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While attributing the success of the flagship project to “aam aadmi”, the chief minister said that the contribution of the common people for the project in last four years was more than Rs 600 crore.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the opposition parties, chiding the Jalyukta Shivar project, are insulting the hard work put in by the people from the drought-hit villages.
While attributing the success of the flagship project to “aam aadmi”, he said that the contribution of the common people for the project in last four years was more than Rs 600 crore.
The state’s surplus food production, despite recurring drought and ability to sustain the income of the farmers, is a testimony to the success of the project, which has helped to create an additional water storage capacity of 22 lakh thousand cubic metres (TMC), he said. The additional irrigation potential was 28 lakh ...
According to the water conservation department, the Jalyukta Shivar had in the first two phases — 2015-16 and 2016-17 — helped to make 16,000 villages drought free. The work for drought mitigation is in progress in 9,000 villages.
To some of us, what is being excitably dubbed the New Politics looks remarkably the same as the old.
Politicians jostle for power, manoeuvre for office, embrace those they have just been denouncing and abandon policies today they described as essential yesterday.
Well, that is what they do - and have always done however far you care to go back in history. There is no point getting indignant about it, unless you expect politicians to behave like monks (and nuns of course).
Genuine irritation might, on the other hand, be spurred on by the thought that if proportional representation is adopted, then every election will end up with this sort of shenanigans.
Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg: Would the election have turned out differently if a system of proportional representation was in place?
Which would mean, among other things, that no undertaking by a party could be seen as binding.
This is what we promise or plan, they would say, provided our coalition partners will agree to it. So much for the supposed transparency which PR would bring to politics, let alone the sort of system-cleansing and even moral uplift which its supporters seem to expect.
The problem with PR is that not many people care about it, but those who do care an awful lot. For them it is a lifetime crusade.
What candidates found on the doorstep during the election was no demand. As an issue, PR ranked somewhere between road humps and cruelty to donkeys. since a referendum is promised it should not be too difficult to fight off a change.
To be sure, the pollsters can point to a large number who favour proportional representation when pressed to respond. One reason for this is that the question implies an unfavourable alternative for those who don't much care. Do you mean you're in favour of disproportional representation!
How long do you think this coalition will last?
When the appropriate legislation appears, it ought to have a minimum vote level (it has been done before). The new system should be adopted only if the turnout exceeds, let's say, 45 per cent - surely modest enough for a major constitutional innovation?
The turnout would fall short of the required level and we could all carry on as usual.
There were ten of us, economists and financial commentators, at a stockbroker's lunch just before the launch of the euro.
We disagreed about a variety of things as you would expect of a profession notorious for its squabbles.
But one question, the broker has reminded me, summed up astonishing unity. Did we think the euro would be good for Europe?
We answered No - by ten to nil! - stressing the folly of a single interest rate, a single exchange rate and a single and confusing central bank. our worst fears are now being fulfilled in the immediate instance by Greece, but further out in a breakup of the Eurozone.
The markets rose spectacularly on Monday when the announcement came that the enormous sum of more than £640 billion had been made available for the current crisis.
It will see Greece, and, if necessary, other Mediterranean countries showing signs of the Greek disease (overspending), through the current crisis. so they say.
But it makes more sense to be alarmed, not reassured, by the huge sum involved.
Are things really that bad? Yes, they are. And intriguingly, the rescue packages for Greece have mounted in cost ever since the crisis broke and the Eurozone dithered about a solution. Some, especially among the prudent Germans, hate this bail-out policy and may hate it more as it progresses - possibly to yet another r...
As things stand, if Greece follows a policy of strict austerity for three years - which rioters in Athens are determined it should not - the country will still be left with an enormous, accumulated debt. Economists can agree that Greece's best solution lies in leaving the euro and devaluing the resumed drachma.
The EU fears that other Eurozone countries would follow suit. As they should for their own good. So much for the euro as a stepping stone to European integration.
We were lucky when Gordon Brown teetered on the edge of joining the euro and was dissuaded only after launching two elaborate studies. our lunch could have saved him the trouble.
You will have noticed that 'the markets' are being blamed and scorned for their role in the crisis. Swedish Finance minister Anders Borg denounces the dealers as 'wolves'.
