Controversy rages afterJet suspends President...

NAVSARI, Feb 5:

37 people were killed and 24injured, four of them seriously,when a State transport bus inwhich they were travellingplunged from a bridge into Purnariver in Navsari district of SouthGujarat today, police said.

“Thirty seven people havedied in the incident, while 24 oth-ers are injured when a bus fellfrom a 20 feet high bridge onPurna river,” Navsari Superin-tendent of Police M S Bharadasaid.

Though police are investigat-ing the cause of the mishap, somesurvivors and eye-witnesses saidthe bus driver lost control of thevehicle when it was passing thebridge and it hurtled down intothe river after breaking iron rail-ings.

The SP said the condition offour out of the 24 injured passen-gers was serious.

“The injured have been shift-ed to four hospitals in Navsari.We are also checking the possibil-

ity of shifting those who are seri-ously injured to hospitals in Suratif needed,” the officer said.

The Gujarat State RoadTransport Corporation (GSRTC)bus was headed towards Ukaiwhen the accident took place nearthe village, situated around 12kms away from the district head-quarters.

“We do not know the exactnumber of people travelling in thebus, but it is said that it was full(to capacity),” Bharada said.

He said the agencies likepolice, fire brigade, 108 ambu-lance services were engaged inrescue operation at the spot.

Expressing grief over the inci-dent, Chief Minister AnandibenPatel twitted, “Deeply pained tolearn about the unfortunate busaccident on Purna River Bridge inNavsari. My prayers are with vic-tims & families”.

“I have directed Navsari col-lector & concerned officials toexpedite rescue & relief ops andprovide required help to victims& their kin,” she twitted. (PTI)

DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016 (PAGE 11)

Controversy rages after Jet suspends5 cabin crew over Nigam ‘concert’

NEW DELHI, Feb 5:

A controversy raged today over Jet Airways suspending fivecabin crew members after singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to beltout Bollywood numbers using the in-flight public address systemon a chartered flight with the action being slammed by him as“Real Intolerance”.

The Bollywood fraternity and social media reacted with out-rage to the punishment handed out by the private airline after avi-ation regulator DGCA took serious note of the episode but theCivil Aviation Ministry justified the action.

The incident occurred on a chartered flight from Jodhpur toMumbai on January 4, when the “errant” crew members allowedNigam, 42, to hold a sort of musical concert on board following arequest from fellow passengers, Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) sources said.

The matter came to DGCA’s notice after a video of Nigamsinging on board the flight went viral on social media.

Action has been initiated against the crew members sinceallowing a passenger to use the public address system on board aflight amounts to violation of safety norms, the sources said.

“All cabin crew on the flight have been taken off flight duty forinquiry and corrective training to reinforce strict adherence tooperating procedures,” Jet Airways said in a statement.

As per a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on training andlicensing of cabin crew, issued by DGCA in 2010, “the PA (publicaddress) system and interphone system are tools for relaying safe-ty information”.

But Nigam in a sharp retort said that when he sang there wereno announcements that needed to be made and the action againstthe cabin crew was “utter nonsense”.

“To suspend crew members for asking me to sing on theaddress system, when the seat belt signs were off, and noannouncements were to be made, is nothing less than punishingsomeone for spreading happiness.

“Pity there’s no one to question such harshness except theMedia perhaps. Indians, need to loosen up. This act of lack ofCommon Sense, according to me, is Real Intolerance,” Nigam saidin a statement.

“I have witnessed an elaborate fashion show in an aircraft. Ihave heard of small concerts happening in an aircraft. I have seenPilots and Crew Members cracking humorous jokes to loosen uppassengers in other countries, which is so cool.”

Civil Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma defended the action bythe airline, saying safety protocols have to be followed. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 5:

Ruing that despite advance-ments Indian agriculture is yet tobe completely out of the “clutch-es of weather”, President PranabMukherjee today expressed“grave concern” over likelydecline in farm output for thesecond-straight year due to defi-cient rains.

With majority of the cultivat-able area under severe climaticconditions like drought, floodsand cyclones, he called for seri-ous efforts to overcome the chal-lenge and make Indian agricul-ture sector resilient to weatherfluctuations.

President asked the IndianAgriculture Research Institute(IARI) to develop climateresilient technological solutionsby leveraging opportunities fromfrontier science like biotechnolo-gy and nano-technology.Mukherjee also spoke aboutimport dependence on pulses andedible oils.

Addressing the 54th convo-cation of IARI, he said: “Despitethe advancements made, Indianagriculture is yet to be complete-ly get out of the clutches ofweather.”

President also pointed outthat the country’s foodgrain pro-duction fell to 253 million tonnesin 2014-15 crop year (July-June)

from a record 265 million tonnesin 2013-14 on account of 12 percent deficit in rainfall.

“Nature has not been kind tous this year as well. A deficientmonsoon followed by a furtherdry spell is likely to affect agri-cultural production for the sec-ond year in a row. This is an areaof grave concern.

“The time is ripe for someserious efforts as 80 per cent ofthe area under cultivation inIndia is in the grip of severe cli-matic conditions like drought,floods and cyclones,” he said.

Stating that global climatechange could aggravate theseproblems, Mukherjee said the

IARI must leverage opportuni-ties from frontier sciences suchas biotechnology, synthetic biol-ogy, nano-technology, computa-tional biology, sensor technologyand geo-spatial technology todevelop climate- resilient tech-nological solutions.

