Government Releases Rs. 12,000 Crore for MGNREGS

After SC rap, government releases Rs 12,000 crore for MGNREGS

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from the Supreme Court, the government on Saturday announced release of Rs 12,230 crore to the states that will take care of pending wage liability for 2015-16 under MGNREGS.

With SC observing that the needy require employment guarantee wages without delay, the rural development ministry said it is committed to ensure adequate funds to meet the programme objectives.

The ministry also said it has decided to maintain a 60:40 wage-material ratio at the district level to ensure creation of good quality assets in rural areas. The decision was criticised by some activists on the ground that it will allow a 100% labour or material component in panchayats within a district, which changes the nature of MGNREGS.

Government sources maintained the flexibility was essential as restricting 

spending options could make the scheme inefficient. 

The government has rejigged MGNREGS rules, arguing that a model cannot be static and that previous studies have shown while the scheme is much needed, its rules resulted in non-productive work. Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had admitted that the scheme had become an exercise in ditch-digging.

Rural minister Birender Singh rebutted reports that arrears of Rs 8,000 crore had piled up for the 2015-16 financial year. The year has seen the highest MGNREGS expenditure at Rs 41,371 crore of which Rs 30, 139 crore went towards wages.

"The highest employment generation over the past three years and the best achievement on key parameters such as works undertaken, women's participation at 55% and 95% payments through electronic fund management had been recorded," the minister said.

Match-2 of IPL 2016 Today 8:00 P.M.

Indian Premier League 2016 Match-2



          VS            


Today: 08:00 P.M.
Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Mamata failed to bring paribartan: Modi

In this March 27, 2016 photo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves during a campaign 

meeting at Kharagpur in West Bengal.

“(Mamata Banerjee) talked about ‘Ma-Mati-Manush’, but there is only ‘maut’ (death) and money. The Narada sting operation has shown it”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had boycotted meetings called by the Centre to discuss the issue of States’ development and had failed to bring in any transformation despite her call for “paribartan” (change).

“What kind of Chief Minister is she? Whenever the Centre called a meeting to discuss development of states, Didi boycotted it. Even if it hurt her State.

“She (Ms. Banerjee) did not attend those meetings only because Modi convened it. But whenever she visited Delhi, she met Sonia Gandhi and took her blessings,” Mr. Modi told an election rally in Bipara.

Mr. Modi, who campaigned in northern Bengal said, “She gave the call for paribartan and misled the people. She talked about Ma-Mati-Manush, but there is only maut (death) and money. The Narada sting operation has shown it”.

Mr. Modi slammed Ms. Banerjee also on the recent collapse of a Kolkata flyover saying instead of beginning immediate relief work and saving the people, she had started the blame game.

“The first thing she said was to put the blame on the Left for giving the contract of the flyover. But if the flyover was completed, would she have congratulated the Left? (In such an event) she would have taken the credit for the flyover,” he said.

Mr. Modi said when she took over the government it seemed that she would try to set things right in Bengal after the misrule of the Left. “But she only carried forward the legacy of the Left, and led the State to further ruin.”

Instead of talking about development, both the Trinamool Congress and the Left were engaged in a blame game against each other, he said. “Your future is not safe in the hands of TMC and the Left,” he told the meeting.

Referring to the multi-crore rupee Saradha chit fund scam, Mr. Modi said, “If Didi tries to save those involved in it she should be sent back.”

Appealing to the people to give the BJP a chance, he said wherever the BJP was in power there is development.

Keywords: 2016 West Bengal Assembly Elections, Narendra Modi campaign, Mamata Banerjee

Banks reject Mallya's repayment proposal

Kingfisher Airlines, founded by Vijay Mallya, owes more than Rs. 9,000 crore to lenders.

With the banks outrightly rejecting two offers made by businessman Vijay Mallya towards payment of dues totally worth Rs. 9000 crore, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered him to file an affidavit on oath disclosing all assets as on March 31, 2016 in India and abroad, not only in his name but also in those of his wife and children.

Mr. Mallya has time till April 21 to do this.

A Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman asked Mr. Mallya's lawyers to get instructions from him and also indicate in the same affidavit when he would be present in the Supreme Court. The Bench agreed with the banks that Mr. Mallya's presence in court is "necessary" for any meaningful negotiations to kick-off.

The apex court also agreed with banks that Mr. Mallya should first pay in advance a "substantial amount" of his dues as an initial payment to prove his bonafide to them. The Bench then directed him to spell out in the April 21 affidavit the amount he is willing to put on the table for negotiations to start.

