Goa government on Friday said that the decision to declare Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a ‘tiger corridor’ would be taken only after receiving proper reports about the presence of wild cats in the region.
“If there are tigers, then the region should be declared as the corridor.
“But right now we have initiated a long-term study about presence of tigers in this area, and we will be able to conclude about presence of wild cats only after we receive the report,” state environment minister Rajendra Arlekar told reporters after launching a website of the forest department.
He said the five-year-long survey has already begun and it will take at least one more year for the department to get report from the institute, which is conducting the study.
Arlekar recalled that the recent wildlife census, which was done using methods like camera-trapping, has shown presence of three tigers in the region.
The environmentalists in the state have been demanding that Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, which is in continuation to Dandeli Tiger Reserve, be declared as a ‘tiger corridor’.

Jodhpur, Jan 8: It seems tainted godman Asaram Bapu will have to spend some more time in jail, as his bail plea was on Friday, Jan 8, rejected by Jodhpur Sessions Court in Rajasthan.

74-year-old Asaram has been lodged in Jodhpur jail since August 2013, in connection with the rape case of a 16-year-old girl.
Asaram has been represented in the court by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and he cited almost the same grounds for bail as those in last bail hearing.
Earlier, three bail petitions of Asaram were turned down by lower court. Apart from the lower courts, he had twice unsuccessfully approached the High Court and was also denied relief by the Supreme Court.

Islamabad, Jan 8: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the Intelligence Bureau to probe the leads provided by India on the alleged Pakistani links to the terror attack in
Pathankot, a report said on Friday.Sharif gave the directive to the Intelligence Bureau after chairing a high-level meeting here on Thursday, The Nation newspaper reported.
Among those who attended the meeting were Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, National Security Adviser (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan.’Officials said the prime minister and the aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India,’ the report said.Hours earlier, India linked the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan to Islamabad’s action against suspected Pakistani terrorists who raided the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2.The pre-dawn attack left seven Indian security personnel dead. Security forces killed all six attackers.Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi spoke on the telephone after the terror attack. India said it had provided ‘actionable’ inputs to Pakistan, and Sharif assured Modi of ‘prompt and decisive’ action against groups and individuals who might be linked to the attack.

The Nation quoted an official as saying that the leads provided by India were handed over to IB chief Aftab Sultan for further action.
Addressing the meeting, Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.Sharif also directed NSA Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track.Another official, however, said the information provided by India was ‘not enough’ as it was just limited to telephone numbers. He said Pakistan might ask for additional information.’We would like to have solid information to build a case for action. Otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out,’ he added.

The German city of Cologne has been branded a “no-go zone” for women by the 18-year-old victim of sex attack carried out by up to 30 men.

The young woman, who was identified only by the name Michelle, told Germany’s N-TV news network that the attackers surrounded her and a group of 11 female friends during last week’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, repeatedly groped them and then stole their belongings.

Police have not yet made any arrests after 90 criminal complaints were filed, including one allegation of rape. It is believed that around 1,000 men, who split into gangs, were involved in the attacks at the city’s train station.

Describing her harrowing ordeal, Michelle was quoted by MailOnline as saying: “At around 11pm we were at the main train station and wanted to travel on to see the fireworks and that was when we first noticed all these men standing around.

“We managed to go into the cathedral and wanted to go past the Museum Ludwig to join everyone and watch the fireworks by the river, but suddenly we were surrounded by a group of between 20 and 30 men,” she reportedly added.

Michelle told N-TV that her terrified friends linked arms for safety, but their attackers were “full of anger” and tried pulling them off in separate directions. When that failed the men began groping the young women and stealing items from their pockets, including mobile phones.

Undeterred by the assault, the young women continued with their evening but later ran into a different group of men firing fireworks at one another near Cologne station. In the crush to get on to the platform Michelle lost her friends and subsequently realised she’d missed her last train. Alone, she then had to make her way back through the crowd of men before walking the three miles home.

The city’s mayor Henriette Rekeryor provoked outrage and accusations of victim-blaming for her comments suggesting women need to be ‘better prepared’ for such incidents.She offered suggestions on how women should behave to avoid similar attacks, including remaining ‘within your own group, and asking bystanders to intervene or to help as a witness’.

It is believed that at least 118 German women have come forward to report being sexually assaulted on New Year’s Eve alone. Incidents were recorded in Hamburg and Stuttgart as well as Cologne.

Victims were largely women in their teens or early 20s with many eyewitnesses alleging the sex attackers were of Middle Eastern or North African appearance. This has fuelled tensions in Germany where many locals blame the assaults on the large number of refugees and migrants to have arrived in the country over the past 12 months.

