News Digest: Successive govts have tended to pay lip service to farmers: M S Swaminathan

		THE TIMES OF INDIA
		Thursday, May 07, 2015
		Today's Headlines

		India
		Successive govts have tended to pay lip service to farmers: M S Swaminathan When farmer suicides are in the news, father of the Green Revolution M S Swaminathan speaks out against political one-upmanship in agriculture. BJP MP complains about ministers in party meeting Bharat Singh, party MP from Ballia in UP, is learnt to have created a brief flutter at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. CBI gets new chief vigilance officer CBI has appointed its joint director (policy) as chief vigilance officer to keep a tab on internal graft by employees. More India News»

		Business
		Flipkart looks to woo global talent Punit Soni, the recently appointed chief product officer at India's largest e-commerce player Flipkart, is a man with a mission. Honda to make 650cc-plus bikes in India Japan’s Honda Motor Co has decided to manufacture higher-powered bikes in India — 650cc to 1,000cc and beyond — as the company looks to increase market share after becoming the second-biggest maker ahead of home-grown players such as Bajaj Auto and TVS. Black burger debuts in India “You can have it in any colour — so long as it’s black,” said Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, about the Model T. More Business News»

		Environment
		Lion doubles kingdom, expands pawprint by 10,000 sq km The king of the jungle has doubled his kingdom in Gujarat over the past five years. From 10,500 sq km in the 2010 census, the big cats have widened their abode to 22,000 sq km in Saurashtra region as per preliminary reports of the lion census of 2015. Agitation demands Godavari river to be made pollution free Varous organisations in Nashik led by Ganga Godavari Panchkoti Purohit Sangh in association with the Nirmal Goda Abhiyan staged an agitation on Tuesday. Arctic ice cap is smallest since late 1970s The Arctic ice cap this year is the smallest it has been since the late 1970s, when satellite monitoring of the polar region began and the experts attribute the shrinkage to climate change and global warming. More Environment News»

		World
		Netanyahu forms new govt just ahead of deadline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held on to his job on Wednesday, announcing that he had hammered together a new coalition government just ahead of a midnight legal deadline. UK votes in most unpredictable election in decades British voters get to decide on Thursday who they want to rule the world's fifth-largest economy in a tight election that could yield weak government, propel the United Kingdom towards a vote on EU membership and stoke Scottish desire for secession. Separatists poised for offensive in Ukraine: US Pro-Russian separatists appear to be making preparations for a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine, US defense secretary Ashton Carter told lawmakers on Wednesday. More World News»

		Entertainment
		Irrfan: Deepika and I had barely said hi-hello He feels like running away when he’s offered an issue-based film, but then, he doesn’t want to do bland entertainers either. What made Priyanka Chopra thank Deepika? For the first time in their film careers, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone will be seen sharing screen space in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani. Piku introduces us to her world Here’s the protagonist telling us her story through her photographs... More Entertainment News»

		Science
		Now, muscles created from onion cells The humble onion is proving its strength outside the culinary world, enabling scientists to develop artificial muscles by using gold-plated cells of the vegetable. Pieces of Russian spaceship to fall on Earth tomorrow Russia said an unmanned supply ship set for the International Space Station will fall back to Earth on Friday and burn up in the atmosphere, after the spacecraft suffered a communications failure. Observed: Moment when a mind is changed In a first, researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist have recorded the moment-by-moment fluctuations in brain signals that occur when a monkey making free choices has a change of mind. More Science News»

		Sports
		Royal Challengers Bangalore crush Kings XI Punjab by 138 runs Chris Gayle bludgeoned his way to an astonishing 57-ball 117 as Royal Challengers Bangalore hammered Kings XI Punjab by 138 runs in their IPL match. Geeta Phogat wins bronze in Asian championship Geeta Phogat won a bronze medal in the Women's Freestyle 58kg category in the Senior Asian Wrestling championship in Doha on Wednesday. Nadal beats Johnson to reach Madrid Open 3rd round Rafael Nadal broke Steve Johnson's serve three times and advanced to the third round of the Madrid Open by defeating the American 6-4, 6-3. More Sports News»

