Pak Delegation in India for Talks on Border Issues

09-Sep-2015 (PTI) || The Director General-level talks between border forces of India and Pakistan kicks off tomorrow days after parleys between their NSAs were cancelled with the host nation set to flag the "most important" issue of ceasefire violations and cross-border infiltration.

Amid escalating tensions, a 16-member Pakistani delegation arrived in Amritsar this afternoon enroute to Delhi for the three-day talks between the chiefs of the Border Security Force(BSF) and Pakistani Rangers that is being held after a gap of over one-and-a-half years.



The Pakistani side led by Rangers Director General (Punjab) Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki was received at the Attari- Wagah land border near Amritsar by senior BSF commanders of the Punjab frontier.

"The delegation crossed over to the Indian side at 12.35 PM," senior officials said.

Burki was accorded a ceremonial salute and guard of honour by the Indian border guards and the delegation was flown to Delhi in a special BSF plane. The talks were last held in December 2013 in Lahore.

The delegation included officials of Sindh Rangers, ministry of interior, survey of Pakistan, anti-narcotic force, immigration etc. ?

The 23-member Indian side would be headed by BSF DG D K Pathak during the talks and is expected to raise issues like ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, including sniper attacks on BSF personnel, and infiltration.

It is the first high level interaction between the two countries after their National Security Adviser(NSA)-level talks that was to be held in Delhi on August 23-24 were cancelled due to differences over the agenda.

According to Indian sources, extra stress would be on the "most important" issue of breach of ceasefire in J&K which has led to loss of lives of civilians and troops and "unprovoked" firing by the Rangers along the International Border(IB).

The issue of "no response" by the other side when BSF waves the 'white flag' which is used to indicate stopping of fire and meeting of on-ground commanders of the two sides will also be taken up, the sources said.

"The talks will also endeavour to focus on positive issues like different levels of communication, more simultaneous coordinated patrolling and other confidence building measures," according to a BSF statement.

The BSF will also take up the issue of intrusion in the 'Harami Nallah' area of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, smuggling of contraband from across the border and illegal movement of suspects up to the zero line area along the IB in order to facilitate illegal activities.

A spokesman of Punjab Rangers said that the issue of frequent clashes along the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary will be on the top of the agenda.

Pakistan's NSA Sartaj Aziz said yesterday that Pakistan will raise the issue of "unprovoked firing" by India forces on the LoC.

According to Pakistan High Commission sources, the issue of alleged infiltration from the Indian side in Punjab and Rajasthan will be raised during the talks.

The ties between the two sides have remained strained because of repeated ceasefire violations along the IB and the Line of Control(LoC).

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Arun Jaitley to make Tax Exemption a thing of Past soon

09-Sep-2015|InPoMo Team|| Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government in the next few days will bring out a list of tax exemptions to be phased out as part of the exercise to reduce corporate tax rate to 25 per cent in four years.

The minister also said measures to protect domestic steel sector from dumping by overseas manufacturers are being examined.

Stating that every tax demand cannot be termed as tax terrorism, he said, the government will not relent on pursuing black money in India or abroad.

As regards his Budget announcement of reducing corporate tax rate to 25 per cent, Jaitley said, "over the next few days we will come out with list of exemptions, which we intend to phase out in the first place. Over the next four years corporate tax will come down by 5 per cent and lot of exemptions will get phased out.

"Therefore slowly we will bring taxation levels to global standards and make taxation assessment and return simpler by just eliminating a lot of exemptions."

Jaitley was speaking at 'India Summit 2015' organised by UK-based Economist magazine.

The finance minister in his 2015 Budget had announced that the government would reduce the rate of corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next four years to align the rates with competing countries.

