PUNE: Committing to bold reforms that would professionalise public sector banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today assured bankers that government was ready to protect their commercial decisions as “risks have to be taken” by them.

Speaking at the Gyan Sangam here, he said the government was willing to “reconsider the rules” to help banks reduce the non-performing assets (NPAs), which have become a major challenge for the banking industry.

“Government is open to bold decisions for professionalisation of the management and autonomy in decision making, rewarding merit, and relooking at the recruitment process at the top management level of PSBs,” Jaitley said.

He further said the government was ready to protect commercial decisions so as to avoid the delay in good decisions.

“Risks have to be taken. The positives are that there is an element of decisiveness in the new government and there is large popular support for that,” the Finance Minister added.

In order to improve the economic situation, Jaitley said the government has taken a number of “bold steps” on pushing the Goods and services Tax and amendment to the Land Acquisition Act with a view to reviving infrastructure growth.

In addition, he said, steps have been taken to increase FDI and domestic investment to give big push to the manufacturing sector.

“Banks have a major role to play in the financing of infrastructure. Growth in power and other infrastructure sectors needs to be revived,” Jaitley said.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), he said most of the inactive accounts will become operational with the introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer. “These account holders will become symbol of the identity of the cashless system.”

Till date, over 10 crore bank accounts have been opened under the scheme, one month ahead of the deadline.

At the invitation of Hindu Association , Bandra West Mumbai, Arunachal Vikas Parishad a group 50 students along with their teachers are now presently in Mumbai for an educational tour. Real News of India has captured all their activities in camera. The three day trip included a visit to the Governor of Maharashtra. Arunchal Vikas Parishad organized the trip for the youth with the intention of an exposure of a metro city to the North Eastern people. These young students were all excited after meeting the Governor. The visit was intended as an initiative of business transactions between Arunachal Pradesh and Mumbai, cooperation for Arunachal Pradesh and women empowerment. This was their first trip to Mumbai. The group is on a tour from Kanyakumari to Bangalore to Mumbai and then would return back to Arunachal Pradesh. The students commented on the pollution around in Mumbai due to the heavy traffic. They were trying to compare their clean green environment with the polluted state of Mumbai. Ashish Shelar BJP MLA along with Home Minister met the delegates and inspired them. Mr Jackie Shroff also had a ball of a time with the chinky eyed students.Arunachal Vikas Parishad also organized a dance and song program at Carter Road. Ajit Maniyar Secretary Hindu Association arranged and managed the trip with Archana Sharma who has acted as the main host of the delegation for their entire trip to Mumbai. Real News of India will upload a video of their activities on youtube on RNI show.

In an uncertain world, there are some things you can always count on with a Burberry campaign. Think iconic and of-the-moment models; the coolest new musicians; a dose of Brit whimsy and Christopher Bailey’s take on the house’s classics.
For SS’15, they hit all the right notes. Last season’s campaign saw a cheeky response to Britain’s obsession with tabloids— forever young phoenix Kate Moss shared a trench coat under the rain with Britain’s whimsical Cara Delevingne (who somehow managed to keep a straight face). This time around, Mario Testino brought a fresh, crisp balance of colours to echo Bailey’s nostalgic summer mood, setting the tone for an English summer romance.
Sticking with their success formula, the label chose another model duo for its campaign version 2.0: veteran Naomi Campbell with the very fiery Jourdan Dunn. Musicians George Barnett (who plays the drums for These New Puritans, and the face of Burberry Brit Rhythm for men), and George Le Page, the drummer for Of Empires, join the models in the campaign.
The SS’15 collection entitled ‘Birds and the Bees’ also included cover text from Bruce Chatwin’s novels. James Bay’s ‘Scars’ was the soundtrack for the show and the campaign. Softly pleated pastel tulle dresses; iridescent sequins and watercolor botanics dominated the runway. Moulded denim jackets and pristine white sneakers kept us in check from getting lost in daydreams.
And of course, the iconic trench gets prime focus. It wouldn’t be a Burberry campaign without it.

