Monthly Archives: March 2018

CBSE to hold re-exam on April 25 for Class 12 Economics, Class X Undecided

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Battered CBSE has announced a re-test for Class 12 Economics paper on April 25 throughout the country. It has further clarified that the Class 10 Maths paper re-test will be held, if required, in July, that too in Delhi, Haryana and NCR region and not all over the country, giving relief to many Class 10 students elsewhere in the country.

The ambiguity over Class X mathematics paper is due to the fact that the leak was confined to Delhi and Punjab, and once the enquiry is completed, the board will decide whether to hold the exam or not, said Anil Swarup, Secretary, School Education, in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

“The leak was restricted to Delhi and Haryana. If at all a re-exam will happen, it will happen only in these states in July. A decision will be taken on this in the next 15 days,” Swarup told reporters.

Referring to the Class 12 economics paper, the re-test will be held on April 25 not not outside the country as the leak confined to India only, said the HRD official. He further clarified that there will be no delay in the publication of results in May as per the schedule.

Replying to protests and demands that the CBSE chief should be removed, he said only after the enquiry, the responsibility on people who are behind the paper leak. “Action will be taken against whoever is responsible. But you cannot pre-empt the inquiry. Without inquiry action will not be possible,” he said and added that there will be two levels of inquiry, one is the police inquiry and the other is a departmental inquiry.

It may be recalled that in 2014, Class 12 physics paper was leaked in one of the northeastern sates and the CBSE pleaded in the apex court that a re-test was not required since the leak was limited to a region and the online access was not visibly seen in other places.

Doctors make patients familiarize with Apple’s Health Records feature

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When Dr. Robert Harrington, cardiologist and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford, sees patients, they frequently pass him stacks of printed medical records and spreadsheets, hand-drawn charts or their smartphone with notes and photos.
Occasionally, they’ll enter his office with grocery bags full of medications to walk him through the details of their care. “People hand you all sorts of things these days,” he says, “and more data is almost never bad, but when they show up with paper, how do you summate that?” He’s hired a skilled team to take on the Herculean task of pulling it all together. “It is a labor intensive, very tedious task.”
Starting today March 29, 2018), patients of NYU Langone Health, Stanford Medicine and nearly 40 other health systems representing hundreds of hospitals and clinics can view their medical records right from their iPhone. The updated Health Records section within the Health app helps consumers see medical information from various institutions organized into one view and receive notifications when their data is updated.
This information can help patients better understand their health history, have informed conversations with physicians and family members, and make future decisions. Health Records data is encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode.
As a self-proclaimed former inner-city kid, Boston Red Sox fan and “data guy,” Dr. Harrington says “any time you can put information in patients’ and doctors’ hands and allow there to be more informed decision making, that is the best of all.” In a world where patients have more technological access to data than ever, a platform like Health Records is, in his words, “an important maneuver for patient empowerment and the way the world needs to be.”
Years ago, a patient who had trouble breathing came into Dr. Paul Testa of NYU Langone’s emergency department and showed their Medical ID on their iPhone. The phone provided Dr. Testa with relevant information — like allergy details — to be able to support the patient’s care. “With that information, I could make inferences about who my patient was when they couldn’t tell me themselves,” he says. “Now, there’s a whole different world on our patients’ and my phone.”
As Chief Medical Information Officer at NYU Langone, Dr. Testa works to improve the digital experience for patients and colleagues that gives them more power and better care. Eight generations of his family have practiced as physicians and he is invested in improving the family trade through technology.
When it comes to patients coming into the ER, Dr. Testa says “there’s always some chaos that got you there” and he points to technology helping to facilitate more meaningful conversations. For example, he implemented a new service for ER doctors through Apple Watch’s push notifications.

Today, 35 doctors can request notifications for vital lab results so they see the results and respond quickly as well as be notified as their patients progress through the system from arrival to discharge. He believes Health Records “is an incredible first step to being able to have the patient take possession of their own information,” but more importantly, “it highlights where we’re going to end up.”

The new Health Records feature was previously available to patients who joined the Apple Beta Software Program. Today, patients from nearly 40 health institutions listed below can view their medical records simply by updating their iOS software on their iPhone.

US visa screening to check your Facebook, Twitter, other social media history now

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Reminiscent of the erstwhile Cold War polemics, the US State Department will publish its new rules requiring new visitors and immigrants to the country to furnish the details of their social media history, from Facebook to Twitter, among others which may reveal their social practises, ideological inclination and mindset.

During the Cold War, leftist ideology was abhorred and in-depth scrutiny of educated visitors to the US was undertaken to vet those with pro-Soviet or pro-China ideological mindset. Now that the rivalry between the US and Russia is brewing again, the US State Department has invoked new rules of immigration clearance based on the past social media interactions, opinions and support explicitly made by the visitors or immigrants.

In addition, travelers will have to furnish their phone numbers, email addresses and travel history during the previous five years, and to reveal any immigration problems they have had, whether with the US or elsewhere. Another area will seek to probe any potential family connections to terrorism.

Above all, immigrants from countries where female genital mutilation is practised, especially in Africa, will be asked to get themselves aware of the ban on this practise in the US.

“This upgrade to visa vetting is long-overdue, and it’s appropriate to apply it to everyone seeking entry, because terrorism is a worldwide problem. The aim is to try to weed out people with radical or dangerous views,” said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Ms. Vaughan said the State Department should also screen female travelers who are intending to enter the U.S. for the purpose of having a child, which she termed “birth tourism.”

Initially, the Homeland Security Department had floated plans to track social media of immigrant applicants alone but the US State Department has decided to include even tourists and temporary period travelers under the scrutiny.

The new move is expected to affect nearly 14 million visitors and about 700,000 migrants, said the department.

Don Crocetti, a former senior fraud investigator for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said it makes sense to collect the information looking at social media information can’t be used on its own to deny approval.

“The use of social media is a wrench in their toolbox. It’s not that you use that same wrench for everything you do, but it’s a wrench, it’s a different-sized tool, and you have use that selectively,” he said.