In view of surge in import of various categories of steel, the Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) has already initiated an inquiry into the imports of steel from China, Korea, Japan and Russia

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Around 7,00,00,000 Bihar voters to decide the next Chief Minister in 5 phases starting October 12

09-Sep-2015||InPoMo Team || The latest electoral battleground is all set and ready to go to war of votes. More then 6.68 Crore voters of Bihar would cast their votes in a election divided in 5 phases starting from the 12th of October; as announced by the Election Commission of India today.

image courtesy: PTI

The 5 phased elections would be marked with a major set of festivities along with the political drama. Noting the same the Election Commissioner Mr. Nasim Zaidi said, that election commission will ensure communal peace and harmony during the period. The festivities during the period would also witness the Chatt Pujan, along with Diwali, Moharram, Dusshera etc.

First phase would see 49 seats going to poll, wit second phase having 32 seats, third phase with 50 seats, fourth phase with 55 seats and final phase will have 57 constituencies going to polls. Out of the total 243 constituencies, the election commission has identified 47 as naxal affected and as per the election commissioner, more than adequate security arrangements have been made to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in all areas of the state.

Bihar is looking at a different political dynamics post the Lok Sabha elections, Bhartiya Janta Party had a great show in the state for the national elections, even after Mr. Nitish Kumar a 17 year old ally of NDA, walked out of the alliance. But the situation is very different now, the opposition seems to have left all the old issues behind and come together the behemoth called BJP. Mr. Manjhi, the ex-CM of the sate has formed his own party and has allied with the BJP, but it seems that they have issue in seat sharing arrangement with Mr. Paswan and BJP.

The political drama of bihar is all set to heat up in the coming days, where the fight seems to be between Alliance of Nitish, Lalu and Sonia (Where congress is looks like the smallest share holder) and the NDA.

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Giving a platform to Young Ideators, The Dream Startup Challenge 2015

India is at the cusp of an economic boom and this boom is being powered by the new age enterprise more than the conventional industries. This boom is inline with the vision of our current Prime Minister of a developed India, with campaigns like Make in India, this vision is all set to become a reality.

In line with this thought process a group of young and dynamic individuals from Bhopal, who are a part of Young Indians, the youth wing of CII have tied up with AISECT and launched the Dream Startup Challenge 2015. This is not just a business plan competition, but a competition which is designed in a way to equip budding ideators and innovators with knowledge and support to take their business or idea to the next level.

The idea behind the event is to provide new age entrepreneurs from non-metro cities with a platform to showcase their ideas and take them to the next level and in the process create a eco-system for them to harness their skills in this ever competitive world. more information about the challenge is available on their website: http://dreamstartupchallenge.com/

The ‘ Dream Start up Challenge’ is an initiative by Bhopal chapter of YI ( Young Indians ) & CII ( Confederation of Indian Industries ) to promote Entrepreneurship & Innovation in Central India. India is in a middle of entrepreneurial tide. The entire world is sitting up and taking note of the vibrant energy possessed by Indian youth. However what we are seeing is just a tip of an iceberg. There are so many success stories that are brewing beneath the surface in the tier 2 and tier 3 towns but more often or not are nipped in the bud because the entrepreneur from smaller cities does not get the same exposure and eco system that is available to someone in cities like Bangalore, Pune, Mumbei, Delhi etc.

Dream Start up is an Endeavour to not only showcase the entrepreneurial talent that is available in a cities like Bhopal but also to support & hand hold the entrepreneurs through the process of formulating a sustainable business model and providing them with the appropriate audience that can help them take their ventures to the next level.

The Dream Start up Challenge has two components, viz

• The Business Plan Competition for ideation and early stage startups. Eligible ventures will get mentorship for 2 months before the present their B plans to a panel of Investors , industrialists & academicians to win attractive prizes
• The Start up Expo for all operating startups where they can showcase their ventures in an expo style format to Investors , industrialists & academicians

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• The applicant should be Indian resident
• The venture should not be registered earlier than 1st June 2010.
• The annual turnover should not be more than Rs. 2 crore in any financial year since the inception of the venture.
• Students / ideation stage startups with good workable ideas, with an intention to start the venture in near future may also apply.
• Applicants / ventures not qualifying as per the eligibility criteria may also apply for getting accommodated in the startup expo. They would however will not be allowed to participate in the competition.