I know nothing of Mr Borg's personal finances. But we can bet that he has savings and a pension fund and is thus part of the 'pack' - as are you and I.
Savings are invested in government bonds, among other things. They are supposed to provide low-risk investments.
The fact that there are dealers or 'speculators' in the market, prepared to take advance positions, makes it easier and cheaper to buy and sell these bonds as pension providers decide.
Those who sneer at markets as if they were some sort of malign forces from outer space should be asked whether they have any savings or pension schemes. It is an easy enough question.
Of course, if truthfully answered it might provide some commentators with less to sneer at or denounce. Honesty always has its price.
An ITV spokesman said: "We can confirm that Saturday Night Takeaway, presented by Declan Donnelly, will return to ITV on March 31, and the series finale will be taking place at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida a week later."
Referring to the winners who are flown out to Florida for the final episode of the series, he added: "We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.
"He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future. As such, Saturday Night Takeaway will not be going ahead this Saturday."
And ITV spokesman said on Monday they were "reviewing options" for the remaining two episodes of the series, which will now air as scheduled but without McPartlin.
He was later released after being taken to a south London police station for questioning and was "released under investigation", a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recently visited those displaced by the Meetotamulla garbage dump tragedy upon his return from official visits to Japan and Vietnam.
Last year I wrote a piece (Island May 24, 2016) on the danger of disposing garbage in open dumps such as the one at Meethotamulla and the immediate need to go for a sanitary landfill. While people in the vicinity of Meethotamulla have been agitating, picketing and clashing with the police, the government adopted the ea...
As I pointed out in my earlier letter, there is a risk of an explosion in this kind of waste dumps due to accidental fires where there is excessive build-up of methane due to the decomposition of organic matter under oxygen poor (anaerobic) conditions in the marsh. In fact, methane is popularly known as marsh gas gener...
Open dumping of garbage in low-lying marshes is the least desirable way to dispose waste. Besides using valuable land near urban centres, open dumps can pollute land, air and water, pose fire hazards and create unsightly nuisances, breed mosquitoes, flies and rats. During the major fire at Bloemendhal waste dump, a lar...
Increased affluence results in the generation of more waste, particularly non-biodegradable matter. An average American produces 1000 times more non-biodegradable waste than an average Indian. In Sri Lanka too with the increases in per capita income and affluence we produce much more garbage in the form of plastic cont...
The modern approach to waste management is the 3R method meaning, reuse, recover and recycle hierarchy. Incentives should be given to reuse polythene bags. In the UK, customers often bring older shopping bags during grocery shopping for which they are paid 5 pennies. Similarly, children should be educated on the danger...
Waste should be considered as a resource rather than a nuisance. The polythene content of our waste is rapidly increasing and if burnable waste can be segregated at the source of collection then incineration is the best option to produce power. Wet garbage consisting of waste food and other organic materials can be use...
In order to solve the garbage problem, a paradigm shift is necessary about the way every citizen thinks about garbage. The present attitude of "out of sight, out of mind" approach will have to change if we ever have to solve this problem. Even city dwellers can easily have a compost bin to make compost and use it to gr...
It is surprising that the private sector has shown no interest in making money out of garbage. In other developed countries there are a large number of companies turning garbage into marketable products such as compost, recycled polythene and the recovery of iron and aluminium. Even for a small company or an individual...
The way forward to the Government is a two-fold approach where the existing garbage mountains at Bloemendhal and Meethotamulla are removed and the immediate establishment of the sanitary landfill at Meepe. In 1995, this area was sparsely populated and had only a few illegal settlers. There are no sensitive ecosystems i...
The Financial Conduct Authority said that the control failures at the UK division of Canara Bank affected almost all levels of its business and governance structure, including senior management.
LONDON: Britain's markets regulator has fined the UK division of India's Canara Bank 896,100 pounds ($1.2 million) and blocked it from accepting new deposits for around five months for systemic anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday that the control failures at the UK division of Canara Bank, India's fifth largest state-run lender by assets, affected almost all levels of its business and governance structure, including senior management.
