Today's Hot Stories - April 10, 2014 - PT education

Today's Hot Stories - April 10, 2014

10 Headlines for Today

(1) Third phase polling in 91 constituencies begins
(2) Mangalyaan crosses half-way mark
(3) Pakistan: Bomb rips through train car, 13 killed
(4) Ruchi Soya to widen products range
(5) Deepak Fertilizers plans to expand TAN capacity
(6) Toyota to recall 45,000 units of Innova in India
(7) ITF women’s championship: Rishika fights her way past Swetha
(8) PGTI Cochin Masters: Rashid, Mane on top of the leader board
(9) Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Dewan and Barot lead Haryana to first win
(10) Man jumps 14,000ft with smallest parachute, sets world record
5 Stories for Today

(1) Modi declares himself as married
(2) US stabbing: Meet the hero who saved classmates
(3) Consultants to help set gas margins for Reliance Industries
(4) ‘Maximum competition’ is possible with just four players, says Vodafone CEO
(5) BJP to give priority to growth, but says no to FDI in retail

(1) Modi declares himself as married


In an affidavit submitted with his papers filed for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, the Gujarat Chief Minister stated that he is married and his wife’s name is Jashodaben.

BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi has showed himself as a married man revealing that his wife’s name is Jashodaben.

In an affidavit submitted along with his nomination papers filed on Wednesday for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, Mr. Modi stated for the first time that he is married.

So far, Mr. Modi used to leave the “spouse” column in poll affidavits blank. He had left the column blank in the 2012 Assembly elections as well.

However, for the 2014 Lok Sabha election affidavit, in the column where he has to declare assets in the name of his wife, Mr. Modi has written that he has no information on it.

Though he had filed the nomination papers in the morning, the Vadodara district election authority put the affidavit on the display board of the Collectorate at Wednesday midnight.

The affidavit has not been uploaded on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat till late in the night.

Earlier, the Congress had said that Mr. Modi should come clean on his marital status while filing nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Modi is also contesting election from Varanasi where he is facing Aam Aadmi Party candidate Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Ajay Rai.

Source: The Economic Times

(2) US stabbing: Meet the hero who saved classmates


A 16-year-old student wielding two knives went on a stabbing rampage in the hallways of a Pittsburgh-area high school on Wednesday, wounding 22 people before he was tackled by an assistant principal, officials said.

Twenty-one students and a security officer were stabbed in the incident, said Dan Stevens, a spokesman for Westmoreland County emergency management. Two other students suffered minor injuries trying to get out of the school, Stevens added. He said the teenage suspect was not counted among the wounded.

The suspect was also being treated for injuries to his hands, Seefeld said. By late afternoon, he said, one or two of the victims were "still pretty critical."

Among those praised for heroics during the incident was Nate Scimio, the student who pulled the fire alarm and helped shield classmates, witnesses said.

"There's not enough words to describe how much of a hero he is," classmate Trinity McCool posted on Facebook.

The victims, most of them 14 to 17 years old, were transported to area hospitals, four by medical helicopters. Several had life-threatening injuries, hospital officials said.

Dr. Louis Alarcon of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center operated on a 17-year-old student and said he had "a large injury to his abdominal wall." The knife "went through his liver, diaphragm and major blood vessels," he said. "Fortunately for this young man, the knife missed his heart and his aorta."

While the United States has seen a number of large-scale school shootings in recent years, mass stabbings are less common.

Police and the FBI were searching the suspect's home, situated at the end of a quiet cul de sac. Neighbors said both parents work, and the teen has a brother who also attends Franklin Regional High School.

'A shadow in the hallways'

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said he had ordered state police to help local law enforcement respond to the incident. The FBI also said it had deployed agents to work with local officials.

The high school will be closed for the next two to three days while police conduct an investigation, officials said.

"I don't know him really well, but he's always said 'hi'," said neighbor Lori Renda, 47, who said he played with her own children. "The family is so nice. Very, very nice."