The competition is deliberately restricted to Early stage and Beta stage startups in order to provide opportunity and encouragement to Young minds through Incubation and cash prizes. However, Young Indians would love to provide a platform to all the start ups, irrespective of age or financials, to showcase their potential and their hard work to the business world. Hence we encourage you to register and apply even if you do not qualify for the competition. If your venture is shortlisted, you would get an opportunity to showcase your venture to host of VCs / Angel investors, Govt officials , Industry leaders and to the world at large at the grand START UP EXPO being organized on 21st & 22nd November 2015.

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When Earth Started Shaking....... Pity on people who make fun of the disaster....

Nepal was hit hard by an earthquake just a few days back and the aftershocks have made things worse, on top of it incessant rains are causing all types of troubles for the people who are out in the open because of fear. I always thought that how bas it could be, I was on the 8th floor of a building when it happened and when I realised it is an earthquake I was terrified. I ran along with others on my floor through stairs in the process asking hotel staff to move out with us as well.

When we all were out safely, we laughed about it and decided not to go upstairs again to our rooms. Within a few hours of the earthquake, people started sharing jokes about the same, my humble request to all those people who have not experienced it to refrain from talking about it, because when earth shakes it is the most horrible feeling that you have. People loose their loved ones and the life takes an unexpected turn towards the unknown.

People making fun by sharing Rajnikant Jokes or jokes based on a porn actress, do not realise that the misery is much bigger than the crappy jokes they share. We have been hearing a lot about the being human and being sensitive towards humans, moments like these call for all of us to be together and at least prey for the people caught in the disaster. These disasters are not a joke and they should never be treated like one. The people who lost their lives were fellow humans and were as alive as we are right now, they had kids, parents, friends and families like we do; the disaster has left them without any of them and also destroyed their means of livelihood.

A lot of people will not read what is written above and would just pass, but if you happen to read this, kindly observe 30 seconds of prayer and silence for the departed souls....

Kindly Decide, what you want to do....

Respect Life and do not make jokes........

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Operation Rahat :: Indians rescue all at Yemen - A minister making sure things are done properly

A few voices have surely come out that we were behind the Chinese and have only been able to evacuate Indians after 8 days of China evacuating Chinese citizens on the 31st of March. But what one fails to understand is the difference in the number of people being evacuated.

(06.04.2015) Indian Navy Ship INS Sumitra at Djibouti Port for #YemenEvacuation (visuals deferred by two days) pic.twitter.com/uNWnOjE7sD
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 7, 2015

China evacuated less than 350 people, while India had a mammoth task at hand and finally it evacuated more than 4000 people, not only from India but from Germany, Ireland and many more. As per the statement by the ministry of external affairs 26 countries including the all mighty United Sates of America had requested India to aide evacuation of its citizens from the conflict zone in Yemen. Unlike the Chinese, Indians made sure that people are given ample time to report and thus the operation ran for more days.

We really appreciate this a lot: British national evacuated from Yemen by Air India #YemenEvacuation pic.twitter.com/Aps9OhVc1T
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 8, 2015

Ret. Gen. V K Singh, was overlooking the operations and made San'na his base for two days during the excercise, the level of commitment shown by the ex-service man, who is currently serving as a high ranking minister is exemplary. He took charge of the situation and made sure that no Indian Plane is denied permission to land in Yemen. With a senior person manning the forward base, things flowed smoothly and Indian citizens were swiftly brought out of the conflict zone along with many more people.

