Mumbai, Jun 4 (PTI) Volatility ruled as key benchmark indices struggled to recover from the day’s low in morning trade.

The Sensex failed to maintain initial gains and was trading lower by 8 points in late morning trade as it came marginally under pressure due to selling at FMCG, healthcare, auto and consumer durable counters.

However, renewed buying was seen in realty, capital goods, IT, banking, technology and power stocks.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market remained strong.

The 30-share index Sensex resumed higher at 26,940.64 and hovered in a range of 26,948.84 and 26,742.15 before quoting at 26,829.42 at 1100 hours, a marginal fall of 7.77 points, or 0.03 per cent, from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also quoted lower by 2.35 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 8,137.45 at 1100 hours.

The major losers are ICICI Bank (1.91 per cent), Tata Motors (1.79 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (1.25 per cent) and Sun Pharma (1.18 per cent).

However, Infosys gained 1.19 per cent, followed by Wipro (1.15 per cent), SBI (0.91 per cent) and Axis Bank (0.86 per cent).

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth Rs 727.61 cr yesterday, according to provisional data.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 412.66 cr yesterday.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mostly lower. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia were down by 0.10 per cent to 1.78 per cent. Indices in Japan, Singapore and South Korea moved up by up to 0.24 per cent.

In the New York market, US stocks yesterday ended with modest gains as the main indexes remained stuck in tight trading ranges ahead of the jobs report due on Friday.

Kolkata, June 4 (PTI) Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar feels that India makes best advertisements in the world and cited the example of Google India Reunion on Partition to buttress his view.

“Take the Google India Reunion ad which is based on Partition. Whenever I see it it brings a lump in my throat. It talks about Partition which Indians and Pakistanis can understand, but it (also) talks about stories,” Kakkar told PTI on sidelines of a discussion on “Brand as a person: Humanizing a Brand” during the Edutainment Show held at the weekend.

Affirming that an ad is all about telling a story – mostly in 30 seconds in the most engaging way possible – the famous ad personality said, “Stories are based on facts.

Because you take away the stories when you leave and not the imageries”.

Kakkar, who had made the epochal Pepsi TV commercial with Sachin Tendulkar, said he had found it very refreshing to work with children in ads.

“If you have to learn from anybody, you have to learn from children, to make them feel comfortable. My best ads are all with children but if you again ask me to pick from one of them (ads with children) it’s like which of the illegitimate children is closer to you,” he said with a wink.

Kakkar, who insists that technique is important than story, says what makes ad people different from others is the sheer capacity to dream.

“Communication is paramount in advertising,” Kakkar, one of the few globally-known directors from India for commercials of Uni Levers and Pepsico in different countries, said.

Coming to West Bengal, Kakkar said the state had the best minds in the advertisement world.

“Even in Mumbai many creative people are Bengalis and I don’t know why they run away from Bengal,” he expressed surprise.

At last, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had her 94 minutes of fame. Her press conference, on Sunday May 31, on the ministry’s achievements in the first year under Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew a full house brimming with questions and thick with (suppressed) curiosity. The live video streaming of the event had quite an audience.

What attracted attention and attendance was the fact of Swaraj meeting the media. Her holding a press conference itself was bigger news than anything she said during her 94-minute interaction with journalists.

That Modi would visit Israel (dates to be worked out) was known the day he became PM. India’s terms for talking to Pakistan, sharing Teesta waters not being on PM’s agenda when in Dhaka and the many countries Modi would be visiting in his second year are not “news” that call for a briefing by the minister.

A visible, active and articulate politician as Leader of the Opposition and, earlier, as a minister in Vajpayee’s Cabinet, Swaraj has been little seen and even less heard in the last one year as minister in Modi sarkar. The enviable public profile that had kept her in the limelight during the 15 years before Modi is gone. Which, predictably, is what provokes a question like whether there’s a gag order on her.

Swaraj said that the Prime Minister has not imposed any restrictions on her. “This is what goes with my profile. I decided that (given) the profile I have got, I should not speak. I follow that”. There were no sniggers, no knowing exchange of smiles or looks. This indicates the respect and sympathy she commands in the ministry as well as media, where it is known that she is stifled by Modi, who is his own flamboyant foreign minister.