As they were reunited with parents near the hilltop high school in the relatively affluent Pittsburgh suburb with a population of about 20,000, teens spoke about the incident.

Michael Float, an 18-year-old senior, described running down a staircase and finding a friend badly wounded.

"There was a pool of blood," Float said. "He had blood pouring down the right side of his stomach," and a teacher was applying pressure on the wound.

Zak Amsler, a 17-year-old junior, said the attack occurred just before his first class was about to begin.

"I saw a girl with blood running out of her sleeve," Amsler said as he waited to pick up his younger sister, a student at the nearby middle school. "It was pretty mind-blowing."

On Wednesday evening members of the community held candle-light vigils for the wounded.

Kaitlyn Pepper, holding a candle in front of Calvary Lutheran Church, said that she now attends another high school but knows the suspect from her time at Franklin.

"He was literally a shadow in the hallways. They said he had a girlfriend who goes to another school, but I don't know. No one really knew of him. But they know him today." Pepper said.

Source: Hindustan Times

(3) Consultants to help set gas margins for Reliance Industries


The rates determined by the PNGRB would thereafter be notified by the government. (Reuters) The rates determined by the PNGRB would thereafter be notified by the government. (Reuters)

Oil regulator PNGRB plans to hire consultants to advise it on fixing the margin that natural gas marketers such as Reliance Industries and GAIL India can charge from urea manufacturers and LPG plants.

After grappling with the issue for two years, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had on November 21 ordered that the margin to be charged, over and above the gas sale price, should be fixed between the seller and buyers in all sectors other than urea and LPG.

It asked the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to determine the margin for supply of domestic gas to urea and LPG producers through its independent process. The PNGRB in turn is seeking consultants to help it, official sources said.

The regulator on January 21, two months after the ministry entrusted it with the job, called for bids from consultants "to assist it in the task of determination of marketing margin for supply of domestic gas to urea and LPG producers for recommending this to the government."

Bids were called by April 11 but the PNGRB on Monday extended the deadline to April 21, they said.

The rates determined by the PNGRB would thereafter be notified by the government.

For users other than urea and LPG plants, the oil ministry had ruled that any complaints about the exercise of monopoly power should be addressed to the PNGRB and/or the Competition Commission of India.

Presently, marketing margins charged by producers and sellers of gas range from 11 cents to 20 cents per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

RIL charged 13.5 cents per mmBtu as marketing margin over and above the government-set price of $4.205 for KG-D6 gas for the first five years of production ended March 31.

For the financial year that began on April 1, it proposed to move from charging the margin on net calorific value (NCV) basis to gross calorific value (GCV) basis as the new price formulation uses inputs based on GCV.

The change would result in marketing margins rising by 11%, a move opposed by the 16 urea making plants — the only customers of KG-D6 gas presently, sources said.

Fertiliser firms want to pay 12.2 cents if RIL was to change the pricing methodology from NCV to GCV during the time PNGRB takes to decide on the marketing margin, they said.

All domestically produced natural gas will be priced at an average of international hub rates and the cost of importing liquefied natural gas.

Implementation of this formula, which will almost double the rate to $8.3, has been deferred till general elections are completed.

Source: The Times of India

(4) ‘Maximum competition’ is possible with just four players, says Vodafone CEO


Reluctance of banks to write off telecom NPAs has delayed consolidation

The reluctance of banks to write off NPAs (non-performing assets) of financially unsustainable telecom operators is one of the reasons behind the slow consolidation in the industry, said Vodafone India Managing Director and CEO Marten Pieters.

According to Mr. Pieters, “maximum competition” in the domestic telecom industry is possible even if the market is serviced by only four-to-six operators.

“There are some very specific issues here. Why are companies [telecom operators] able to continue with $4-7 billion dollars in debt on their balance sheets? This is because banks in India are very reluctant to write off NPAs,” Mr. Pieters said, while addressing a roundtable at The Hindu’s office on Wednesday.