The State Department said it already collects limited information about travel history and family relations. “Collecting this additional information from visa applicants will strengthen our process for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity,” the department said.

Six things you must definitely know about a call option

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Buying options may appear to be the easiest of trades to take up but there are a lot of nuances in buying of call options. Here are 7 things that you must know about a call option…

  1. A call options is a right to buy without the obligation

This is the most basic feature of a call option. The buyer of the call option gets a right to buy a stock or the index without the obligation. On the other hand, the seller of the call option has the obligation to sell the stock or the index without the right. For getting this right without the obligation the buyer of the option pays an option premium (option price) to the seller of the option. When you trade these options you are basically trading in these rights. When the price of SBI is Rs.250 then a call option with a strike price of Rs.255 may be available for Rs.3. This Rs.3 represents the value of the right for the buyer of the option.

  1. A call option is a wasting asset

What do we understand by a wasting asset? In India stock and index options are available in 3 contracts viz. near month, mid month and far month. The contracts typically expire on the last Thursday of the month. The option value is a value for the right without the obligation. As the date of expiry approaches this value of this right keeps gradually reducing. In fact, as the option expiry date approaches, the value of the option starts falling drastically. In the above case, if the price of SBI is Rs.250 then the value of the Rs.255 SBI call option will approach 0 as the contract approaches the expiry date.

  1. Value of a call options has two components

This is a very important aspect of options that traders need to understand. Let us understand this with the example of 3 different strike call options of the same stock for the same expiry. Let us assume that the stock price of Tata Steel is Rs.651. Let us look at the break-up in value of 3 different types of options of the same expiry…

Particulars

Rs.630 Call (ITM)

Rs.650 Call (ATM)

Rs.670 Call (OTM)

Option Price

Rs.29

Rs.10

Rs.4

Intrinsic Value

Rs.21

Rs.1

Rs.0

Time Value

Rs.8

Rs.9

Rs.4

As we can see in the above instance, the in-the-money (ITM) call has intrinsic value and time value while the OTM option has only time value.

  1. Call options are positively impacted by market price and volatility

The relationship between the various variables and the value of an option is captured by the Black Scholes model. The market price obviously has a positive relationship with the call option. If Reliance CMP is Rs.920 and the Rs.925 call is quoting at Rs.12, then if the CMP goes up to Rs.925 the option will obviously go up. What about volatility? Volatility means the stock is likely to see violent fluctuations which could be on either side. If it is against the buyer then the maximum loss is anyways capped by the premium. If the volatility is favouring the buyer then the option will be profitable. That is why volatility is always favouring the call option value.

  1. Call options are negatively impacted by strike price and dividends…

There are 2 factors that negatively impact the value of a call option. Let us look at the strike price first. When it comes to a call option, the low strikes will always be more valuable than the higher strikes. So as you move lower down the strikes, you see the value of the call option increasing. Then what about dividends? One can argue that option holders do not earn dividends. But stock holders do and dividend payments reduce the stock price and therefore reduce the value of the call option.

  1. When you sell a call option, your margins are like in the case of futures

Buying a call option is quite simple from the margining perspective as you only have to pay the premium margin. But when you sell a call option, there are a variety of margin payments. Firstly, there is the initial margin to be paid when you sell a call option. If the price of the stock goes up then the short-call position goes against you. In that case, there is also mark-to-margin that is payable. When you have sold a call option your margining liability is exactly like in the case of futures.

The best use of a call option is to hedge or protect your risk when you are short on the stock or you or short on futures.

How exactly does this work?

Existing Position

SBI at Rs.220

SBI at Rs.255

SBI at Rs.290

Short on SBI Futures at Rs.253

Profit on short Futures – Rs.33 (253-220)

Loss on short Futures – Rs.-2 (253-255)

Loss on short futures – Rs.-37 (253-290)

How to hedge

Loss on the Call Option– Rs.-3 (premium)

Loss on the Call Option – Rs.-3 (premium)

Profit on Call option – Rs.+32 (290-255-3)

Buy SBI 255 Call at Rs.3

Net profit / loss

Net profit / loss

Net profit / loss

Max risk = Rs.5

+Rs.30

Rs.-5

Rs.-5

As can be seen in the above case the maximum loss on the hedge is limited to Rs.-5, irrespective of how high the price of SBI goes. That is the power of hedging with a call option.

Mis-estimating travel time hinders people from walking or cycling to work: Study

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Worries about the extra time needed to walk or bike to work is a big reason why people hop into their cars for work though walking or biking probably wouldn’t take as long as they think, said a study.

When researchers asked 253 faculty and staff and 252 students at Penn State in a study to estimate how long it would take them to bike or walk to a common location in town, they found that the majority of people estimated incorrectly. Most of the participants thought it would take longer than it actually did.

The participants were asked about how often they drove, took the bus, walked or biked to campus; how they felt about active travel; and how physically fit they were. They also answered questions about how long they thought it would take them to walk or bike from their home to campus. Actual travel times were calculated using Google Maps.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that about 91 percent of faculty and staff incorrectly estimated how long it would take to walk to campus, and about 93 percent misestimated how long it would take to bike.

Students were a little better at estimating travel times — about 55 percent incorrectly estimated walking times and about 43 percent misestimated biking times. Almost everyone who was not accurate overestimated the travel time.

Melissa Bopp, associate professor of kinesiology, Penn State, said the results help the researchers better understand the barriers keeping people from walking or biking. Bopp said they also found several characteristics that could predict if someone was more likely to be "discordant," or likely to estimate travel times incorrectly.

Faculty and staff who thought parking was more available and accessible were more discordant, and women were more likely to be more discordant than men. In contrast, people who rode a bike or walked more often were more likely to accurately predict travel times.

The results are published in Transportmetrica.

Hubble finds first galaxy without dark matter; Stunned scientists in dark for scientific explanation

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How can a galaxy be there without dark matter? The galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 challenges currently-known theories of galaxy formation as it negates everything we know about nature of dark matter.