Talks with MEA officials reveal that although Modi has diminished her and kept her down, she is well liked in South Block. She has a clear grasp of issues and is rarely known to ask officials for “support”. Once she is briefed, she has shown herself capable and competent of taking international interactions to the desired conclusion. She is said to know most MEA officials by name and asks for them by name instead of their (abbreviated) designations.

Unlike some other ministers, it is said that she never berates bureaucrats in her ministry; nor does she put them down or lose her cool even in times of stress. At her press conference, she appeared somewhat tense to begin with. In the latter half, she slowly warmed up to a point where she adopted even a bantering tone in replying to one or two questions. Her tone, posture, language and choice of words left no one in doubt that the press conference was about the Ministry’s achievements; and, digressions about her personal equation with Modi and her profile in his sarkar were not questions she would engage with here.

It is no secret that Swaraj, to put it mildly, is not Modi’s favourite minister. She can expect to keep her job as long as she does not presume that the MEA is hers to run as she thinks best.

Sections in her ministry and the media refer to Swaraj as ‘Modi’s Bali’ – sacrificial victim in Modi’s scheme of things. The word ‘Bali’ here is also a reference to Bali Ram Bhagat, who was Minister of External Affairs for a year, 1985-86, under Rajiv Gandhi. He is remembered for being the most ineffective Foreign Minister in recent memory.

Swaraj ’s press conference was news because it was a public reminder of how little she is utilised, seen or heard in the present dispensation.

New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI) Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today exuded confidence over tackling deficient monsoon, minimising production losses and its possible impact on overall economy.

He also said that the government is working on bringing a new crop insurance policy by end of this year to protect farmers’ income.

To check price rise in pulses, the Minister said that the government is mulling over improving domestic supplies through imports and is collecting pulses requirement data from states.

Addressing a press conference organised to highlight the Agriculture Ministry’s one year achievement, Singh said: “In agriculture sector, there would obviously be some losses if there are problems (of deficient rains). We have confidence and policies in place to ensure there is minimum damage to agriculture sector and overall economy.”

At present, the government is ready with contingency plans for 580 districts and is in touch with state governments and agriculture research bodies to tackle the situation, he added.

Stating that Indian agriculture is resilient to rainfall deficit, Singh said, “When we came to power, we faced drought-like situation. Everyone were tensed. But our ministry worked hard to minimise the damage. There were losses in production but the losses were not that huge. This time, we will face the situation based on our earlier experience.”

Asked if bad days are ahead for farmers, the Minister said, “Good and bad days are creation of man-made or nature.

Man-made bad days have ended and good days have begun…”

The government cannot stop natural calamity but it has the responsibility to face any eventualities, he said adding that efforts would be made to reduce the impact of deficit rains on agriculture output.

The Met department has predicted “deficient” monsoon and revised its forecast from 93 per cent to 88 per cent for this year, with north-west region of the country expected to be hit the most.

Last year, the country had received 12 per cent less rains, which hit production of grains, cotton and oilseeds.

According to the government’s estimate, total foodgrains production has declined to 251.12 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year (July-June) from a record production of 265.04 million tonnes in the previous year.

Due to poor monsoon, agriculture growth stood at 0.2 per cent in the 2014-15 fiscal. .

New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted a man of the charges of raping his divorced wife and compelling her to terminate pregnancy thrice saying she lodged a false case against him after he stopped paying money to her.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt absolved the man, a Delhi resident, saying, “It appears that accused was paying money to her even after the dissolution of their marriage in year 2007 and later when he stopped paying money to her, she consulted a lawyer, on whose advice she lodged a false complaint of rape and forced abortions.”

The judge, while acquitting the accused of the charges under sections 376 (rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, observed that there was no consistency in statements of the woman and she has been changing her version at every stage.

The court noted that the complainant, in her statement recorded before a metropolitan magistrate, had stated that her grievance against the accused was that he had stopped paying money to her and also used to avoid her telephone calls.

She then consulted her lawyer telling him that she does not have any money to make her both ends meet and upon the advice of the lawyer, she filed a complaint of rape, it said.

