Let this be final rail fare hike, says Shiv Sena

June 23, 2014

Mumbai, June 23: Reluctantly accepting the steep hike in railway fares and freight rates, the Shiv Sena on Monday urged the government this should be “the final increase”.uddhav thackre

In a sharp editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana flaying the sudden hike, the party has pointed out that its ally Bharatiya Janata Party has armed the opposition with a weapon.

The steep hike of 14.2 percent in passenger fares has particularly hit the Mumbaikars hard as they will have to shell out more than double for monthly and quarterly season tickets.

The government has said the hike was intended to provide safety, security and comfort to the passengers, but the people and opposition parties are not convinced, the edit said.

“Compared to the railway systems in developed countries in Europe, Russia, the US, ours resembles a khatara gaadi. Our railway stations, railway tracks, signals etc. are in a horrible state. Crowds have increased but new routes have barely been introduced and whatever the British had built, we continue to overload it,” the edit said.

It alleged that in the past 15-20 years, all the Railway Ministers simply looted it. The Congress’s P.K. Bansal’s relative was caught red-handed accepting a bribe, and huge rail works tenders are awarded only for commissions.

“This is the reason accidents keep taking place. People are dying but in every railway budget, the rulers show new dreams to the people. People want all facilities and for this they are ready to shell out money — not for the development of the politicians only... People who feel run over by the latest hike will demand the account now,” the edit added.

The Shiv Sena said that if the same hike had been taken up by the Congress, the opposition would have bombarded it with criticisms and abuses.

Now, the same (opposition) is running the government with full majority and they should introspect on it (the abuses it hurled at the Congress in the past) and should dedicatedly work towards improving the railways.

“In the meantime, the people have condemned the hikes and hope that this will be the final... The people’s expectations must be fulfilled,” the edit said.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

Bhadohi, Feb 11: With just two days left for the State Budget Session, a widow from Uttar Pradesh''s Bhadohi district has accused BJP MLA Ravindranath Tripathi and six others of sexual harassment over the years, the police said.

The incident is likely to cause considerable embarrassment to the ruling Yogi Adityanath government.

Bhadohi Superintendent of Police (SP) Ram Badan Singh said: "The woman, whose husband died in 2007, met the BJP MLA Ravindranath Tripathi''s nephew in 2014. She said that she was physically exploited by him for many years on the pretext of marriage."

The complainant also said that the nephew then got her lodged in a Bhadohi hotel for about a month during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, "where she was raped by the MLA and his other family members".

The case has been handed over to the Additional Superintendent of Police for further investigations.

A case is yet to be registered.

The Uttar Pradesh Budget Session starts from Thursday.

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News Network
January 22,2020

Jan 22: Microsoft Corp’s chief executive officer said he worries that mistrust between the US and China will increase technology costs and hurt economic growth at a critical time.

Using the $470 billion semiconductor industry as an example of a sector that is already globally interconnected, Satya Nadella said the two countries will have to find ways to work together, rather than creating different supply chains for each country.

“All you are doing is increasing transaction costs for everybody if you completely separate,” Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead conference in Davos. That’s a concern as the executive said the world is on the cusp of a revolution around technology and artificial intelligence.

“If we take steps back in trust or increase transaction costs around technology, all we are doing is sacrificing global economic growth,” he said.

The agreement signed last week between the US and China was “not sufficient,” said Nadella, but represented “progress” on the issue of intellectual property protections for US technology companies working with China.

Nadella said he worries about the development of two separate internets, noting that to some degree they already exist “and they will get amplified in the future” with massive technology companies already in place in China.

The viewpoint clashes with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has been sceptical about the idea that ongoing US-China trade tensions could ever lead to a bifurcated system of two internets.

China and the US are the two leading AI superpowers, however the cooling political relations between them have slowed the international collaboration.

Nadella also warned that countries that fail to attract immigrants will lose out as the global tech industry continues to grow. The CEO has previously voiced concern about India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, calling it “sad.”

“However, Nadella said he remained hopeful.

“The fact that there is a 70-year history of nation-building, I think it’s a very strong foundation. I grew up in that country. I’m proud of that heritage. I’m influenced by that experience.”

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Agencies
March 22,2020

Mumbai, Mar 22: The total number of coronavirus positive patients in Maharashtra has risen to 74 with 10 more positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Of the 10 new cases, 6 are in Mumbai and 4 in Pune, they said on Sunday.

Earlier this week, a Covid-19 patient died in Mumbai.

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