First identified with the Dragonfly Telephoto Array (DFA) and later observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Gemini Observatory and the Keck Observatory, the galaxy without dark matter stunned scientists.

Since 1884 astronomers have invoked dark matter to explain why galaxies do not fly apart, given the speed at which they move within galaxies. From Kepler’s Second Law it is expected that the rotation velocities of stars will decrease with distance from the centre of a galaxy. This is not observed in NGC 1052-DF2, which resides about 65 million light-years away in the NGC 1052 Group, which is dominated by a massive elliptical galaxy called NGC 1052.

This large, fuzzy-looking galaxy is so diffuse that astronomers can clearly see distant galaxies behind it. This ghostly galaxy is not well-formed. It does not look like a typical spiral galaxy, but it does not look like an elliptical galaxy either. Based on the colours of its globular clusters, the galaxy is about 10 billion years old. However, even the globular clusters are strange: they are twice as large as typical groups of stars.

All of these oddities pale in comparison to the weirdest aspect of this galaxy: NGC 1052-DF2 is missing most, if not all, of its dark matter. The galaxy contains only a tiny fraction of dark matter that astronomers would expect for a galaxy this size. But how it formed is a complete mystery.

"I spent an hour just staring at this image," said lead researcher Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University. "This thing is astonishing: a gigantic blob so sparse that you see the galaxies behind it. It is literally a see-through galaxy."

This discovery makes all the current theories on the distribution of dark matter and its influence on galaxy formation redundant or partly false. "There is no theory that predicts these types of galaxies — how you actually go about forming one of these things is completely unknown," says co-author Allison Merritt from Yale University.

The MOND theory — Modified Newtonian Dynamics — suggests that the phenomena usually attributed to dark matter can be explained by modifying the laws of gravity. The result of this would be that a signature usually attributed to dark matter should always be detected, and is an unavoidable consequence of the presence of ordinary matter.

However, the discovery of NGC 1052-DF2 demonstrates that dark matter is somehow separable from galaxies. This is only expected if dark matter is bound to ordinary matter through nothing but gravity. Now researchers are pondering possible explanations for this missing dark matter in NGC 1052-DF2.

Did a cataclysmic event such as the birth of a multitude of massive stars sweep out all the gas and dark matter? Or did the growth of the nearby massive elliptical galaxy NGC 1052 billions of years ago play a role in NGC 1052-DF2’s dark matter deficiency? These ideas, however, still do not explain how this galaxy formed.


NGC 1052-DF2 is missing its dark matter. The galaxy contains only a tiny fraction of dark matter that astronomers would expect for a galaxy this size. But how it formed is a complete mystery.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)

Facebook, a spy unto itself? Reminds Indian users of ‘Chitragupta’s Chitta’

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The darker side of Facebook is an open book for everyone now. On Monday, March 26, the social networking giant, which owns the popular WhatsApp too, has confirmed that it collects automatically all the details about you whenever you make a call or send an SMS. The info collected is instantly passed on to its servers located in its headquarters for storage.

Facebook never asks you for permission as you are subjected to its whimsical diktat once you sign for its app, especially the free WhatsApp. Once you are locked in, all your secrets are part of the company and it holds no bars selling your info to a third party for a pittance or even for free in the name of research, irrespective of your consent. All in the name of improving user experience.

Essentially, Facebook is building a 360 degree secret profile of each and every person and once it’s done, the data is king and so is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. For many modern era techies, this may sound whimsical but for those familiar with Hindu mythology, this should not sound strange.

Once this info is available, Facebook can sell it to your future employers, your future governments, your spies and your enemies. This is precisely what we know from our epics about "Chitragupta’s Chitta", which is familiar to Indians, especially the Telugus like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Upon their death, Chitragupta, Lord Yama’s book-keeper, has the task of deciding heaven or the hell for the humans. His ‘chitta’ or book of deeds is believed to contain every bit of information on every person’s misdeeds and good deeds for review. Nothing gets escaped from his Chitta book. Same is the case with Facebook now.

When questioned, Facebook said: "Call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android. This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about, and provides you with a better experience across Facebook."

Almost every social media network does this but Facebook is not stopping after you import your contacts. It keeps a tab on your future calls to your friends and the SMS or WhatsApp messages you are sending elsewhere. so, it knows who you talk to more frequently or in touch with often. It can build the entire profile of your friends’ network and all about your ‘own’ world that you may not even share with you parents or spouse.

Facebook has told authorities across the world that they obtained consent from the users when they sign in for Facebook Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android, or log into Messenger on an Android device. The user has been given the option "to continuously upload your contacts as well as your call and text history."

Here’s how Facebook explained that you can opt out of its tracking:

First of all, deny Facebook when its asks access to your contacts whenever you are installing its apps. How to do this?

On Facebook Messenger:

Go to settings > People > Turn off Contact Sync.

To delete previously uploaded contacts, go to this page, log into your account and delete contacts.

On Facebook Lite: Go to Settings > Turn off Continuous Contacts Upload.

Next, turn off Sync Your Call and Text History.

​Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 10, 2014 (PIB Photo)

CBSE cancels Class 12 Economics & Class X Maths papers, orders re-exam

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Amid complaints that Class 12 Economics paper was leaked, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has cancelled the exam and decided to hold the re-exam for which the date will be announced within a week, said the board. Even the Class 10 mathematics paper, which was described tough by many students, stands cancelled and a re-exam will be held but the board did not give any specific reason for this.

This is the second time that the CBSE has admitted that its question paper for Class 12 was leaked, after the leak of physics paper in the north-east in 2014. Despite clear evidence, the board refused to re-hold the exam. But this time, confronted with WhatsApp everywhere, it has agreed to hold the exam again.

"With the view to uphold the sanctity of the Board Examinations and in the interest of the fairness to the students, the Board (CBSE) has decided to reconduct the examinations in the following subjects. Dates for fresh examinations and the other details shall be hosted on the CBSE website within a week," the board said on its website.