The court also took into consideration the petition under domestic violence act filed by the woman in 2014, which she withdrew later saying that she was living separately with her children from first marriage and did not have any physical relations with the accused since divorce.

Regarding the claim that she was forced to abort her pregnancy three times, the court said there was no evidence regarding two out of the three pregnancies.

“There is no evidence on record regarding the abortion of prosecutrix of the years 2005 and 2008. Prosecution produced evidence only regarding her abortion in 2013 but documents demonstrate that she had herself visited hospital in 2013 for termination of her pregnancy with her consent,” it said.

Jaipur, Jun 3 (PTI) Jaipur Metro, touted as one of the fastest built metro systems in the country, was thrown open to public today.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje flagged off the inaugural train on 9.6 km long route from Mansarovar to Chandpole.

Raje along with ministers, officers and supporters travelled in the train from Mansarovar to Chandpole and alighted at Civil Lines station while returning.

After the opening ceremony, the Jaipur Metro commenced its regular commercial operations from all its 9 stations– Mansarovar, New Aatish Market, Vivek Vihar, Shyam Nagar, Ram Nagar, Civil Lines, Railway Station, Sindhi Camp and Chandpole.

“After this, we will try to connect the next part of the project with it,” Raje told reporters at the Civil Lines station.

She visited Mansarovar station where Jaipur Metro CMD N C Goel briefed her about the functioning and operations.

People in buildings along the metro line were seen greeting and waving hands as the train undertook its first official journey.

Large number of locals were seen queuing up at the ticket counters to enjoy their first ride in the Jaipur metro.

As per the time table issued by the JMRC for first three months, trains will operate from Mansarovar to Chandpole and from Chandpole to Mansarovar at a frequency of 10 to 15 minutes from 6.45 AM to 9 PM every day.

The fare structure varies for peak and off-peak hours.

They have been fixed in multiples of Rs 5 and a flat discount of Rs 5 has been offered for off-peak hours.

For the first six months, off-peak fares will be charged throughout the day. Automatic fare collection system has been installed to collect and manage the fare revenue.

To encourage people to travel in the metro, upto 15 per cent discount has been offered on smart cards, which can be recharged using Jaipur Metro website or Ticket Vending Machines installed at all stations.

Two types of tourist cards, one-day tour card and three- day tour card, have been introduced, which can be used for unlimited number of trips during the day(s) of their validity, the JMRC said.

For effective execution of the project in its initial stages, the total work of Phase-1 was divided into two parts- Phase-1A and Phase-1B.

The phase 1A is from Mansarovar to Chandpole, opened today, while work on phase 1B from Chandpole to Badi Chaupad is underway. .

Mumbai, June 3 (PTI) Witnessing heavy selling pressure in almost all the sectors, the benchmark BSE Sensex dipped below 27,000-mark to hit its lowest levels in almost 2-1/2 weeks, on fears of a drought in the country this year.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector activity contracted for the first time in 13 months in May, largely due to decline in new order flows amid competitive pressure and natural disasters, an HSBC survey said today.

The 30-share Sensex resumed higher at 27,230.68 and hovered in a range of 27,276.22 to 26,975.79 before quoting 26,984.65 at 1115 hrs, showing a sharp fall of 203.73 points or 0.75 per cent.

The NSE Nifty was also quoted lower by 67.05 points or 0.81 per cent at 8,169.40 at 1115 hrs.

Major losers were Tata Motors at 4.22 per cent, ITC 3.48 per cent, Axis bank 1.94 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.82 per cent, HUL 1.80 per cent, SunPharma 1.74 per cent, Tata Power 1.73 per cent, Vedanta 1.64 per cent, Maruti 1.21, Bajaj Auto 1.06 and Hindalco 1.05 per cent.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 594.14 crore yesterday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 271.64 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Globally, Asian shares were trading mixed. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were up by 0.16 per cent to 0.61 per cent. Indices in Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia were down by 0.17 per cent to 1.55 per cent.

In New York, the US stocks ticked lower overnight as a jump in bond yields weighed on utilities, but optimism that Greece may be close to a deal with its creditors limited losses.

