A Railway ticket examiner spots a young man hurrying through a crowded platform. Suspecting that the man is ticketless, the ticket examiner confronts him and asks for the ticket. The man says he is on his way to buy one. There is an argument, the examiner then tells the man to show him the train ticket. On hearing this, the man fishes out a train ticket and throws it in the examiner's face. He says he thought he was being asked for the Indian Premier League (IPL) ticket.

Currently on air, this advertisement promoting the IPL has so upset the Railways that it has decided to approach the IPL management to take the advertisement off air. What has made the Railways angry is the "manner in which the ad deals with the train ticket".

"The advertisement demeans the Railways and also the train ticket. The manner in which the train ticket is thrown reflects a contemptuous attitude," a senior Railways official told The Indian Express.

The official said the Ministry would write to the IPL management, including its chairman Lalit Modi, to register its protest and push for "corrective action".
 

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Ruling JD(U) MLA Abhay Singh on Friday allegedly committed suicide after shooting his wife and six-month-old daughter dead at his father and Bihar Minister Narendra Singh's official residence in Patna.

Food and Supplies Minister Narendra Singh fell unconscious after the incident and has been admitted to the ICCU of Patna Medical College and Hospital with cardiac complications, sources said.

Police said Abhay Singh, who was elected from Jamui, shot his daughter and wife dead with a gun before killing himself after a quarrel at about 2 am.

Abhay Singh's 3-year-old elder daughter was with her grandmother in another room at the time of the incident. Narendra Singh was sleeping in another room at the time of the incident.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi rushed to Singh's residence after getting the news.

Describing it as a very sad incident, Kumar said, "We are all with the family members of Narendra Singh."

The bodies have been sent to hospital for post-mortem, police said.

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Veteran actor Antony Hopkins has taken a pot shot at Paris Hilton and the current crop of celebrity socialites, comparing them to soulless "machines". The ''Silence of the Lambs'' actor is fed up with skinny models and stars on the red carpet who lack substance and he''s singled out the hotel heiress for appearing to have nothing "going on up there", Contactmusic reported.

"We''re living in a pretty strange time. I went into a shop to buy my wife some clothes and I wanted them gift-wrapped.

And they had this big plasma screen on with these women on the catwalk. I thought, ''God almighty, what have we become?'' These girls - anorexic, walking like machines, no soul," Hopkins said.

"You look at fashion magazines and you think, ''What are we living in?'' You look at the red carpet, Paris Hilton, you know, these people and you think, ''Is there anything going on up there?'' It''s a mass enslavement and it''s kind of fascism. And it''s the androgyny of it; the androgyny of the human soul.

I don''t think people think any more. But maybe I''m just old," he added

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Russia could release 45,000 people imprisoned in the country since the second world war and grant amnesty to 300,000 convicts to mark the 65th anniversary of its Victory Day May 9, Russian Association of Lawyers said.

The amnesty, to be declared by the Russian parliament, would come into effect May 9, when the country celebrates the 65th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany in the World War II, said Pavel Krasheninnikov, co-chair of the Russian Association of Lawyers.

'We propose announcing an amnesty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. The amnesty could cover 300,000 people, and up to 45,000 people could be freed,' Krasheninnikov said Thursday.

War veterans, the disabled and those convicted of minor crimes could be eligible for the Victory Day amnesty. Most of those expected to be covered were given non-custodial sentences, Krasheninnikov said.
 

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A top Taliban commander and a prime accused in the US consulate bombing, Qari Zafar, has reportedly died in Wednesday's drone attack in the Dandi Darpakhel area of North Waziristan.

According to sources, Zafar, a former member of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, headed a group called Badar Mansoor. Most members of this group are believed to be from Punjab.

Zafar, who had a five million bounty on his head, had joined the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in North Waziristan just before the Pakistani army launched an operation in South Waziristan against the banned extremists outfit.

He was recently seen in a video sitting next to the TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud, who is also believed to have died in a similar missile hit in January, The Dawn reports.

Wednesday's missile attack targeted a stronghold of the Haqqani network.

This was the second such strike in the region in the last one week. On the previous occasion a son of Jalaluddin Haqqani was reportedly killed.

The air strike occurred in Danday Darpakhel village near Haqqani's madrassa, four kilometers north of the agency headquarters.