Appearing for the banks, senior advocate Shyam Divan and advocate Robin Ratnakar David said though the consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India had "unanimously rejected" - first an offer of Rs. 4000 crore and then again a "slightly modified" settlement offer received on Wednesday from Mr. Mallya's side - the financial institutions believed that the better way forward out of the quagmire would be a "negotiated settlement."

"These are large figures involved. We think it is reasonable to ask him to make a full, fair and final disclosure of his assets. He can throw contingencies at us for making these payments. He should make a substantial advance deposit and his presence is required so that negotiations can be done person to person. Senior bank officials will also be present in the court to have an effective solution," Mr. Divan stated the banks' position in the court.

Senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan objected that disclosure of assets were made successively to the banks from 2010 to 2012.

"So now why don't you update the assets?" Justice Nariman shot back.

When the Bench initially included not only Mr. Mallya and his wife and children but also his other "close relatives", Mr. Vaidyanathan objected again, saying Mr. Mallya can account only for himself.

At this point, Mr. Divan pointed out that they had also wanted disclosure of assets of his "former relatives".

"There may be an ex-wife..." Mr. Divan said.

But the court modified its order to include only Mr. Mallya's wife and children, besides him.

The court posted the hearing for April 26 while asking the banks to file their response on Mr. Mallya's affidavit by April 25.

Keywords: Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines

Google Celebrates Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th Birthday

Google celebrates Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday with a special doodle

Google is celebrating legendary musician and Bharat Ratna recipient Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday with a special Google doodle which has a standing sitar as the centrepiece.

"Shankar, evangelised the use of Indian instruments in Western music, introducing the atmospheric hum of the sitar to audiences worldwide," the search engine giant said.

At the centre of today's Doodle, by artist Kevin Laughlin, is a standing sitar, with two bridges, one for the "drone" strings and the other for the melody strings.

Laughlin's design shows the style of sitar Shankar played, which includes a second gourd-shape resonator at the top of the instrument's neck.

Shankar famously taught George Harrison of the Beatles to play the sitar, and widely influenced popular music in the 1960s and 70s and his music popularised the fundamentals of Indian music, including raga, a melodic form.

Raga, as Shankar explained, has "its own peculiar ascending and descending movement consisting of either a full seven-note octave, or a series of six or five notes in a rising or falling structure."

Born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhry in 1920 to a Bengali family in Varanasi, the musician and composer spent his younger days touring the country with his elder brother Uday Shankar's dance troupe.

He gave up dancing to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. He went on to become the music director of All India Radio and the musician also worked as a composer.

He performed frequently with the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and composed a concerto with sitar for the London Symphony Orchestra. 

The legendary musician who passed away in 2012 at the age of 92 has been conferred with a Bharat Ratna, the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

The doodle on Shankar has been viewed mostly in the US, Sweden, Kazhakasthan, Lithuania, India, Indonesia and Japan, according to the search giant, which makes fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.

IPL 2016 FIRST MATCH ON 9TH APRIL 2016

Indian Premier League Start From 9th April 2016



Match-1

              vs                      

Venue
Wankhede Stadium


9th April 2016
Time: 20:00 (Local)

IPL 2016 TEAM LIST

Indian Premier League 2016: Complete team list

Delhi Daredevils 

Auction buys:

Sanju Samson (Rs. 4.2 crore), Chris Morris (Rs. 7 crore), Carlos Brathwaite (Rs. 4.2 crore), Karun Nair (Rs. 4 crore), Rishabh Pant (Rs 1.9 crore), Pawan Negi (Rs 8.5 crore), Sam Billings (Rs 30 Lakhs), SK Ahmed (Rs 10 Lakhs), Pratyush Singh (Rs 10 Lakhs), Joel Paris (Rs 30 Lakhs), Pawan Suyal (Rs 10 Lakhs), Chama Milind (Rs 10 Lakhs), Akhil Herwadkar (Rs 10 Lakhs), Mahipal Lomror (Rs 10 Lakhs)

Retained players: 

Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel - South Africa, Imran Tahir - South Africa, JP Duminy (captain) - South Africa, Quinton de Kock - South Africa, Nathan Coulter-Nile - Australia

Kings XI Punjab

Auction buys:

Mohit Sharma (Rs. 6.5 crore), Marcus Stonis (Rs. 55 Lakhs), Kyle Abbott (Rs. 2.1 crore), KC Cariappa (Rs 80 Lakhs), Arman Jaffer (Rs 10 Lakhs), Pradeep Sahu (Rs 10 Lakhs), Swapnil SIngh (Rs 10 Lakhs), Farhaan Behardein (Rs 30 Lakhs)  

Retained players:

Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Manan Vohra, Murali Vijay, Nikhil Naik, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller  - South Africa, Glenn Maxwell - Australia, Mitchell Johnson - Australia, Shaun Marsh - Australia

Kolkata Knight Riders

Auction buys:

Colin Munro (Rs. 30 lakhs), John Hastings (Rs. 1.3 crore), Jaydev Unadkat (Rs. 1.6 crore), Ankit Rajpoot (Rs 1.5 crore), Jason Holder (Rs 70 Lakhs), R Sathish (Rs 20 Lakhs), Manan Sharma (Rs 10 Lakhs)

Retained players: 

Gautam Gambhir  (captain), Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Sheldon Jackson, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell - West Indies, Sunil Narine - West Indies, Brad Hogg - Australia, Chris Lynn - Australia, Shakib Al Hasan - Bangladesh, Morne Morkel - South Africa

Mumbai Indians

Auction buys:

Jos Buttler (Rs. 3.8 crore), Tim Southee (Rs. 2.5 crore), Nathu Singh (Rs 3.2 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs 10 Lakhs), KP Kamath (1.4 crore), Krunal Pandya (Rs 2 crore), Deepak Punia (Rs 10 Lakhs)

Retained players: 

Rohit Sharma (captain), Akshay Wakhare, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Hardik Pandya, J Suchith, Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Rana, Parthiv Patel, Vinay Kumar, Shreyas Gopal, Siddhesh Lad, Unmukt Chand  ,Corey Anderson - New Zealand, Mitchell McClenaghan - New Zealand, Kieron Pollard - West Indies, Lendl Simmons - West Indies, Lasith Malinga - Sri Lanka, Marchant de Lange - South Africa

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Auction buys: 

Stuart Binny (Rs. 2 crore), Shane Watson (Rs. 9.5 crore), Travis Head (Rs. 50 Lakhs), Sachin Baby (Rs 10 Lakhs), Iqbal Abdulla (Rs 10 Lakhs), Praven Dubey (Rs 35 Lakhs), Akshay Karenwar (Rs 10 Lakhs), Kane Richardson (Rs 2 crore), Samuel Badree (Rs 50 Lakhs), V Malik (Rs 20 Lakhs), Vikas Tokas (Rs 10 Lakhs) 

Retained players: 

Virat Kohli (captain), Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Sreenath Aravind,  Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers - South Africa,  David Wiese - South Africa,  Adam Milne - New Zealand, Chris Gayle - West Indies,  Mitchell Starc - Australia

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Auction buys:
Yuvraj Singh (Rs. 7 Crore), Ashish Nehra (Rs. 5.5 Crore), Mustafizur Rahman (Rs. 1.4 crore), Barinder Sran (Rs. 1.2 crore), Abhimanyu Mithun (Rs. 30 Lakhs), Aditya Tare (Rs 1.2 crore), Deepak Hooda (Rs 4.2 crore), T Suman (Rs 10 Lakhs), Ben Cutting (Rs 50 Lakhs), Vijay Shankar (Rs 35 Lakhs)

Retained players: 

Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bipul Sharma, Karn Sharma,  KL Rahul,  Naman Ojha, Parveez Rasool, Ricky Bhui, Siddharth Kaul, David Warner - Australia, Moises Henriques - Australia, Eoin Morgan - England, Kane Williamson - New Zealand, Trent Boult - New Zealand

Rising Pune Supergiants

Auction buys: 

Ishant Sharma (Rs. 3.8 crore), Irfan Pathan (Rs. 1 crore), Kevin Pietersen (Rs. 3.3 crore), Mitchell Marsh (Rs. 4.8 crore), RP Singh (Rs. 30 Lakhs), Ankit Sharma (Rs 10 Lakhs), Rajat Bhatia (Rs 60 Lakhs), Ishwar Pandey (Rs 20 Lakhs), Murugan Ashwin (4.5 crore), Ankush Bains (Rs 10 Lakhs), Peter Handscomb (Rs 30 Lakhs), Thisara Perrera (Rs 1 crore), Baba Aparajith (Rs 10 Lakhs), Deepak Chahar (Rs 10 Lakhs), Ashok Dinda (Rs 50 Lakhs), Scott Boland (Rs 50 Lakhs), Adam Zampa (Rs 30 Lakhs), Jaskaran Singh (Rs 10 Lakhs)

Drafted players: 

MS Dhoni (captain),  R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith - Australia, Faf du Plessis - South Africa.

