PM strongly condemns Kabul bombing
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today strongly condemned the bomb blast in Kabul and underlined the need for defeating forces supporting terrorism. Modi, who is in Spain on a visit, said India stands with Afghanistan in fighting all forms of terrorism. “We strongly condemn the terrorist blast in Kabul. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased & prayers with the injured,” he tweeted. In another tweet, he said, “Forces supporting terrorism need to be defeated.” The prime minister’s message came after a powerful truck bomb killed at least nine people and wounded scores of others in the Afghanistan capital’s diplomatic quarter today morning.
3 Assam youths arrested in Pathankot
Chandigarh, May 31 (IANS): Punjab Police has arrested three young men in Pathankot district on the basis of suspicion, police said on Wednesday. All three belong to Assam, sources said. The arrests were being linked to the Monday recovery of an abandoned bag containing three Army uniforms. The bag was left on Defence Road near Pathankot late on Sunday night. A Jammu flour mill’s name was printed on the bag, police officials said. The security agencies remained on alert in the border districts following the terror attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January 2016 and in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district in July 2015.
Indian Navy rescues people in cyclone-hit Bangladesh
New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): After Sri Lanka, the Indian Navy has rushed two ships for relief and rescue operations in cyclone-hit Bangladesh, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said on Wednesday. INS Sumitra is already deployed and has rescued 27 Bangladeshis who were washed off the shore by the cyclone. Another ship with relief material was on its way. Admiral Lanba said the Indian Navy was ready to handle all kinds of disaster response in the Indian Ocean Region. The search and rescue operation in Bangladesh is taking place south of Chittagong. Cyclone Mora had earlier caused havoc in Sri Lanka, killing at least 180.
Yasin Malik released from Srinagar jail
Srinagar, May 31 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Muhammad Yasin Malik was on Wednesday released from Srinagar Central Jail. Malik was arrested from his uptown Maisuma residence on May 28 and lodged in Srinagar Central Jail after obtaining police remand from a court for five days. He was arrested a day after he visited south Kashmir Tral town residence of Hizbul commander Sabzar Bhat, who was killed along with his associate Faizan Ahmad, in Saimoh village of Pulwama district on Saturday.
IIT - Kharagpur develops technology to make pollution-free biofuel
Kolkata, May 31 (IANS): Researchers at IIT - Kharagpur have developed a technology that has the potential to make biofuel manufacturing cheaper, quicker and free of pollution. The ‘soil-to-soil’ manufacturing technology developed at the P.K. Sinha Centre for Bioenergy at IIT - Kharagpur is in the process of being patented. Researchers say bioethanol can be produced from various naturally available ligno-cellulosic components, but to do so the biomass needs to be treated chemically and in some cases physico-chemically. Because of chemical treatment, the process contributes to polluting the environment. With the government expecting the bio-fuel business in India to touch Rs 50,000 crore by 2022, this new green technology with lesser manufacturing cost and time could become a game changer, the researchers said.
Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday said that a central team will visit Bihar as well as Farakka Barrage in West Bengal on June 5 to assess the situation of silting in river Ganga. The Bihar Chief Minister requested Modi to send a team of experts to the state before June 10 to assess the situation practically by making field visits of the river’s stretch from Buxar in Bihar o Farakka. Nitish Kumnar has repeatedly said silting in Ganga is a major issue, which is causing ill-effects on the river, and is also blamed for causing floods in Bihar.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids at six locations, including the premises of former Congress MLA Baba Siddique, in connection with a money laundering case, officials said. The agency’s action comes after it registered a case against Siddique and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of an FIR filed by the Mumbai Police in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of a slum area in suburban Bandra.
Six more airports in the country, including Patna and Chennai, will do away with the practice of tagging and stamping domestic passengers’ hand baggage from tomorrow. The four other airports that will usher in the new practice include those at Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati. The paramilitary force will also begin from tomorrow a trial to do away with the tagging and stamping of hand baggage of domestic passengers at five other airports of Varanasi, Pune, Goa, Bhubaneswar and Vishakhapatnam. Once the three-week trial at these five airports is found successful, they too will join the league of the thirteen others.
The Income Tax Department today asked taxpayers to link their Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number or PAN using an SMS-based facility. In advertisements issued in newspapers, the Income Tax Department said the two numbers can be linked by sending an SMS to either 567678 or 56161. People can also use the I-T Department’s e-filing website to link the two numbers, it said, adding linking Aadhaar number and PAN is the key to “seamlessly avail online, a world of income tax facilities.” The SMS facility is only for those whose names are identical on Aadhaar and PAN cards. The OTP will be sent to the mobile number registered in the Aadhaar database. The government, under the Finance Act, 2017, made it mandatory for taxpayers to quote Aadhaar number or the enrolment number of Aadhaar application form for filing I-T returns. The government also made Aadhaar mandatory for applying for PAN starting July 1, 2017. While Aadhaar is issued by the UIDAI to Indian residents, the 10-digit alphanumeric PAN is issued to individuals and companies.