The division's AML risk management and governance framework had been not fit for purpose, risking undermining the integrity of the UK financial system - despite regulatory warnings since 2012 that its systems needed fixing, the FCA said.
"Canara was warned its money laundering controls were inadequate and so its failure to remediate them properly is at the more serious end of the range of sanctions," said Mark Steward, the FCA's head of enforcement and market oversight.
The bank had seconded staff from its head office in India to fill senior management positions in the UK who did not properly understand British legal and regulatory AML requirements, leading to a "consistent failure" to implement adequate systems and controls, the regulator said.
"The FCA has acknowledged the deficiencies have been rectified," said Krishna Kant, the head of compliance in London.
The bank's UK division was alerted to a number of problems after British regulators visited the bank in November 2012 and March 2013. But a third visit in April 2015 found remedial action insufficient - and the bank had also failed to embed "a culture of compliance" with regulatory requirements, the FCA said.
Regulators appointed a so-called "Skilled Person" in September 2015, a process that brings in independent experts to assess a business when watchdogs suspect a firm has governance or other weaknesses.
The Skilled Person's report on January 2016 highlighted failures such as an AML risk management that was "not fit for purpose" and an inability by the bank to identify or flag unusual transactions or recognise PEPs - politically exposed people whose public status can make them vulnerable to corruption.
"These failings were endemic throughout Canara's UK operations, affecting almost all aspects of its business and suggested that Canara may not be fit and proper," the FCA said.
"Such weaknesses potentially undermine the integrity of the UK financial system by significantly increasing the risk that Canara could be used for the purposes of domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing and those seeking to evade taxation or the implementation of sanction requirements," it said...
Following the communal unrest in Kandy, former Sri Lanka cricketers Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, along with many others, condemned the recent acts of violence against the minority community that claimed two lives.
NEW DELHI: Following the communal unrest in Kandy, former Sri Lanka cricketers Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, along with many others, condemned the recent acts of violence against the minority community that claimed two lives.
Sri Lanka had on Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots that have killed at least two people and damaged dozens of mosques and homes in the central district of Kandy. Here's what led the Maithripala Sirisena government to take the extreme measure.
Sangakkara took to twitter and said that "it is unfair to target anyone on the basis of ethnicity or religion.
"No one in Sri Lanka can be marginalized or threatened or harmed due to their ethnicity or religion. We are One Country and One people. Love, trust and acceptance should be our common mantra. No place for racism and violence. STOP. Stand together and stand strong," Sangakkara tweeted.
Sangakkara also shared a video talking about the issue on Facebook.
His former teammate Jayawardene also expressed concern and tweeted: "I strongly condemn the recent acts of violence & everyone involved must be brought to justice regardless of race/ religion or ethnicity. I grew up in a civil war which lasted 25 years and don’t want the next generation to go through that."
Echoing their thoughts were allrounder Angelo Mathews and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya. While Jayasuriya termed the act 'sick', Mathews urged people to protect the nation and not stand with people spreading violence.
Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2018 Ackera Gowie.
As a contestant in the Digicel Rising Stars competition, one of the weekly tasks for the contestants in the top 10 is campaigning for votes. For Diel, visiting secondary schools was part of his strategy to not only increase his chances of moving on to the next round, but allowing the younger generation of music lovers ...
Although Diel did not walk away as Season 15's winner, he was awarded third place. All the campaigning paid off for the competitor who quit his job as a music teacher to pursue a career as a singer.
Diel, whose birth name is Adiel Thomas, says that the ska-reggae song deserves all the exposure it can get. "It was the song I used to audition for the competition, and one that has history," he said.
He says the song was written in 2005, based on an experience he had in the first semester at the Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville where he studied Mass Communications, but was not recorded until 2018 at the start of the competition.
"I wrote it before I even knew how I'd explore a career in music," he said. "It is about the connection I made with a female who was much older than me. I was only 16, and the lyrics say it all."
What started out as a campaign called the Diel Music Tour has evolved into the Too Young School Tour, specifically targeting secondary high schools across the island.