Gujarat Lions

Auction buys: 

Dinesh Karthik (Rs. 2.3 crore), Dhawal Kulkarni (Rs. 2 crore), Praveen Kumar (Rs. 3.5 crore), Dale Steyn (Rs. 2.3 crore), Dwayne Smith (Rs. 2.3 crore), Paras Dogra (Rs 10 Lakhs), Ishan Kishan (Rs 30 Lakhs), Eklavya Dwivedi (Rs 1 crore). Pradeep Sangwan (Rs 20 Lakhs), Pravin Tambe (Rs 20 Lakhs), Shivil Kaushik (Rs 10 Lakhs), Sarabajit Ladda (Rs 10 Lakhs), Aaron Finch (Rs 1 crore), Umang Sharma (Rs 10 Lakhs), Andrew Tye (Rs 50 Lakhs), Shadab Jakati (Rs 20 Lakhs), Aksh Deep Nath (Rs 10 Lakhs), Jaydev Shah (Rs 20 Lakhs), Amit Mishra (Rs 10 Lakhs)

Drafted players: 

Suresh Raina (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum - New Zealand,  James Faulkner - Australia, Dwayne Bravo - West Indies

Available purse:

Delhi Daredevils Rs. 6.15 crore

Gujarat Lions  Rs. 10.30 crore

Kings XI Punjab Rs. 12.45 crore

Kolkata Knight Riders Rs 12.25 crore

Mumbai Indians Rs. 1.30 crore

Rising Pune Supergiants Rs. 5.20 crore

Royal Challengers Bangalore Rs. 6.17 crore

Sunrisers Hyderabad Rs. 8.40 crore

Unsold players

Martin Guptill (Marquee),  Rilee Russow, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hashim Amla, George Bailey, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mahela Jayawardene, Michael Hussey, Usman Khawaja, Mushfiqur Rahim, Johnson Charles, Brad Haddin, Ben Dunk, Cameron Bancroft, Manoj Tiwary, Ravi Bopara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Darren Sammy, James Pattinson, Sachithra Senanayake, Veerasammy Permaul, Nathan Lyon, Devendra Bishoo, Michael Beer, Sulieman Benn, Rahul Sharma, Cameron Boyce, Pragyan Ojha, Joe Burns, David Hussey, Darren Bravo, Adam Voges, Nic Maddinson, Owais Shah, Abhinav Mukund, Doug Bracewell, Chris Jordan, Wayne Parnell,  Jimmy Neesham, Sean Abbott, Abhishek Nayar, Munaf Patel, Bueren Hendricks, Lahiru Thirimanne, Richard Levi, Cameron White, Tamim Iqbal, Reeza Hendricks, Dean Elgar, Nathan McCullum, Jeevan Mendis, Vernon Philander, Juan Theron, Shehan Jayasuriya, Johan Botha, Rayad Emrit, Anton Devcich, Ashton Agar, Robin Peterson, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor, Parwinder Awana, Sudeep Tyagi, Shaun Tait, Pankaj Singh, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ben Laughlin, Krishmar Santokie, Isuru Udana, Soumya Sarkar, Dilruwan Perera, Narsingh Deonarine, Henry Davis, Milinda S, Christopher Barnwell, Dilshan  Munaweera, S Prasanna, George Worker, Dushmantha Chameera, Taskin Ahmed, Shannon Gabriel, Tino Best, Jackson Bird, Ankeet Bawane, Himanshu Rana, Mithun Manhas, Debabrata Das, Aiden Blizzard, CM Gautam, Pinal Shah, Dishant Yagnik, Manvinder Bisla, Prashanth Padmanabhan, Kevin O'Brien, Kevon Cooper, C Stephen, DJ Muthuswamy, Veer Pratap Singh, H Singh Bansal, Rahul Shukla, Aswin Crist, Siddharth Trivedi, Spinners list, KK Jiyas, Hardik P Patel, Rahil S Shah, Karanveer Singh, Arun Karthik, Evin Lewis, Aex Ross,  A Wankhade, Prashant Gupta, Syed Mohammad, Rahul Tewatia, Rohan Prem, Dinesh Salunke, Ravi Jangid, Gurinder Singh, Navdeep Saini, Rishi Arothe, Baltej Singh, Kshitiz Sharma