		Technology
		Mitashi 50-inch smart HDTV at Rs 51,990 Mitashi has launched MiDE050v01 FS TV, a 50-inch FullHD smartTV, priced at Rs 51,990 and powered by Android. 4 reasons why Cognizant performed better than TCS, Infosys There are four major reasons that helped Cognizant to report a stellar show. Asians workers face bias at Google, Intel & other tech companies: Study Google, Yahoo and other major technology companies are far more inclined to hire Asians as computer programmers than to promote them to become managers or executive. More Technology News»

		Education
		Bombay HC relief for 4 engineering colleges in Maharashtra The Bombay high court has come to the aid of four of the 15 engineering colleges in the state who had been placed in the "no admission" category by AICTE for the academic year 2015-2016. DU may centralize sports fitness test Some significant changes have been proposed to make sports category admissions in Delhi University more centralized and less burdensome for colleges. IIM-K and the British Council conduct women social Entrepreneurship programme Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) inaugurated a 6-day Management Development Programme (MDP) on “Young Women Social Entrepreneurship Development Programme” scheduled from May 4 – 9, 2015 at IIMK campus in association with the British Council of India. This programme is specially designed for young women entrepreneurs. More Education News»

		Mumbai
		Govt may hike auto, taxi fares by 1 on Monday A Re-1 hike in auto and taxi fares may be announced on Monday, a government source said. The MMRTA on Monday has called for a meeting to decide on the fare hike issue. The decision is likely to be taken around 4pm, a source said. HC relief for 4 AICTE-barred engg colleges The Bombay HC has come to the aid of four of the 15 engineering colleges who had been placed in the “no admission” category by AICTE for the academic year 2015-2016. Man held for bid to extort flat in Juhu 40 year old man who allegedly used underworld elements to threatened a builder to get one bed room hall kitchen flat in upmarket of Juhu was arrested by the Anti Extortion cell of the city crime branch. More Mumbai News»

		Delhi
		Tata target: 400 MW solar power in 3 years By incentivizing rooftop solar generation, Tata Power Delhi aims to produce 400 MW of solar electricity in the next three years. DCW seeks Rajnath help on Vishwas 'affair' After Aam Aadmi Party member Kumar Vishwas failed to appear before Delhi Commission for Women on two consecutive days in a case in which an AAP volunteer approached DCW to resolve a marital dispute, its chairperson Barkha Singh wrote to home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday, asking him to intervene in the matter. Auto overturns, director hurt National Award-winning filmmaker Srijit Mukherji had a narrow escape on Tuesday night when the auto he was travelling in overturned at a bend on Nelson Mandela Marg. More Delhi News»

		Bangalore
		IT firm loses head office to JCBs When Moby K Babu, a techie, founded a search engine optimization company in 2006, his dream was to make it a one-stop destination for all web-related solutions. CM: Won't act against BDA layouts on lakes The drive to demolish and clear encroachments on lake and tank beds in and around the city has been suspended. Aspiring MLCs back GP poll candidates The two-phase polls to 5,844 gram panchayats scheduled on May 29 and June 2 have already put political parties into election mode. This is surprising since the polls will be held on a non-party basis. More Bangalore News»

		Hyderabad
		RTC unions toughen stand, reject govt appeal Barring minor incidents, the indefinite strike by Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) employees was total in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Wednesday, inconveniencing over 1.5 crore commuters. KCR leaves for Delhi with long wish list Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has an important appointment in New Delhi on Thursday.He is set to meet defence minister Manohar Parrikar with a wish list that the central government may find hard to fulfill. 3,500 buses off the roads in Hyderabad With nearly 3,500 APSRTC buses going off the roads in Greater Hyderabad, nearly 35 lakh commuters faced inconvenience in reaching their destinations on Wednesday, the first day of the indefinite strike. More Hyderabad News»