“Innovation in agriculturaltechniques and practices must besupported through infusion offunds, mentoring of ideas, andtechnical assistance. The risk-taking ability of farmers must beboosted. The newly-launchedcrop insurance scheme willleverage technology to providerisk cover to the farmers,” hesaid. (PTI)

President expresses concern over likely fall in farm output

MORAN (Assam), Feb 5:Singling out the Sonia Gandhi

family, Prime Minister NarendraModi today accused the CongressPresident and her son RahulGandhi of disrupting Parliamentto avenge defeat in 2014 LokSabha polls and hence blockingthe passage of bills aimed at ben-efitting the poor.

Addressing tea garden work-ers in this poll-bound state ofAssam, Modi alleged that “onefamily” was indulging in “nega-tive politics” as he claimed thatthere are leaders in oppositionparties other than Congress whowant Parliament to function eventhough they oppose him.

“Those who have lost theelection (in 2014) and have comedown from 400 to 40 have decid-ed not to allow Modi to work.They have decided to createobstacles and difficulties. Theconspiracy for the same is going

on,” he said, referring clearly toCongress.

“They have now decided totake revenge from people, fromthe poor workers” for voting theCongress out of power, Modisaid at the public meeting thatwas virtually an election rally.

His remarks came against thebackdrop of washout of the lasttwo sessions of Parliamentbecause of which key economicreform measures, including GST,have been pending and areexpected to be pushed by thegovernment during the upcomingBudget session starting onFebruary 23.

“There are many leaders andparties even in the Oppositionwho oppose Modi, the BJP andthe government but they wantParliament to run and carry out isbusiness. But one family is sorigid that they do not allow theRajya Sabha to function and let

the nation’s agenda of develop-ment to be taken forward becausepeople of the country havedefeated them,” Modi said.

Though the Prime Ministerdid not name the “family”, thereference was obviously to theSonia Gandhi family.

He listed a number of pend-ing bills, including one forincreasing the income ceiling forbonus to workers and the otherrelated to river transport onBrahmaputra, and put the blamefor their pendency squarely onCongress and particularly theGandhi family.

“The country is not going tobenefit from this politics of nega-tivism and obstructionism. Thereis only one family with such athinking, which has brought thiskind of destruction. Leaders inthe other Opposition parties arenot like this,” the Prime Ministersaid. (PTI)

Modi says Gandhi family disrupting Parliament to avenge poll defeat

President Pranab Mukherjee addressing the 54th Convocationof Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) at Dr. BP PalAuditorium, IARI, Pusa in New Delhi on Friday. (UNI )

IT Dept cautions taxpayers against sharing PINs, passwords

NEW DELHI, Feb 5:

Income Tax Department today cautioned taxpayers not to sharetheir PIN or password of mails saying it never ask for such details.

In a statement, the department said it is to ensure that taxpay-ers are aware the department does not seek confidential or finan-cial information of the taxpayer over email.

“The Income Tax Department never asks for your PIN num-bers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards,banks or other financial accounts through e-mail,” it said.

“The Income Tax Department appeals to taxpayers not torespond to such emails and NOT to share information relating totheir credit card, bank and other financial accounts,” it added.

The Income Tax Department has been at the forefront of usingtechnology in implementing its e-governance initiatives, it said,adding, most of its routine communication to taxpayers is throughemail and SMS.

“Therefore, the department is very sensitive and alert toattempts made by fraudsters to spoof the Department’s identity tosend phishing emails,” it said.

The statement further said all taxpayer reports of phishingemails are forwarded to incident@cert-in.Org.In which is a govern-ment of India agency mandated to fight against such threats. (PTI)

Govt looking to address challengesplaguing infra sector:Sinha

NEW DELHI, Feb 5:

Seeking more private investment in ongoing infrastructureprojects worth USD 100-150 billion, the government today saidproject structure and regulations are being reviewed to offerinvestors attractive returns.

On the second-day of an investment summit with sovereignwealth funds, private equity and pension funds, Minister of Statefor Finance Jayant Sinha showcased brownfield as well as green-field projects in sectors including highways, railways and energy.

“We are working very hard to understand what the issues, chal-lenges are. What further we need to do as far as the law, regulationand project structuring is concerned, so that we can be able to pres-ent you attractive returns and where risks are much lower,” he said.

Addressing investors at the India Investment Summit here,Sinha said projects worth about USD 100-150 billion are in vari-ous stages of completion.

“We are going through a process where these projects are beingreassessed, new financing coming in... So I think for these projectsthere will be very attractive investment opportunities as the capitalstructure is reset,” he added.

He asked investors to consider brownfield projects, along withgreenfield, as NIIF would also fund stressed assets.

Speaking at the summit, RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan said,“We are open for regulatory changes as situation demand nothingis cast in stone. We are sensitive to (your) demand.”

Sinha also said the government is trying to rethink the wholemanner of refinancing greenfield projects and trying to ensure thatthese projects get to cash flow as early as possible. A number offunds like Apollo, Blackstone, Edelweiss are looking at thesebrownfield stalled projects, he said. Outlining the variety of proj-ects that are on offer for investors, he said there are a set of stalledprojects, there are greenfield projects, as also portfolios of cashgenerating developed projects that you can package together intorelatively solid attractive yield generating portfolios. (PTI)

37 killed as bus plunges into river

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