Class 12 Economics paper was conducted on Tuesday, March 26, 2018 but soon reports appeared that a hand written question paper had been leaked on WhatsApp a day before the exam. When some teachers found the question paper with the same questions, they were stunned and alerted the Board.

Earlier, Delhi government’s Depty CM Manish Sisodia too raised complaints on the purported leakage of Accountancy paper of Class 12 exam but CBSE denied the paper leak. "There has been no leakage of the question paper. All the seals have been found intact at all the exam centres," the Board said. It said later that "at local level, some miscreants tried to play mischief by circulating messages through WhatsApp and other social media to disturb the sanctity of examinations."

Apple launches new 9.7″ iPad, available in India from April @ Rs.28K

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Apple has finally updated its iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus, besides giving it a facelift on performance, priced at $329 onwards. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil provides users to be more creative and productive, from sketching ideas to jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots, said the company.

The new iPad features a large Retina display, the A10 Fusion chip and advanced sensors to deliver immersive augmented reality, and provides unmatched portability, ease of use and all-day battery life, claims the company. “iPad is our vision for the future of computing and hundreds of millions of people around the world use it every day at work, in school and for play,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing.

The new addition, Apple Pencil, helps users with more creative tools. The new iPad has the A10 Fusion chip, combined with a big Retina display, advanced cameras and sensors that provide AR experience.

The 9.7-inch Retina display features a higher-resolution touch sensor that enables Apple Pencil support. First introduced for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil has become a popular and versatile tool among students, professionals and creatives and is now available to other customers.

Apple Pencil not only gives fluid and natural drawing experience but also its advanced sensors measure both pressure and tilt, and provide pixel-perfect accuracy and low latency for activities from note taking to illustration in apps like Notability, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Microsoft Office, said the company in a statement.

iPad is also coming with palm rejection technology making it possible to rest your hand on the screen while you use Apple Pencil.

The new iPad features the Apple-designed A10 Fusion chip with 64‑bit desktop-class architecture, delivering 40 percent faster CPU and 50 percent faster graphics performance for seamless multitasking and graphics-intensive apps.

The front- and rear-facing cameras offer exceptional low-light performance and HD video recording for document scanning, moviemaking and FaceTime calls.

iPad is designed for powerful AR apps with its large Retina display, powerful chip, enhanced cameras and advanced sensors.
The new iPad is a stunning, large viewfinder for immersive AR experiences.

Its Retina display, powerful chip, enhanced cameras and advanced sensors, including a gyroscope and accelerometer for accurate motion tracking, are designed to support the next generation of AR apps.

Built for durability and mobility, the new 9.7-inch iPad features an aluminum unibody construction and ultrafast wireless that can deliver two times faster cellular data connections, so it is even easier to stay connected anywhere.

With Apple SIM, customers can connect to wireless data plans right from their device when traveling in more than 180 countries and regions.

iOS 11 makes iPad more capable than ever with features like enhanced multitasking.

iOS 11 introduces powerful new features for iPad. The Dock provides quick access to frequently used apps and documents from any screen, and makes it easier to multitask with Split View and Slide Over.

Drag and Drop makes moving images, text and files between apps easier than ever. Apple Pencil is more deeply integrated into iPad with support for inline drawing.

The Files app provides a central place to access and organize files no matter where they are located — on iPad or in the cloud with built-in support for iCloud Drive and providers like Box, Dropbox and others.

Pricing and Availability

iPad comes in silver, space gray and a new gold finish and starts at an Apple retail price of $329 (US) for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $459 (US) for the 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model at apple.com and Apple Stores.

It is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).

Apple Pencil is available for purchase separately for $99 (US).

Schools can purchase iPad starting at $299 (US) and Apple Pencil for $89 (US).

iPad is available to order today and starts delivering to customers and arriving in stores later this week in more than 25 countries and regions:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the US.

India, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and other countries and regions will follow in April, with South Korea and other countries and regions following in May.

Smart Covers for iPad are available for $39 (US) in charcoal gray, midnight blue, (RED), white and pink sand at apple.com and Apple Stores.

Every customer who buys iPad from Apple will be offered free Personal Setup, in-store or online, to help them set up email and iMessage, and download apps from the App Store.

Pensioner’s Portal opens at EPFO website

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EPFO has launched the pensioner’s portal https://mis.epfindia.gov.in/PensionPaymentEnquiry, at EPFO website by which all EPFO pensioners can get the details of their pension-related information including pension payment order number, Pensioner’s Payment Order details, Pensioner’s passbook information and other related information such as date of credit of pension, submission of pensioner’s life certificate among others.

It helps to keep track of pensioners’ life certificate, in case of its non-submission/rejection and it also provides the details and the reason of stoppage of pension, if any.

Track e KYC:

The enhanced “Track eKYC” facility for the convenience of members have been launched to check the status of Aadhaar seeded against their UAN and to figure out the specific mismatch details. The facility has been made available at EPFO’s website www.epfindia.gov.in >> Online Services >> e-KYC Portal>> TRACK eKYC.

Using the facility, EPFO members can now track online the status of Aadhaar seeded against his/ her UAN. While using the facility, the member will have to provide his/her UAN. After entering his/ her UAN the member can click the “Track eKYC” button and the exact status in respect of his/her UAN will be displayed on the screen.

EC Constitutes Panel to Probe Leak of Karnataka Poll Dates

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The Election Commission of India has taken serious note of the leak of Karnataka elections date by a BJP functionary before its official announcement.

In a statement, the EC said, “It was brought to the notice of the Commission that minutes before the official announcement of the Election Schedule, Mr Amit Malviya (BJP party IT head) in a Tweet had already tweeted the date of Poll as 12th May, 2018 and date of Counting as 18th May, 2018.”

In another Tweet, he also gave a reference of Times Now News Channel as his source. Though, the reports in tweets mentioned the Polling date as 12th May, 2018 and Counting date as 18th May, 2018, it was clarified that actual schedule of Karnataka Assembly Elections has the Counting date as 15th May, 2018.