New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI) Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today strongly pitched for setting up more border ‘haats’ or markets along the Indo-Bangla border to encourage trade and commerce between the two countries.

Sangma also hoped that the Prime Minister would discuss with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina the possibility of jointly developing road networks so that the land-locked Northeastern states could use Bangladesh’s Chittagong port for exports.

“The Meghalaya government has plans to set up 22 border haats along the Indo-Bangladesh border to encourage trade and commerce and people-to-people contact. Currently, we have just two border haats. The Union Commerce Ministry must take initiatives to set up more border haats along the international border,” Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told PTI here.

Prime Minister Modi and Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina will jointly inaugurate a border haat at Kamalasagar in Tripura’s Sipahijala district, which borders Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh, this weekend.

The ‘haat’ would be jointly inaugurated through video conferencing from Dhaka during Modi’s two-day visit to Bangladesh beginning June 6.

Two border haats were set up in 2012 on the Meghalaya sector of Indo-Bangladesh border — at Kalaichar (India)-Baliamari (Bangladesh) and at Balat (India)-Dalora (Bangladesh).

Around 15-16 local agricultural and horticultural products, spices, minor forest produce (excluding timber), fresh and dry fish, dairy and poultry products, cottage industry items, wooden furniture, handloom and handicraft items are allowed to sell in the border haats, where people of both the countries can participate in trading on designated days and time every week.

Sangma advocated jointly developing road networks of India and Bangladesh so that the Chittagong port in the neighbouring country could be used by the Northeastern states for export of various products.

“I hope that the Prime Minister will take up the issue with his Bangladesh counterpart,” he said.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km border along West Bengal (2,216 km), Tripura (856 km), Assam (263 km), Meghalaya (443 km) and Mizoram (318 km). The two neighbours have 2,979 km of land border and 1,117 km of riverine boundaries.

New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI) Private schools in the city have been warned of strict action by the Education Directorate if they bar parents from carrying mobile phones in school premises due to fears that they could be used to collect evidence against demands for capitation fees.

The directive has come following complaints that parents have been stopped from carrying mobile phones by the school managements fearing it could be used to collect audio-video evidence against demand of capitation fee.

“Collection of capitation fee by a school while admitting a child in a school is illegal and punishable as per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009,” according to a circular issued by P Lata Tara, Deputy Director Education (ACT I).

The Directorate in its order dated February 23 had directed managements of all private unaided recognised schools not to charge any capitation fee at the time of admission.

Delhi Government had also advised general public to collect evidence against demands of capitation fee by schools through audio-video recordings in such cases.

“lt has come to the notice of the department that managements of some private unaided recognised schools are not allowing parents visiting schools for admissions to enter premises with their mobiles and that their mobile phones are retained at the entry gate of the school which causes hindrance for parents to collect evidence of such malpractices,” said the official.

“All the school managements of private unaided recognised schools have been directed that, parents/guardians must be allowed to carry their mobile phones within school premises failing which strict action will be taken against the defaulter schools,” she said.

The RTE Act defines capitation fee as ‘any kind of donation or contribution or payment other than the fee notified by the school.’ Section 13(1) of the Act prohibits taking of capitation fee by the schools.

Chennai, Jun 3 (PTI) After taking up the cause of farmers in Punjab and Telangana, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi will visit Tamil Nadu for a similar campaign, the party’s state unit said today.

A resolution to this effect was passed at the TNCC Executive here, which met under AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik and state chief E V K S Elangovan.

“Rahul Gandhi has accepted to tour the state and meet farmers following a plea made by the TNCC. Congress workers should make all efforts to make it a success,” it said but did not mention when the Congress leader would visit Tamil Nadu.

“The Centre and State government are hand-in-glove in taking steps inimical to farmers’ interests. The AIADMK government by supporting the Land Bill has earned the wrath of farmers,” it alleged.

Among others, the party slammed the ‘anti-people’ approach of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and vowed to strive for a regime change in Tamil Nadu next year by galvanising people’s support against the “corrupt AIADMK government.”

Assembly polls in the state are due next year.

The party also condemned the “oppression by communal forces,” in IIT, Madras, where a study circle was derecognised for violation of code of conduct for allegedly criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.