The Maharashtra government is examining the odd-even car plan presently underway in Delhi and may emulate the formula in Mumbai if it proves to be a success. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar was responding to NCP’s demand for a similar formula in Mumbai.

“We need to implement the even-odd car number formula on roads of Mumbai as is being done in Delhi to make Mumbai pollution free. If this plan is successfully implemented, plying of as many as 50 per cent vehicles per day on the roads will be reduced. This will also help in reducing the city’s carbon footprint as 26 per cent of green house gas emissions are caused by using petroleum products. In addition to that the city is also seeing an increase in number of tankers, trucks, buses each day,” NCP Mumbai Unit President Sachin Ahir said. In response, Mungantiwar said the results of Delhi’s experiment will take time to show and if successful, the state government will consider implementing it in Mumbai as well. “We will do whatever it can and take in all ideas to reduce traffic and pollution levels in Mumbai. Delhi has started with this experiment. The results will take time to show. It has just been 4 days now and we can’t judge the effects in four days. We will later know how beneficial the scheme was for Delhi,” Mungantiwar said. “If we feel the experiment is successful, it can be applied anywhere in the country. Accepting good things is the specialty of 21st century. We should be open to new ideas while remembering that we do not get overboard before knowing the results of new ideas,” he added. He further said that the government is open to accepting new ideas from other state governments if it can prove beneficial for Maharashtra. “We are examining the scheme, if it is successful, it can be applied to Mumbai as well so that traffic congestion and pollution reduces in the city. We will accept all that is necessary. We do not have to pay a royalty to Delhi government if we borrow their scheme. We can apply it whenever we want to,” Mungantiwar said.

Special Judge A L Pansare, on December 22, had issued a production warrant against the 54-year-old asking him to appear before it on January 7. When asked to spell out his name, Rajan told the judge, “My name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje.” Judge Pansare then explained the J Dey case to him and later took him into custody. The entire conversation between Rajan and the judge went on in Marathi. “The court told him that the next date of the case is January 19, when charges will be framed against him,” Special Public Prosecutor Dileep Shah said. Rajan also told the court that he doesn’t have any lawyer in Mumbai and is looking for one. The judge also reprimanded the Mumbai Police for not serving the copy of the chargesheet to Rajan. “Why not yet ? What are you waiting for….why are you waiting for an order for everything ? the judge said. Later, he passed an order directing the police to serve the copy of chargesheet. Rajan, a former key aide and lieutenant of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 after he arrived from Australia, and was later deported to India. Of the 74 cases the Mumbai police has transferred to the CBI, the central agency registered its second case against Rajan — the J Dey murder case. The first case was about a fake passport the gangster was using during his stay in Australia. The CBI has demanded that one court should deal with all of Chhota Rajan’s cases in the city. Earlier it was reported that in spite of the special MCOCA court’s warrant to Tihar Jail to produce Chhota Rajan for the hearing, Mumbai Police and Crime Branch were yet to be notified whether Rajan aka Sadashiv Nikalje will be transferred from Delhi to Mumbai and what kind of protection should be provided.

Arun Jaitley said the government will continue to step up public investment to boost growth in the wake of continuing challenges in global economy. He said the government is making room for further private sector participation in the infrastructure space and the railways will soon invite bids for modernisation of 400 stations. “The railways has now come on to directionally the right track. We are inviting the private sector including foreign investment into the infrastructure.very shortly the railways is going to come with its proposed bids for development of 400 railway stations in the country. ”
Having raised some funds from tax-free bonds, the railways intend to mobilise international investment, he said. “The LIC has made available long term capital to them (railways). And that’s an area which directionally I think is on the right track.
The movement needs to be a little expedited,” he added.
The government is also considering participation of private sector in mid and small airports to improve their managerial efficiency, he added.
“They probably need managerial efficiency and therefore, management participation of the private sector in the management of some of these airports is a proposal which they have been considering. I think the government is very clear with regard to the direction in which it wants to move,” he said.
Jaitley said enhanced public investment in infrastructure sector last year had now started showing results. Last year a lot of resources were put in the direction of national highways, rural roads and railways, he said.
“The result of this is visible now that the stalled projects among the highways have got moving. As a result of enhanced public investment, even private sector players who had got bogged down in their disputes have re-entered the field,” he said.
The years and months to come will be those where we will be seriously investing in infrastructure. We should be able to show much more positive result as far as Indian economy is concerned making it a stable force which we have become even in the midst of even in a crisis like situation across the world, the minister said.
Commenting on the recently set up National Infrastructure Investment Fund, the minister said the government is in touch with many global sovereign and pension funds to become partners.
He emphasised that global economy was passing through a phase of volatility but lower crude oil, commodity and mineral prices were an opportunity for India.
“World is passing through a phase of great volatility. There is no easy day. And therefore the trends that global economy pass going to throw up will be challenging,” he said, adding that the opportunity provided by the low oil prices has enabled the government to channelise a large part of our savings in central areas of infrastructure.