In the U.S, Mr Pieters pointed out, “they [those companies] would have already gone broke years ago.”

“Does this sound familiar? That’s the problem. The problem is that they [the banks] are kicking the can down the road through restructuring, refinancing and re-whatever,” he added.

The Vodafone India boss also pointed out that the generally prevailing view that “3G had not done well in India” was false.

“One of the things I very often hear in the media world is that 3G has not been a success. But that is not true at all… 3G is a fantastic success! Our 3G usage per customer is much higher than it is in Europe already,” he said.

Granted, Mr. Pieters said, “3G in Jharkhand is not a big success today. But 3G in the places where it matters like Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi… it is a major success. [It is] actually far bigger than we have seen in other areas in the world.” When asked what would be his suggestion for the new Government that will be formed after elections, he pointed out that it needed to bring down the cost for operators.

“The cost for the operator is very high, not only due to the purchase of spectrum, but the fact that we also have to pay 5 per cent of our revenues on an on-going basis for the spectrum,” he said.

“This is really unusual… you [either] pay ongoing revenue share or you pay for the spectrum. But the Indian government, in its wisdom, has decided that we should do both! Then you have the USO fund on top of that. This is why enormous amounts go to the Government. The cost of this industry needs to go down, so that return on capital can go up,” he added.

Source: The Hindu

(5) BJP to give priority to growth, but says no to FDI in retail


Giving high priority to revival of growth and job creation, BJP on Monday promised to contain inflation, pursue tax reforms and promote foreign investments but said no to FDI in multi-brand retail.

Released here by top BJP leadership, the party’s election manifesto accused the Congress-led UPA government of unleashing ‘tax terrorism and uncertainty’ and engendering 10 years of jobless growth.

The BJP promised to set up a Price Stabilisation Fund to check inflation, ensure fiscal discipline and pursue banking sector reforms to deal with the problem of rising bad loans.

“The country has been dragged through 10 years of jobless growth by the Congress-led UPA Government. Under the broader economic revival, BJP will accord high priority to job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship,” it said while unveiling the road map for the future.

With regard to the agriculture sector, the manifesto promises to create a single ‘National Agriculture Market’ and increase public investment in the farm sector.

Referring to taxation, it said, “the UPA government Government has unleashed ‘Tax terrorism’ and ‘uncertainty’, which not only creates anxiety amongst the business class and negatively impacts the investment climate, but also dents the image of the country.”

Promising tax reforms, BJP said its tax policy roadmap include focus on a non-adversarial and conducive tax environment, overhaul of the dispute resolution mechanisms, bringing on board all state governments in adopting GST (Goods and Services Tax) and provision for tax incentives to promote investment.

The manifesto said a BJP led government at the centre will unbundle FCI (Food Corporation of India) operations into procurement, storage and distribution segments for greater efficiency.

It also promised to promote and support area specific crops and vegetables linked to food habits of the people.

On promotion of industry, BJP said: “We should no longer remain a market for the global industry. Rather, we should become a Global Manufacturing Hub”.

It said India will have to encourage the domestic industry to innovate and collaborate internationally.

Talking about “economic freedom”, the manifesto said Government will not get in the way of the freedom of individuals to start and operate legitimate businesses.

“Increased economic freedom will break open the economic space to new entrants, especially in the form of small and medium-enterprises, creating jobs and prosperity,” it said while stressing on cutting red tape and simplifying procedures to do business.

Referring to the manufacturing sector, BJP said it will take “all steps” like faster approvals, investment in logistics infrastructure, ensuring power supply and undertaking labour reforms, besides other steps to create a conducive environment for investors.

The manifesto also promised that the government will initiate building 100 new cities enabled with the latest in technology and infrastructure – adhering to concepts like sustainability, walk to work, and focus on specialised domains.

On skill development, BJP said a ‘National Multi-skill Mission’ will be launched and vocational training on a massive scale will be promoted.

Source: The Indian Express

Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.