However, there are a number of challenges that the singer/songwriter has encountered since the end of the competition. Diel told The Gleaner, "The brand is not well-known, but I am taking the initiative to continue the tour without the help of any sponsors. The prize money has been invested in the tour as well as the p...
He also notes that some schools in the Corporate Area are hesitant to agree to host him and his project partner, Ackera Gowie, Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2018. "The people of Mandeville were welcoming because I attended school there, taught in the parish and lived there for an extended period of time, so we were able ...
The Too Young School Tour continues in Kingston at the Tivoli High, Dunoon Technical High and Clan Carthy High schools and will take a break when school go on holiday in December. Diel has no plans to return to teaching, as he feels he can do more outside of the classroom. "
The tour involves singing during devotions, performances and motivational talks at various school events, such as Career Day and at some point I give a preview of the song," he said.
At present his career has afforded him the opportunity to work as a voice coach, and part-time music director at the Grace Baptist Church in Clarendon among other odd jobs.
"Although there are no back- up plans just yet in case music fails, it has been providing for the past five years, and if there is any lesson that Digicel Rising Stars left me with, it's to be mentally tough if you want to accomplish your goals," said a very confident Diel.
No matter how you shake it or stir it, Brandi Carlile has officially won the week, and it’s barely started.
For those who couldn’t make it, Carlile tracked all the memories on social media, expressing nothing but love for those who participated.
On Tuesday (Feb. 5), she added new 2019 shows including her headlining debut at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sept. 14. Tickets for the additional dates go on sale Friday (Feb. 8) at 10 a.m. local time, and an official tour schedule is available via Carlile’s website.
Then she heads to the 61st annual Grammy Awards as the most nominated female artist with six nods including album of the year for By the Way, I Forgive You. She will perform during the Alicia Keys-hosted ceremony, airing live on Sunday (Feb. 10) at 8 p.m. ET.
Microbolometer IR imagers consist of an array of thermally sensitive pixels that change resistance as infrared radiation is focused onto the array. Commonly used thermoresisitive materials are amorphous silicon (a-Si) and vanadium oxide (VOx). Despite their use in image sensors, these films are extremely difficult to p...
Zou, Mengyang, "Deposition methods and thermoresistive properties of vanadium oxide and amorphous silicon thin films" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1061.
Mukesh Ambani topped the Forbes list of richest Indians for the ninth consecutive year.
Singapore: Gujaratis seem to be among the most dominant communities when it comes to wealth creation, with Ambanis, Adanis, Shanghvis and Patels cornering a large number of top positions on the list of India's richest 100 released by Forbes today.
Industrialist Mukesh Ambani was named India's richest person for a ninth year in a row with a sharp increase in networth to USD 22.7 billion, while his younger brother Anil Ambani was ranked 32nd with a networth of USD 3.4 billion.
Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi, another Gujarati, was placed second with USD 16.9 billion, while Wipro's Azim Premji came in fourth with a networth of USD 15 billion, followed by Uday Kotak (11th, USD 8.3 billion) and Gautam Adani (13th, USD 6.3 billion).
Shashi and Ravi Ruia, who have a networth of USD 5.8 billion, have a significant presence in Gujarat.
Other Gujaratis on the list include Pankaj Patel, ranked 23rd with a networth of USD 4.5 billion, Karsanbhai Patel (52, USD 2.24 billion), Rajesh Mehta (61, USD 1.88 billion) and Nirav Modi (71, USD 1.74 billion), among others.
The list also features many Parsis, who migrated from Iran and landed in this coastal state many centuries ago.
Among the noted Parsis, Pallonji Mistry was ranked 5th on the coveted list with a networth of USD 13.9 billion, while the Godrej family was at the 7th place with USD 12.4 billion, followed by Cyrus Poonawalla (10th, USD 8.6 billion).
According to Forbes, the combined networth of India's 100 wealthiest is USD 381 billion (nearly Rs 25.5 lakh crore), a rise of 10 per cent from USD 345 billion in 2015.
"In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7 per cent-plus. The majority of India's 100 richest have notched up handsome gains as their companies have outperformed the stock market in the past year.
"As the domestic investment cycle starts kicking in, we can expect more gains and new names in the future," Forbes Asia's India Editor Naazneen Karmali said.

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