The recent surge in drone attacks in Pakistan's lawless tribal region replicates the White House' concern in the region, as it knows that even though Islamabad is offering to negotiate with the proscribed extremist network, it is not doing enough against extremists based in terror hot beds based inside the country.

The Haqqani group, which has close links with the Al-Qaeda, command an estimated 4,000 fighters in south Afghanistan, who regularly target international troops in the region. (ANI)
 

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The Pakistani media Friday blamed the Indian government for refusing to revive the composite dialogue cut by the Mumbai terrorist attack and for failing to break the bilateral logjam.

Both Urdu and English language newspapers, from Islamabad and other cities, held New Delhi responsible for the seeming lack of progress after Thursday's talks between the foreign secretaries in the Indian capital.

The meeting between Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir was the first structured dialogue since the Mumabi attack of 2008 blamed on terrorists from Pakistan seriously soured ties between the two countries.

The News headlined: 'Delhi's double talk derails dialogue.'

It went on: 'No substantial progress was made during the secretary-level talks ... as India engaged in a game of doubletalk, saying one thing while meaning the other.'

The Dawn, a highly regarded newspaper, said in a three-column lead story: 'Vague promise to stay in touch.'

'India and Pakistan emerged from their first official talks since the Mumbai attacks with a vague promise to keep in contact but no progress on their core disputes,' it said, capturing the widely shared essence of Thursday's engagement.

In a separate two-column box, captioned 'Good chemistry, poor trust mark dialogue', Dawn said: 'Good chemistry and a nagging trust deficit defined the globally watched crucial meeting of the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan but they promised to stay in touch to explore ways to revive a stymied peace agenda.'

The Nation's headline read: 'Meaningless talks end in meaningless way.'

'Pakistan, India fail to break logjam on peace process,' the Daily Times captioned its lead story with a sub-head: 'Secretary-level talks conclude with differences over all key issues.'

'Hopes for early normalisation of bilateral ties between Pakistan and India were dashed as the countries' top diplomats failed to agree on a timetable to revive the stalled peace process,' it said.

The Urdu media also highlighted what it said was the failure Thursday.

'Bharat ka Pakistan se jaamia muzakrat karne se inkar' (India refuses Pakistan's offer of composite dialogue), was the headline in Jang.

The Nawa-i-Waqt said: 'There was no major breakthrough in the talks... the 'meaningless dialogue ended meaninglessly''.

It said India's decision not to revive the composite dialogue was a 'badi galti'

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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today extended by a year the one per cent interest subvention scheme for housing sector and provided Rs 700 crore for it in the budget for 2010-11.
Crop loan at 5% interest for farmers
Sops for exporters extended for another year
Growth to exceed 7.2% during 2009-10: Pranab
GST, new tax regime from 2011-12: FM
RBI to dole out more banking licences
"I proposes to extend the interest subvention scheme for housing sector to March 2011," he said unveiling the budget proposal in the Lok Sabha.

Under the scheme, introduced last year, home buyers get one per cent interest subsidy for banking loans up to Rs 10 lakh provided the cost of house does not exceed Rs 20 lakh.
 

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Income Tax department ready with two-page Saral-2 return forms for individual salaried assesses.
Crop loan at 5% interest for farmers
Govt extends interest subvention scheme for home loans
Sops for exporters extended for another year
Govt pegs fiscal deficit at 5.5% in FY11
Growth to exceed 7.2% during 2009-10: Pranab
FM prunes tax rates:
Income up to Rs 1.6 lakh - nil
Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh - 10 per cent
Income above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh - 20 per cent
Income above Rs 8 lakh - 30 per cent.

New tax rates would offer relief to 60 per cent of taxpayers, the finance minister said.

Additional deduction of Rs 20,000 allowed on long-term infrastructure bonds for income tax payers; this is above Rs one lakh on saving instruments allowed already.
Investment linked tax deductions to be allowed to two-star hotels anywhere in the country.
 

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The government also suggested setting up a coal regulator to primarily tackle issues such as coal pricing. Both the proposals are awaiting Parliament clearance.

"The government proposes to introduce competitive bidding process for allocation of coal block for captive mining to ensure greater transparency and increased participation in production of coal from these blocks," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the Union Budget 2010-11.