The Commission said it has immediately directed that the matter be probed and necessary and effective action be taken. Accordingly, Commission has constituted a Committee of senior officers of Election Commission of India to investigate the matter and give its report within seven days.

“The Committee would also suggest steps needed to prevent any such eventuality in future. The Committee set up by the Commission has already sought information from the concerned media organizations and individuals,” said the EC.

Karnataka Assembly Elections from May 12, Full Text of Schedule, Code of Conduct

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The Election Commission has declared the agenda for Karnataka state assembly elections scheduled to be held on May 12 but the BJP party IT head had tweeted the info before the official announcement, embarrassing the Election Commission.

The term of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka will expire on 28 may 2018 and the EC is required to hold elections before the expiry date. Accordingly, the EC has announced the schedule as below:

The Commission said it has prepared the Schedule keeping in mind s climatic conditions, academic calendar, major festivals, prevailing law and order situation in the State, availability of Central Police Forces, time needed for movement, transportation and timely deployment of forces and in-depth assessment of other relevant ground realities.

Schedule for General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, 2018

Poll Events Schedule
Date of Issue of Gazette Notification 17.04.2018 (TUE)
Last Date of Nominations 24.04.2018 (TUE)
Date for Scrutiny of Nominations 25.04.2018 (WED)
Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures 27.04.2018 (FRI)
Date of Poll 12.05.2018 (SAT)
Date of Counting 15.05.2018 (TUE)
Date before which election shall be completed 18.05.2018 (FRI)

 

Karnataka Assembly Seat Matrix:

(1)       Assembly Constituencies

The total number of Assembly Constituencies in the State of Karnataka and seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, are:

State Total No. of ACs Reserved for SCs Reserved for STs
Karnataka 224 36 15

 

 (2)      Electoral Rolls

The existing electoral rolls of all the Assemblies Constituencies in the State of Karnataka have been revised, with reference to 01.01.2018 as the qualifying date.  Final  publication  of  electoral  rolls has  been  done  on 28.02.2018 on the NVSP website (www.nvsp.in) / CEO, Karnataka website (www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in). As per the final electoral roll, the number of electors in the State is as follows:

State Total No. of electors as per draft electoral rolls Total No. of electors as per final electoral rolls
Karnataka 4,90,06,901

(Approx. 4.90 Cr.)

 4,96,82,357

(Approx. 4.968 Cr.)

 

(3)       Polling Stations and Special Facilitation

The number of Polling Stations of Karnataka are as follows:

 

 

State

 No. of Polling

Stations in 2013

 No. of Polling

Stations in 2018

  

% Increase
Karnataka 52,034 56,696 9%

 

 (4)        Special Arrangement For Women:

All- women Managed Polling Stations’ shall be set up in one polling station for each Assembly constituency where the entire polling staff, including the police and security personnel, shall be women. Total 224 Women managed Polling Stations will be setup for the entire state of Karnataka for the first time.

(5)        Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs):

EVMs & VVPATs shall be used in all the polling stations of all the Karnataka to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election. The Commission has already made arrangements to ensure availability of adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of election.

The First Level Check of EVMs and VVPATs has been completed in the presence of representatives of political parties. A two-stage randomization of EVMs and VVPATs will also be done. In the first stage, all the EVMs and VVPATs stored in the district EVM warehouse will be randomized by the District Election Officer (DEO) in the presence of the representatives of the recognized political parties for Assembly Constituency-wise allocation.

Second randomization of EVMs and VVPATs will be done at RO level before candidate setting of EVMs and VVPATs for polling station-wise allocation. This is done in the presence of General Observer of Election Commission of India, contesting candidates/their agents. This process will be carried out after finalization of the contesting candidates. At this stage also, candidates or their agents/representatives will be allowed to check and satisfy themselves in every manner about the error-free functionality of the EVMs and VVPATs.

On a pilot basis, VVPAT from One (1) Polling Station in each Assembly Constituency will be randomly selected by the Returning Officer by Draw of Lot in presence of all candidates to count VVPAT paper slips for verification of the result obtained from the Control Unit. Thus, paper slip for one polling station in each Assembly Constituency will be counted in Karnataka.

VVPATs will be used along with EVMs in all polling stations of all the 224 Assembly Constituencies of poll going state of Karnataka to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election. A comprehensive SVEEP programme has already been launched in Karnataka to increase voters’ awareness and education about the VVPATs.

(6)       Model Code of Conduct

The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately from now onwards. All the provisions of the Model Code will apply to the whole of Karnataka and will be applicable to all candidates, political parties and, the State Government of Karnataka. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government insofar as announcements/policy decisions pertaining to/for this State is concerned.

The Commission has made elaborate arrangements for ensuring the effective implementation of the MCC Guidelines. Any violations of these Guidelines would be strictly dealt with and the Commission re-emphasizes that the instructions issued in this regard from time to time should be read and understood by all Political Parties, contesting candidates and their agents/representatives, to avoid any misgivings or lack of information or inadequate understanding/interpretation. The government of the poll-bound State has also been directed to ensure that no misuse of official machinery/position is done during the MCC period.

The Commission has also issued instructions for swift, effective and stringent action for enforcement of Model Code of Conduct during the first 72 hours of announcement of the election schedule and also for maintaining extra vigilance and strict enforcement action in the Last 72 hours prior to the close of polls.  These instructions have been issued in the form of Standard Operating

Procedures (SOPs) for compliance by the field election machinery.

(7)    Election Expenditure Monitoring:

Some new initiatives taken by the Commission to strengthen the Expenditure Monitoring mechanism are:

(a)   Standard Operating Procedure for Seizure and release of cash: For the purpose of maintaining purity of elections, the Election Commission of India has issued the Standard Operating Procedure for Flying Squads and Static Surveillance Teams, constituted for keeping vigil over excessive campaign expenses, distribution of items of bribe in cash or in kind, movement of illegal arms, ammunition, liquor, or antisocial elements etc. in the constituencies during election process.