#YemenEvacuation And d thankU s have started to come in! GO INDIA GO! Gr8 job @MEAIndia Hope MSM makes it a topStory pic.twitter.com/CSELmW47Ev
— Ritu4India (@RITURATHAUR) April 7, 2015

EPIC MOMENT! That look on the face of CNN commentators.. US: India will help Americans Leave Yemen #YemenEvacuation pic.twitter.com/M9iD7BBpu7
— Ritu4India (@RITURATHAUR) April 7, 2015

The operation employed two Indian Navy war ships INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash, along with the war ships Air India, the national carrier from the country also pitched in and helped immensely in evacuating people from Yemen. The Indian Air Force also deployed it's two Jumbo Jets to bring people back to India and Indian Railways provided special trains/coaches for people to go back to their native homes.


The operation concluded on today with the last plane leaving from Sannaa international airport with evacuees bound to India. The complete operation provide ample time to all the people willing to leave the conflict zone and head back to safely to their homeland.

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Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, where are they headed...

A lot has happened in the past few months in AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), after Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi. A lot of promises seem to be at large with no concrete action plan in sight. After looking at the current war in AAP, I got reminded of TV ads on Doordarshan which talked of unity by showing a man breaking sticks one by one, but when they were made into a bunch the man was not able to break them.

You may feel why I am saying so, but if you look closely what is happening in Delhi, with AAP you will realise what I want to say. Are we looking at a fate like that of the Janta Dal, which could not digest the power dynamics served to them on platter and broke apart because individual agendas preceded common agendas. Something similar was seen in Assam, with the formation of the Assam Gana Parishad, but I am here not to talk about them. I am here looking at what is happening to AAP in Delhi.

They have got a thumping majority in the house and although BJP had a fair vote share, it was decimated and AAP became the supreme power. A party that rose out of the ashes of the Jan Lokpal Andolan, a lot of people connected with the party and I would not lie even I saw it as a ray of hope in the Political system which seems to be rotten to the core as of now. The election of AAP twice in a row seems to be something big and surely the party members have been ecstatic about the same. The mode of celebrations on the day of its win was a sight to watch with, Arvind Kejriwal (ArKe), Kumar Vishwas (KuVi), Prashant Bhushan (PraBhu), Yogendra Yadav (YoYa) etc.

But as Abraham Lincon had said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character give him power."

Something similar seems to be happening with AAP and ArKe right now, power has created massive rifts within the party and it seems that there is a sort of anarchy prevailing in the Party and people who are opposing are being selectively sidelined and publicly humiliated, it somehow reminds of "Game of Thrones" in which the kid with all the power publicly starts executing who ever seems to be having any power.

All this seems to similar to what happened to Hemu, the ruler who became the king after being the head of army of the Suri Dynasty. He believed in leading every war from the forefront; and that is what finally became his undoing, in the second battle of Panipath Hemu was leading his army atop an elephant and had a upper hand over Akbar's army, it is said that Akbar was instructed to retreat and head to Afganistan. But Hemu ran out of luck, an arrow hit him in the eye and he fell from the elephant his soldiers thought that the king is dead and gave up the fight as they were left without a leader, if Hemu would have trusted his aides and let someone else lead the amry while he guided them from the camps, his rule would have been the greatest, but as destiny had it, he was unceremoniously beheaded by the Mughals and his followers also met with a similar fate.

It seems Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, wants to be the single most powerful person in AAP, but is this the right way forward, should he not make a new command structure and himself focus on Delhi and set it up as an example which can be showcased in other elections, something Shri Narendra Modi, did with Gujrat.

Instead AAP, seems to have brought out its internal issues in public arena and thus hampering the parties image in public. Even ArKe, was not available for any form of comments during turbulent times in the party, as he was busy in a naturopathy treatment. What about the treatment of the Party Mr. Kejriwal. The party has just come to the helm of things and problems seem to have engulfed the party like a wild fire. YoYa and PraBhu, were amongst the founding members and major faces of the party, but they have been expelled and it seems a lot of selective expulsions are in line.

Time only will tell what is in store for AAP and ArKe..... As of now it seems that PraBhu and YoYa are all set to fight against the anarchy and the way they have been treated, like a fly fly thrown out of a tea mug.....

*The article presents the individual point of view of the author and does not in any way mean to put any form of allegations on any one. 

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