India is checking whether thousands of newly built toilets are being used.
Half a million latrines have been built in homes under a cleanliness drive begun by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October. But many people still prefer to defecate outside.
Sanitation inspectors will go door-to-door to survey household lavatory use, noting the results on mobile phones and tablets, a government statement said.
Earlier surveys merely monitored the construction of toilets, it adds.
In its news release, the ministry of drinking water and sanitation said it “will launch a nationwide real time monitoring of use of toilets.
“Earlier, the monitoring was done only about the construction of toilets, but now the actual use of toilets will be ascertained on a sustained basis.”
Launching the Clean India Campaign (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) on 2 October, Mr Modi promised to build half a million toilets within 100 days.
The government says it has built 503,142 household latrines since then.
However, studies in the past have suggested that many people in rural India, despite having working toilets at home, continue to go out into the open believing it is more sanitary to defecate far from home.
Hundreds of millions of people defecating outside leads to large numbers of hygiene-related diseases and premature deaths.
Reports say some of the new toilets are being used as storerooms by people who consider toilets at home unhygienic.
Campaigners say that building toilets is not enough and that motivating people to use them is equally important.
The government has pledged to make India “100% free” of open defecation by 2019.

New Delhi: Terming the ceasefire violations by Pakistan as “utter frustration”, Inspector General Border Security Force, Jammu frontier Rakesh Sharma said that India will launch a strong protest over the firing along the International Border. One BSF jawan has been killed and another injured has been injured in the “unprovoked firing” by Pakistan.
“Pakistan has violated the norms on international border. We are going to lodge strong protest against them. They targeted around 15 posts and we responded to the firing. This is planned execution by the Pakistan army. This is the utter frustration by Pakistan,” Sharma said.
Sharma said that many terrorists are waiting to sneak into the Indian side in Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan. “There are about 50-60 terrorists at the launch pads on the other side waiting at the international border but we are fully prepared,” he said adding that security measures have been intensified on the Indian side to check any untoward incident.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Rajanth Singh had expressed hope that issues between India and Pakistan would be resolved soon. “Our diplomats are talking with officials in Pakistan. Talks are on. I think Pakistan will come on the right track, if not today then tomorrow,” he said.
After one BSF soldier and four Pakistani Rangers were killed on Regal post in Samba on Wednesday, the Pakistani Rangers yet again fired on 15 border outposts in Samba sector late on Wednesday night which continued till early hours on Thursday, drawing retaliation from the BSF.
“Pakistani rangers resorted to firing on 12 to 13 BoPs along the IB in Samba sector overnight. The BSF also retaliated, resulting in exchanges which continued till 0600 hours today,” ,” Sharma said adding that there have been no casualities or injuries in the incident.
On Wednesday, Pakistani Rangers had waved white flags asking BSF to stop the firing so that they can lift the bodies of their dead men. Honouring their request, the BSF had stopped the firing and allowed them to come to the border line and lift the bodies.
Thursday’s firing by Pakistan was the third ceasefire violation along the International Border in the past three days and seventh in last eight days.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad alleging that India had violated the ceasefire.

More than half of the Indian girls would cancel their wedding if their would-be in-laws demand dowry, according to a new survey.

When single Indian women were asked in a survey by Shaadi.com about what they would do if they learnt about a dowry demand made to their parents, 51.4 per cent women said they would call off their wedding.

Another 48.6 per cent women said they would name and shame the would-be in-law’s family by publicly humiliating them, as per the survey.

The online poll received 5,680 responses from single Indians in the age group of 24 to 35 years.

When single Indian men were asked how dowry seekers should be treated, 59.8 per cent of them said such persons should be instantly jailed, while 40.2 per cent said those making the demand should be socially humiliated.

More than 75 per cent respondents felt dowry could be prevented, the survey said.
Commenting on the survey, Gourav Rakshit, COO of Shaadi.com said the website was working towards making India a dowry-free society. PTI