(b)     Accounting of the expenditure incurred for campaign vehicles – on the basis of permissions granted: It has come to the notice of the Commission that the candidates take permission from the Returning Officer for use of vehicles for campaign purpose, but some candidates do not show the vehicle hiring charges or fuel expenses in their election expenditure account. Therefore, it has been decided that unless the candidate intimates the R.O. for withdrawing the permission, the notional expenditure on account of campaign vehicles will be calculated based on the number of vehicles for which permissions is granted by the Returning Officer.

(c)     Account Reconciliation Meeting: In order to reduce litigation relating to expenditure accounts, a reconciliation meeting will be convened by the DEOs before final submission of the accounts, on the 26th day after the declaration of the results.

(d)     All expenditure incurred by those candidates, their party agents or party leaders on their travel, boarding, lodging etc. who travel to overseas countries for the purpose of canvassing in their favour to seek votes of overseas electors residing there, would be deemed to be the expenditure incurred or authorized by the candidates in connection with their election and will have to be included in their account of election expenses. Moreover, any inducement to overseas electors by way of air tickets or any other allurements to them, in cash or kind, to come to India for the purpose of voting at the election would amount to the electoral offence of ‘bribery’ within the meaning of section 171B of the IPC as also the corrupt practice of ‘Bribery’ within the meaning of section 123(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951.

(e)     Expenditure incurred on candidates’ Booth/(Kiosk) and on TV/Cable Channel / Newspaper owned by party for promoting the electoral prospects of the candidate in the account of the candidate:

The Commission, on further examination of the relevant provisions of section 77(1) of the R. P. Act, 1951, had decided that the candidates’ booths set up outside the polling stations should hereinafter be deemed to have been set up by the candidates as part of their individual campaign and not by way of general party propaganda and as such all  expenditure incurred on such candidates’ booths shall be deemed to have been incurred/authorized by the candidate/his election agent so as to be included in his account of election expenses.

 

(f)      Ceiling Of Election Expenses For Candidates:

The election expenses ceiling for candidates has been revised by the Government of India vide Notification dated 28th  February, 2014. As per the revised ceilings, the maximum limit of election expenses for the Assembly Constituencies is Rs. 28 lakh per candidate for the state of Karnataka. All candidates are required to furnish their accounts of expenditure within 30 days of declaration of results.

(g)    Final Accounts By Political Parties:

All Political Parties sponsoring candidates for the Legislative Assembly elections are required to maintain day-to-day accounts of all election campaign expenses and submit the accounts to the Commission within 75 days of the completion of such elections. Such accounts will be uploaded on the website of the Commission for public viewing.

(8)        New ITApplications To Be Used For Forthcoming General Elections:

(a)  SAMADHAN: Public Grievance Redressal & Monitoring System:

A comprehensive, robust and reliable pubic Grievance Redress System has been developed by the Election Commission to provide a common platform for all complaints, grievances, concerns and suggestions lodged by any member of the public, including our various stakeholders like political parties, candidates, civil society groups etc. a citizen has the multi-modal facility to lodge any election-related complaint via bouquet of channels/sources like website, email, letter, fax, SMS, call center ( Call center number is 1950) etc. A mobile app shall also be made available for the people, so that they can submit complaints with photographs/videos on the common platform.

(b)  SUVIDHA: Single Window Permission System:

A single window system for giving election-related permission/clearness within 24 hours has been created. In this system, candidates and political parties can apply for permissions for meetings, rallies, vehicles, temporary election office, loudspeakers etc at a single location, where back-end convergence of various authorities/departments has been done. This system is put in place at every RO level in each sub-division which will provide for applying, processing, granting and monitoring permissions in a synergistic manner. However in case of permission for helicopter usage/ landing and use of helipads, the application shall have to be submitted at least 36 hours in advance.

(c)   SUGAM: Vehicle Manaement System:

It is an IT based Vehicle Management System with the facility of issuance of requisition letters for vehicles, capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile number and bank details of owner and drive, transfer of vehicles from one district to another district etc.

(d) Webcasting /CCTV at poling stations:

Webcasting at identified critical stations for LIVE monitoring of election process, to keep a check on illegal activities such as booth capturing, money distribution and bogus voting and to bring about complete transparency in the voting process shall be undertaken. Further, during the election process, CCTV monitoring and webcasting shall also be done at various border check-posts, check-nakas and other sensitive and critical locations across the constituencies to keep a strict vigil on any nefarious activities designed to vitiate the electoral process.

(e) Voter Centric Information Dissseminatin Initiatives on Website of CEO, Karnataka (www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in):

It is the constant endeavor of the Commission to facilitate the voters in accessing the multifarious election-related services and information. As part of this vision, an SMS-based search facility and voter friendly interactive website has already been launched by CEO, Karnataka and successfully working.

(f) One-way Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot for Service Voters:

All registered Service Voters will be delivered e-postal ballot of their respective constituency through electronically transmitted postal ballot (ETPBS), which will be printed and after casting the vote will be sent back to Returning Officer by post.

 (9)      Other New Initiatives         

  1. Use of VVPATs at all Polling Stations:

VVPATs will be used along with EVMs in all 56,696 Polling Stations of 224 Assembly Constituencies of poll going state of Karnataka to enhance the transparency and credibility of the elections. On a pilot basis, VVPAT from One (1) Polling Station in each Assembly Constituency will be randomly selected to count VVPAT paper slips for verification of the result obtained from the control unit.

  1. All Women Managed Polling Stations:

All- women Managed Polling Stations’ shall be set up in one polling station for each Assembly Constituency where the entire polling staff, including the police and security personnel, shall be Women. Total 224 Women Managed Polling Stations will be setup for the entire state of Karnataka for the first time.

  1. Booth Level Planning:

First time in the Country an innovative “bottom up” approach of booth level planning and management has been implemented in the State of Karnataka where in Booth Level plans for 56,696 Polling Stations have been prepared containing all information and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for response for smooth conduct of elections at each Polling Station. These booth level Plans have been used to prepare AC level, District level and State level Election Management Plans.