At least 40 protesting students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) were detained by the police on Thursday morning after they allegedly clashed with members of the Staff Association of FTII who were celebrating the newly appointed Chairman Gajendra Chauhan’s arrival by beating drums outside the gate.
The students have been reportedly moved to Deccan and Shivajinagar police stations after the arrest. Meanwhile, the meeting between Chauhan and the members of the FTII society is going on as per schedule.
Earlier in the day, over 100 policemen from Deccan and Shivajinagar Police Station as well as State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) were called, tightening security around the institute, ahead of Chauhan’s visit.
The students were also given permission to peacefully protest. However, after the Staff members brought their celebration rally at the gate, the students confronted the members, leading to chaos outside the institute.
Many students were lathicharged by the police and as many as 40 were detained. Staff members were also asked to stop their celebrations after the incident. Even after the arrest of their batch mates, over 60 students with the protest outside the main theatre.
FTII society members including Satish Shah and Raj Kumar Hirani started arriving at 9.30 am amid tight security.
With the arrival of Chauhan, the meeting began at 11.30 am. Meanwhile, the graffiti which was whitewashed for the meeting reappeared on Thursday morning as the student stuck to their demands. There is no word on the release of the arrested students.
On Wednesday evening, the Deccan Police had issued notices to 17 students who were earlier booked for forcibly confining FTII director Prashant Pathrabe on August 16, warning them of strict action if they disturbed peace at the campus by any means, said Deputy Commissioner of Police.

In a Twitter Poll carried out yesterday, online pollster MyVote.Today @myvote_today asked: ‘In your opinion, how should the Government of India / PM Narendra Modi respond to Pakistan supported terrorism in India?’
Four options were given to voters participating in the Poll, (1) Destroy Terror Camps; (2) Fight to Reclaim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; (3) Help Baloch (separatist) Movement; (4) Cut Diplomatic Ties.
As many as 3,310 people voted on the Poll in 24 hours. The results were quite surprising. Only 10% preferred the ‘soft option’ of cutting diplomatic ties.
14% voted for the option to fight for reclaiming PoK, while 19% voted to support the Balochistan separatist movement. An overwhelming majority of 57% voted that the Government of India / PM Narendra Modi should destroy terror camps.
On the previous day, the MyVote.Today @myvote_today Daily Poll had asked people who they thought was the mastermind behind regular cross-border terror attacks reportedly emanating from Pakistan.
2,271 people had cast their votes, of which only 6% opined that it was the Government of Pakistan, 11% said it was terrorist groups such as LeT, JeM, JuD, UJC, as many as 41% voted for the Pakistan Army & ISI, and 42% chose the option of all three in conjunction.
As a follow up to the 57% result of yesterday, MyVote.Today @myvote_today is now running an online poll (on Twitter) which asks how should the Indian PM destroy terror camps in Pakistan. About 1,800 people had voted at the time of going to press.
MyVote.Today is a digital technology company that runs online polls, currently only on Twitter. It usually runs one Daily Poll, and sometimes it also runs sporadic Special Polls. MyVote.Today is in the process of launching a Voting App on the Android and iPhone platforms later this month.
Started in early December 2015, the MyVote.Today @myvote_today Daily Poll has become very popular in just five weeks, with an average of 2000-2500 people voting daily.
Their highest Daily Poll on 23rd December got 5320 votes, in which 81% said they want current PM Narendra Modi as the next prime minister of India. The other three choices were Arvind Kejriwal (12%), Rahul Gandhi (4%) and Nitish Kumar (3%).

New Delhi, Jan 6: You must have heard about earthquakes in Nepal (May 2015), Manipur (Jan 2016), Sikkim (2011). Now, a bigger, massive earthquake is expected to hit North India and other parts of Himalayan region.
According to National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), a massive earthquake may rattled Himalayan Region.
Media reports quoted MHA sources as saying that earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.
0 or more on the Richter scale are likely to hit the Himalayan region.
They also have issued warning saying that greater risk around the ‘ring of fire garlanding the entire north India especially the mountains’ has been assessed.
According to Santosh Kumar, the director of NIDM, the interconnected plates across Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India could trigger a massive quake. The catastrophic quake may rattle the lives of people living in hill states and parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Meanwhile, an expert was quoted as saying, ‘the current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude. And if they delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes.’
Tectonic plates underneath the Himalayan region had developed cracks during previous tremors in Nepal (7.3 magnitude on Richter Scale), Manipur (6.7 magnitude on Richter Scale), Sikkim (6.9 magnitude on Richter Scale).