		Chennai
		Dhun of big data: Selling to rasikas As Carnatic music activity moves to ad driven online world, big data can help in target marketing. Artificial coral reef structures net big fish along Tamil Nadu coast They may not exactly be coralreefs but they are attracting schools of fish. And fisherfolk of 25 coastal villages in the state are smiling all the way to the bank. TB gnaws at Chennai men in their twilight One in every 100 men in Chennai aged between 55 and 64 has infectious pulmonary tuberculosis, five times higher than the incidence among women. More Chennai News»

		Ahmedabad
		Two more names crop up in NA scam probe Two more names have surfaced in investigation into the multi-crore NA Construction residential scheme scam. Crime branch officers said Noor Ahmed Talat of Juhapura and Sheetal Patel, a resident of Sola, were sleeping' partners in NA Construction. Traffic constable roughed up A traffic constable on duty at Temple crossroads on Ashram Road was roughed up on Wednesday night by two youths who were stopped for travelling on the wrong side. Who-drove-it: I have no idea, Vismay tells court The accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, Vismay Shah, on Wednesday told the court that his family owns 13 cars and he has no idea who drives which car. More Ahmedabad News»

		Allahabad
		AU scientist turns weed into HIV-I fighting agent Congress Grass Converted Into Silver Nanoparticle, possible cure for HIV-I UP Board academic session goes haywire UP Board academic calendar ignores summer vacations, schools worried about meeting deadlines. Few trains partially cancelled Railway administration has decided to partially/fully cancel some of the trains plying on Saturday and Sunday during May and June due to administrative reasons. More Allahabad News»

		Bhubaneswar
		Rayagada to develop 11 model panchayats The Rayagada district administration has prepared a blueprint to convert 11 out of 171 panchayats in the district into model ones. CBI quizzes Saradha agents in Puri The CBI, probing the multi-hundred crore chit fund scam, on Tuesday questioned some agents of Saradha Group in Puri.The CBI sources said the agents handed over some documents, relating to the company's activities in Puri. BU to introduce reforms this year The Berhampur University (BU) has decided to introduce choice based credit system (CBCS) in all postgraduate departments from this academic year. More Bhubaneswar News»

		Bhopal
		Rs 289 crore revenue recovered in power theft in Madhya Pradesh During year 2014-15, irregularities were detected in 2.76 lakh electric connections and revenue of Rs 289 crore was recovered in areas under Madhya Pradesh Central, Eastern and Western Region Power Distribution Companies. High Court quashes FIR against governor Ram Naresh Yadav Madhya Pradesh high court on Tuesday quashed the FIR filed against Governor Ram Naresh Yadav by STF in connection with MPPEB scam. State health min Narottam overturns own advisory, says no ban on 'Putrajeevak' Hours after the Madhya Pradesh health department issued an advisory on sale of ayurveda drug 'Putrajeevak' from Ramdev's pharmacy, health minister Narottam Mishra quashed his own department's notice and clarified there was no ban on the controversial drug, which allegedly promises birth of a male child. More Bhopal News»

		Chandigarh
		Punjab forgets man who fought to get guru's relics from Nabha royals Amid applause for Punjab government's "efforts" to bring back rare relics of Guru Gobind Singh, huge advertisements singing paeans of the achievement and a grand procession to take them through Punjab, there was no mention of the man who had waged a legal battle to get these from Nabha royals. Angry over Moga killing, PSU members damage bus of Akali leader in Faridkot Activists of Punjab Students Union (PSU) and Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) on Wednesday damaged a bus belonging to the New Deep Bus Service owned by SAD (Badal) leader Hardeep Singh Dhillon alias Dimpy near Faridkot bus stand. Historic statewide procession to display Sikh Gurus relics begins from Patiala Accompanied by hundreds of Sikh devotees, the procession exhibiting holy relics Guru Hargobind, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh began from Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib in Patiala on Wednesday. More Chandigarh News»

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