  1. E-Atlas :

As a new innovation, GIS based planning, implementation and monitoring of various elections related activities are being implemented in the State of Karnataka for Election Planning.

  1. E-Payment Gateway for Goods and Services:

All Payments will be made through e-payment gateway for (i) Timely Payment for all the Civilian Officials/Police Officials deployed for “Election Duties” (ii) Timely Payment to all the Owners of the Vehicles which are Requisitioned for Election Purpose , (iii) Timely Payment for all the Vendors who provide Goods and Services for Election related Duties in all the Assembly Constituencies.

  1. Registration of Service Voters and ETPBS:

Earlier, the Commission implemented ETPBS (Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System) on pilot basis in 4 states of Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand and Manipur and in the entire state of Goa. ETPBS was used in all the State Assembly Elections conducted during 2017-2018 and will be used in Karnataka election also.

  1. Friendly Polling Stations for differently abled electors:

Special facilitation voting at all Polling Stations would be ensured for all differently-abled, said the EC in its statement released on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.

Elon Musk joins trend, deletes SpaceX, Tesla Facebook pages

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As Delete facebook is gaining momentum, SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk has removed the verified official pages of his top companies on Friday, minutes after a comment on Twitter in support of the #DeleteFacebook movement.

Soon after deletion, Elon Musk quipped, “What’s Facebook?”. Earlier, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton urged his followers to delete Facebook by tweeting it’s time to delete Facebook following the data breach scam.

Musk, CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, soon said, “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” Within 30 minutes, the verified Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, Inc were removed.

The saga of Facebook has entered an unprecedented phase when its CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that more than 50 million users’ data had been compromised by political research firm Cambridge Analytica.

The boycott “#DeleteFacebook” started soon after prompting Musk’s reaction.

Rumours of Martial Law abound in Pakistan as Musharraf’s return expected

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Refuting rumours about a possible judicial coup or martial law in Pakistan, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi on Saturday said the country is actually heading to elections in July to elect the next government.

The remarks came when Pakistan Awami Ittehad (PAI) Secretary General Iqbal Dar told media on Friday that their alliance leader and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will return to the country in April.

Musharraf is living in exile in Dubai, after he was declared an absconder by an anti-terrorism court in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

“There was a need to support the judiciary and armed forces, adding political parties should sign an agreement to decide how the country would be run in the future. If the ruling parties go for confrontation with the judiciary and armed forces, they will not be able to run the country’s affairs smoothly,” he said.

Refuting rumours that Musharraf’s return may incite martial law, Prime Minister Abbassi said the democratic process will continue in Pakistan and there is no possibility of any judicial coup or martial law in Pakistan.

Abbassi said his government has carried out several infrastructure projects. “The present government has carried out historic work in different spheres, including infrastructure development and energy,” he said while inaugurating the first cable and Aluminium Alloy Plant at Sundur Industrial Area in Lahore.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has added 10,000 MW of electricity so far and will meet future energy requirements effectively, he said on the occasion. Once the infrastructure is ready, attracting foreign investments will follow, he said. The current year’s growth rate of Pakistan is expected to be around 5.6 percent and the government will aim at 6 per cent next year, he said.

Water from thin air possible, Indian-origin scientist behind MIT’s new device

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Getting water from air may sound magic to many but scientists from MIT, including an Indian-origin postdoc fellow, have succeeded to get drinkable water right out of the driest of desert air.

Since some moisture is always present even in the most arid places on Earth, a practical way to extract that moisture remained the major challenge for many decades and now researchers at MIT have proved it feasible.

The new device, successfully field-tested in the dry air of Tempe, Arizona, was reported in the journal Nature Communications and includes some significant improvements over the initial concept that was revealed last year in a paper in Science, says Evelyn Wang, a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT who was the senior author of both papers.

Indian-origin MIT postdoc Sameer Rao and former graduate student Hyunho Kim were the lead authors of the latest paper, along with four others at MIT and the University of California at Berkeley.

They were able to use new high-surface-area materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to extract potable water from very dry desert air with relative humidities as low as 10 percent.

In the past, similar methods developed for extracting water from air require 100 percent humidity for fog-harvesting methods, and above 50 percent for dew-harvesting refrigeration, which require large amounts of energy for cooling. But the new system could potentially get water even in the world’s driest deserts.

“We can actually harvest the water, even in subzero dewpoints,” said Wang. The test device was powered solely by sunlight, and is too small in size but needs to be scaled up by three times to get about a quarter-liter of water per day per kilogram of MOF, the researchers said.

Not only does this system work at lower humidities than dew harvesting does, said Sameer Rao, but those systems require pumps and compressors that can wear out, whereas “this has no moving parts. It can be operated in a completely passive manner, in places with low humidity but large amounts of sunlight.”

The current version can only operate over a single night-and-day cycle with sunlight, Kim added.

Tiangong-1 may burn in sky before hitting any city

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China’s first model space station Tiangong-1 is slated to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere between March 30 and April 6, and the possible places where the debris will fall has remained elusive still.

Currently, the 8.5-ton space station is descending into lower orbits, said Aerospace International, a research outfit that advises governments on space. Its calculation is that the space station may hit the northern states of the United States including cities like Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Des Moines, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City among others.

China has lost control of Tiangong-1 six years ago and Taingong-2 has replaced its role but the out-of-control space station is proving unpredictable for scientists though little damage is expected from its re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.

Usually, such decommissioned satellite or space station will be forced to self-burn in a controlled process or scheduled to burn up over the ocean to avoid endangering people.

In case of Tiangong-1, China’s space agency had announced two years ago that the space lab was out of control, making it difficult to estimate its re-entry accurately. Few space stations make it to the ground. It was launched to herald China’s entry into space research.

Scientists can predict with accuracy only when the space station gets closer to Earth. The major worry is that the out-of-control Tangong-1 contains hydrazine, which is a colourless liquid that is used in rocket fuels. It could be dangerous if humans get in contact with the liquid, which may cause dermatitis or itchy skin inflammation.