The Union Cabinet had last month approved a revised bill to amend some of the clauses of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957, (MMDR Act) to pave the way for competitive bidding of coal blocks for captive use.

The bill has been pending for over two years now since it was introduced in Parliament in 2008 and later referred to the Standing Committee on Coal.

Currently, coal blocks for captive use are granted through a screening committee, which examines the short-term and long-term requirements of the consuming firms.

State-run firms, however, can get coal blocks for captive use through both auctioning as well as the existing route.
 

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"Responsible, balanced budget," seemed the unanimous opinion as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee closed his Budget speech for 2010 by dedicating it to the aam aadmi and the investor, and experts gathered to analyse.
The markets equally gave a thumbs up - Sensex up almost 350 points reacting positively to the government move for fiscal consolidation.
 

However, in an unprecedented move, the Opposition walked out over an impending hike in petrol prices. Fuel prices are set to go as a result of a partial stimulus rollback and the hike in excise duty is likely to effect prices in certain areas. 
 
But Pranab had relief too for the middle-class taxpayer, changing the tax slabs to put some more money in the hands of the middle income tax payer.

As one market expert said: "It was the lack of negative surprises", that did the trick. Pranab's announcements were largely as expected and even where the impact of a partial stimulus rollback will be felt, the effect will be less than expected.
 
In a move towards fiscal consolidation, the government has rolled back some stimulus measures. Excise duty has been rolled back to 10 per cent from 8 per cent. The central excise duty on petrol and diesel has raised by Rs1/litre while the 7.5 per cent duty on petrol and diesel has been restored.
 
Thus, petrol, diesel and cars will be costlier. Petrol and diesel prices to go up by Rs 2.67 a litre and Rs 2.58 a litre respectively in Delhi from midnight tonight, said government officials.
 
The Finance Minister has revised income tax slabs to give some relief to 60% of the taxpayers in the lower and middle income groups.

He has proposed no tax on income of up to Rs.1.6 lakh. In other tax concessions, he announced a tax rate of 10 per cent on income between Rs 1.6 lakh and Rs.5 lakh.
 
He proposed a tax slab of 20 per cent for income between Rs.5-8 lakh and 30 per cent tax slab on income of Rs 8 lakh and above.
 
For corporates, the minimum alternate tax has been raised to 18 per cent vs 15 per cent.
 
The service tax rate has been kept unchanged at 10 per cent. The fiscal deficit for FY10 was estimated at a higher-than-targeted 6.9 per cent but for FY11 he announced a target of 5.5 per cent and much lower levels of 4.8 per cent in FY12 and 4.1 per cent for FY13.
Importantly, the minister unveiled a roadmap for implementation of GST and direct tax code. He said that the government would roll out GST and a direct tax code by April 1, 2011.
 
Mukherjee set the tone for his Budget 2010 as soon as he began his speech. He talked growth and talked challenges too.
 
Pranab recalled the hard days of the last two years, said the worst was over for the Indian economy but warned the challenges were no less. "We have weathered this crisis well," Mukherjee tsaid, adding, "that is not to say that the challenges today are any less than they were nine months ago.
 
The three challenges from last year remained: to touch 9 per cent growth and then the double-digit which he was confident the world's fastest growing economy would achieve; make growth more inclusive and develop infrastructure in rural areas; and to strengthen food security.
 
In other important announcements, he said that the oil ministry would take a decision on the Kirit Parikh report in due course.
 
He also said the government would raise Rs 25,000 crore during FY10 from disinvestment. The divestment proceeds have been budgeted higher in FY11 than FY10, he said.
 
The advance estimates suggest the economic growth for FY10 may surpass 7.2 per cent in this fiscal, he said adding that the double-digit food inflation remains a concern.

To boost the agri sector, farm credit target has been raised to Rs 3.75 lakh crore for FY11. The government has also extended the loan waived repayment period to June 30, 2010.

He announced a Rs 400 crore funding to boost the farm output in eastern India and also a Rs 200 crore plan to launch climate-resilient agri initiatives.
 
In the budget, the finance minister hiked allocations for infrastructure sector. He proposed to Rs 1.73 lakh crore (46% of plan allocation) for the infra sector. The allocation to road infra has been raised to Rs 19,894 crore and for power sector at Rs 5,130 crore.
 

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