon where the branches are still out of service to help people withdraw money.

"Unless we get our branches going at the earliest, people will be unable to do anything as everything comes at a cost and at times like a natural calamity, the cost are very high. The first thing is that you need to have money, otherwise how can you buy basic things...we are still a cash driven economy," Sriram said.

The Managing Director said besides quick restoration of operations in branches, the bank's employees are also involved in clearing the debris in many areas and distribution of food packets and blankets to the victims.

On the operations in Odisha, he said the State was comparatively unaffected and no branch had to be shut there.

"In both (flood-affected) J&K and Andhra, we have found that our employees have risen to the occasion in extending a helping hand," he said.

"In Visakhapatnam, for instance, our staff have started procuring whatever they could and transporting them to the needy people. We have distributed 500 food packets and blankets. Food is being prepared in our staff canteens and the entire operation is being monitored by our General Manager."

He said SBI employees helped in clearing debris in Andhra Pradesh University campus and surrounding areas.

He said SBI General Insurance is also on the ground visiting affected units to assess the damage for early settlement of claims.

In J&K, Sriram said, all the 67 branches in the Valley have been brought back into operations.

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Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth lose in Denmark Open quarters

While 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist Saina lost to World No.2 Shixian Wang of China 20-22, 15-21 in 45 minutes while two-time World Championships bronze medal winner Sindhu went down 23-25, 20-22 to South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun.

Rising male shuttler Srikanth failed to move past South Korea's Wan Ho Son, who won 23-21, 21-17 in a 45-minute encounter at the Odense Sports Park.

In the match between Saina and Shixian, the World No.7 Indian pressurized the former World No.1 with her immaculate drop shots and quick movement but missed the killer instinct in the end to lose the first game 20-22 before the Chinese stamped her authority in the second game, winning it 21-15.

In the semi-final on Saturday, Shixian will meet compatriot and World No.3 Yihan Wang, who registered a facile 21-12, 21-17 win over fellow Chinese Liu Xin.

In the other match, Sindhu matched the class and quality of World No.4 Ji Hyun in a 59-minute match which saw a lot of long rallies. The World No.10 Indian opened up a 10-6 lead in the first game before the South Korean clawed her way back into the game with some clinical play.

Ji Hyun also had her way in the closely-fought second game, winning 22-20 to set up a semi-final date with 2012 Olympic champion and World No.1 Li Xuerui.

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