Dr Hugh Lewis from the University of Southampton told the Daily Mail:“When the spacecraft crosses the equator, it’s crossing the road at this point, and it does so really fast." The spaceship will produce a fireball once it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, which will be visible in the sky.

Usually space debris gets burned the moment it enters the earth but in Tiangong-1 case, scientists are predicting that some tiny parts may hit the surface of the earth and now predicting the exact place is taking the centre-stage.

Women T20I Tri-Series: Aussie women beat India in opening match

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The opening match of India vs. Australia in the women’s Twenty20 International (T20I) Tri-Series, that was played in Mumbai ended in disaster as the host team succumbed too early with 152 runs in their 20 overs, which was easily chased by Aussies to win by six wickets.

The match was kicked off on Thursday when India was asked to bat by the Aussies and opener Smriti Mandhana scored 67 runs off 41 balls, paving the way for the rest. Mithali Raj strengthened the game further and Anuja Patil scored 35 runs off 21 deliveries, adding momentum to the Indian innings.

On the Aussie team, Ashleigh Gardener and Ellyse Perry bowled taking one wicket each. Delissa Kimmince dismissed Patil with the last ball of the 19th over. With 11 balls to spare, the Australians won the match with ease.

Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami in the very first over dismissed Aussie opener Alyssa Healy and again hit a blow too when she bowled Gardener in the third over when the score was 29/2.

But opener Beth Mooney and Elyse Vilani persisted with 79 more runs together to bring the Australian innings back on track. Mooney scored 45 runs off 32 balls before being dismissed by Goswami in the 13th over.

Vilani, who scored 39 runs off 33 balls, soon followed Mooney six deliveries later when Poonam Yadav bowled and caught the ball to dismiss her.

However, the Australians were well in sight of victory by then and skipper Meg Lanning scored 35 runs off 25 balls to finish the job in style. Goswami scored high with 3 wickets in 30 runs.

Score Board:

India: 152/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 67, Anuja Patil 35; Ashleigh Gardener 2/22, Ellyse Perry 2/31) vs Australia: 156/4 in 18.1 overs (Beth Mooney 45, Elyse Vilani 39, Meg Lanning 35; Jhulan Goswami 3/30).

First look of Gopichand film ‘Pantham’ released

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Telugu hero Gopichand’s upcoming film ‘Pantham’, being produced by KK Radhamohan, has completed 60 percent of the shooting, said the producer on Wednesday. It is also the directorial debut film of screenwriter K. Chakravarthy who has written earlier for films such as Balupu, Power and Jai Lava Kusa.

This film is a milestone for Gopichand, marking his 25th release and the first look of the film’s poster was released recently. On the occasion, producer Radhamohan said, “It is quite a happy moment for us, as a production house, to be associated with Gopichand’s landmark film. We have completed 60 per cent of the film’s shoot. Director Chakravarthy has come up with a wonderful story that will be high on the commercial elements."

He said Gopichand will be seen in a new look in the film, never seen before. "We are happy with the response to the response to the first look. Mehreen will be seen in a very good role in the film." Gopi Sunder’s music and Prasad Murella’s camerawork will be other key features in the film, he said.

"I appreciate the support of the rest of the cast and crew and it is only because of them all that we are going ahead on schedule and plan to release the film this summer,” he said.

The film that stars Gopichand, Mehreen, Prudhvi and Jayaprakash Reddy in key roles. Script was by Ramesh Reddy, screenplay by K. Chakravarthy and Bobby (K.S. Ravindra); Co-director: Bellamkonda Satyam Babu; Music: Gopi Sundar; DOP: Prasad Murella; Producer: KK Radhamohan; Direction: K Chakravarthy.


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[category, entertainment]

Indian Railways comes to the rescue of Bangalore traffic jams

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In view of increasing bumper-to-bumper slow-moving Bangalore traffic during the peak hours, Indian Railways has come out with a plan to run suburban trains between Bengaluru-Whitefield section, in addition to 26 suburban trains introduced elsewhere in the city in the last one year.

The project, involving Rs 492.87 crore, has been approved for construction. The 25 km stretch will connect six stations–Bengaluru Cantonment, Bengaluru East, Baiyyapannahalli, Krishnarajapuram, Hoodi and Whitefield, to benefit an estimated 62,000 daily commuters in this section, said the railway ministry in a statement.

To be completed by 2021, the project will help to ease the traffic in the burgeoning IT hub area of whitefield. Currently, 146 trains are running from Bengaluru and 94 trains from Yesvantpur stations, and out of them 122 are essentially suburban trains catering the commuters in the vicinity of Bengaluru.

The Railways said four additional suburban services between KSR Bengaluru-Baiyyappanahalli and Baiyappanahalli-Bengaluru have been introduced.

Indian Railways has been on a fast track these days introducing fast and online tendering system for infrastructure and timely settlement of tenders.

"It is once again reiterated that all tenders should be finalised within the normal validity period," wrote the Railway Board to all its production units as well as other departments recently, urging to follow a fixed timeline for execution of every contract.

CBSE Class 12 Maths paper a sigh of relief for many

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After a tough physics paper, CBSE Class 12 students faced a not-very-tough chemistry paper and in the same vein the mathematics paper on Wednesday turned out to be easy compared to the first two subjects, said science stream students.

The exam for CBSE class 12 mathematics exam was conducted today from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm and many teachers have expressed their satisfaction that the paper was not as tough as they had seen in 2016 or 2017. In 2016, a tough question maths paper was even mentioned in parliament discussions. The paper in 2017 was too lengthy, said many teachers.

Since physics, chemistry and maths decide the future of many engineering course aspirants, the amths paper should bring relief to many students, said coaching centre teachers.

The difficulty level has considerably come down in the maths paper, said one ex-IITian teacher for JEE.

However, reports said the class 12 accountancy paper was leaked though CBSE denied it later.

[category, EDUCATION]