Author: IANS

Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS) Filmmaker Aanand L. Rai finds small towns very progressive, and says he wants to encourage filmmaking that changes the perception of family entertainers. Rai has directed films such as “Tanu Weds Manu”, “Raanjhanaa”, “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” and “Zero”, and has also backed projects such as[Read More…]

Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS) The Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, here on Saturday, slammed the Union Budget announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, terming it as a ‘pipe-dream’ and ignoring the ground realities, and completely ignoring Mumbai, Maharashtra. “The[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Accusing the government of being in a denial mode amid the economy facing grave challenges, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram here on Saturday said the people didn’t deserve such a budget for voting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power. “The government is in complete[Read More…]

By Siddhi Jain New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANSlife) Would you date someone with opposing political views? As per a leading dating app, more women want their partners to share their political beliefs. It also said that a staggering 82 per cent of users in India say that voting is very[Read More…]

By Rajnish Singh New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) In her 160-minute Budget presentation in Parliament Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quoted four renowned poets — from 19th Century to 4th Century — who are known for their works in Kashmiri, Tamil and Sanskrit languages. The four poets mentioned in Sitharaman’s speech[Read More…]

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 1 (IANS) The special investigation team of the Kerala Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet against IAS officer Sreeram Venkitaraman in the road accident case that killed a journalist K.M. Basheer in August last year. The chargesheet contained 66 pages and 100 witnesses and 75 evidences. The police[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) In bad news for global furniture and footwear brands like Swedish home furnishing multinational IKEA that aim to expand in India, the government on Saturday announced a raise in customs duty on imported footwear to 35 per cent from 25 per cent and on furniture[Read More…]

San Francisco, Feb 1 (IANS) Several Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2XL users are said to be facing major camera issues after recent software updates, including capturing images or failing to view photos in the camera app’s viewfinder. The camera UI shows briefly, but the viewfinder remains black. Some users[Read More…]

London, Feb 1 (IANS) Small island nation Maldives officially re-joined the Commonwealth on Saturday, it was announced by Commonwealth Secretariat. It joined the Commonwealth in 1982, and withdrew its membership in 2016. This marks the end of a process that began 13 months ago, in December 2018, when President Ibrahim[Read More…]

Tiran Kot (Afghanistan), Feb 1 (IANS) Eleven Taliban militants were killed during an operation by Afghan National Army commandos in southern Uruzgan province, the Afghan Defence Ministry said on Saturday. The operation was launched late on Friday night in the vicinity of provincial capital Tirin Kot city, resulting in the[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) February 1, 2020 will be remembered in India’s parliamentary history for a really long time to come, when the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used as many as six languages while presenting the Union Budget. As the market slumped and millions lost their jobs, Sitharaman spoke[Read More…]

Beijing, Feb 1 (IANS) China organised three charter flights and brought back 310 Hubei residents, following the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei Province, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. According to the ministry, these Hubei residents were brought back from Thailand’s Bangkok, Malaysia’s state of Sabah[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) along with Tihar Jail authorities on Saturday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court order putting a stay on the death warrants issued against the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.[Read More…]

–Indo-Asian News Service vd

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Admitting that there is a lack of headroom to pursue fiscal expansion, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday that Budget 2020-2021 has done a “wonderful job at this juncture” and is promising, proactive and progressive. “The first Budget of the new decade presented[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) A video is doing the rounds on the internet in which Chinese officials in rural areas are creatively using drones to make sure local residents don’t gather together without wearing masks as the nation battles against the deadly coronavirus. In the viral video, residents of[Read More…]

Shimla, Feb 1 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday hailed the Union Budget by terming it as a historic document that revolves around three ideas of aspirational India, economic development and caring society. He said the budget was aimed to address hopes and aspirations of all[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Railways has got a budgetary allocation of Rs 70,000 crore and the highest-ever outlay for capital expenditure amounting to Rs 1.61 lakh crore from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget for 2020-21 presented on Saturday. The capital expenditure of Rs 1.61 crore is[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has decided to give concessional tax rate to co-operative societies and also raised the audit threshold for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore. The Finance Minister said, “Co-operative societies play[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Emphasising on creating more employment, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced that a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be set up for all computer-based examinations for recruitment to non-gazetted government and public sector banks posts. The move has the potential to give a[Read More…]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) With the government identifying skills as an important component in employability, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that moves are afoot to stimulate the education sector with a new education policy. Presenting the Union Budget, her second one since the NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra[Read More…]

Los Angeles, Feb 1 (IANS) Rapper Lil Wayne has paid homage to late basketball legend Kobe Bryant by including 24 seconds of silence in his new album “Funeral”. The 37-year-old rapper, who released his new album Funeral on Friday, included 24 seconds of silence on his eight track, a touching[Read More…]