Rio-bound Indian sprinter Dutee Chand today said she is working hard to improve her speed endurance so that she doesn’t taper off in the last 40 metres of the 100m event during next month’s Olympics.

“I am too good in first 60 meters, but my speeds slows down in the last 40 meters dash. I agree. I have to improve on my speed endurance, and I am working on it. Ramesh sir is giving lot of attention on it and I am also reciprocating it,” she told reporters.

Dutee became the first Indian woman athlete in 36 years to qualify for 100 metres race in an Olympics after legendary P T Usha competed in the blue-riband event in the 1980 Moscow Games.

Asked whether she is better placed than Usha to win an Olympic medal, Dutee said it is not easy because the level of performances of athletes have improved over the years.

“It is not easy to win the medal because times have changed, and there is a lot of competition, besides athletes’ performances have been improving over the years,” she said.

Dutee said her rivalry with Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina, a semifinalist at World championship in Beijing last year, at the Kosanov memorial athletics meet in Kazakhstan, has done a world of good to her ahead of the mega event.

“I did not face any competition from any sprinter in India. Running against Viktoriya has helped me a lot,” she said.

N Ramesh, coach of Dutee, praised the Odisha sprinter, saying she has the fighting spirit of a lioness, which stems from the hardships she faced in various stages of life, including the harsh ban imposed on her for having higher level of testosterone than was permissible in a woman athlete.

“She is like a lioness. The good the competition, the better is her performance. She has been bettering her performance from the junior level till the international competition where she qualified for Rio Olympics.

“That is her range. So, wherever she goes she fights like a lioness,” Ramesh told reporters.

Ramesh was in the city along with Dutee to attend meet-the-press event held by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences here.PTI

The Supreme Court today termed it a tragedy that Manipur is facing internal disturbance from past six decades but made it clear that it was “not akin to a war-like situation” in this north eastern state.

The Centre’s view in opposing any investigation into the alleged extra-judicial killings that a war-like situation was prevailing in Manipur did not go well with a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Uday Umesh Lalit which rejected it saying Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s submission was nothing but a “play on words”.

The AG had opposed any investigation or inquiry into the alleged extra-judicial killings contending that a war-like situation has been and is prevailing in Manipur.

“The submission of the Attorney General is nothing but a play on words and we reject it and hold that an internal disturbance is not equivalent to or akin to a war-like situation and proceed on the basis that there is no war or war-like situation in Manipur but only an internal disturbance, within the meaning of that expression in the Constitution – nothing more and nothing less,” the bench said.

It also said there was no doubt from the case records that Manipur has been facing a “public order situation equivalent to an internal disturbance” and “the tragedy is that this situation has continued since 1958 for almost 60 years”.

The court said when it had asked the counsel for Manipur to place before it the declarations under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) and the prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 of the CrPC, only recent declarations and prohibitory orders were produced and the rest have been lost in antiquity.

“A generation or two has gone by and issues have festered for decades. It is high time that concerted and sincere efforts are continuously made by the four stakeholders civil society in Manipur, insurgents, the State of Manipur and the Government of India to find a lasting and peaceful solution to the festering problem, with a little consideration from all quarters. It is never too late to bring peace and harmony in society,” it observed.

Making it clear that the situation in Manipur has “never been one of a war or an external aggression or an armed rebellion that threatens the security of the country or a part thereof”, the bench said no such declaration has been made by the Centre, “explicitly or even implicitly”.

“Nothing has been shown to us that would warrant a conclusion that there is a war or an external aggression or an armed rebellion in Manipur,” it said.PTI

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will lead a delegation of over 110 Indian companies that will showcase their engineering prowess at a trade fair in Russia.

India is the partner country for ‘INNOPROM 2016’, which is the largest annual international industrial trade fair of Russia.

The 4-day fair will start from July 10 in Ekaterinburg.

With ‘Industrial Net’ being the lead theme for the exhibition, the event aims to bring together all important components to improve efficacy under one roof, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.

Apart from the large, medium and small Indian companies participating in the event, states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also going to showcase their industrial strengths, it said.

The Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan will lead their state delegations.

Central government departments including Heavy Industries, Electronics and IT, Ministries of Power, Tourism and Renewable Energy, will also form part of the official delegation.

“Overall, the strong India participation is expected to highlight the strengths of India within the area of engineering and innovation” at the fair, it added.

Quoting Sitharaman, it said India s partnership provides a significant opportunity to sustain, expand and further develop the strategic partnership between the countries.

‘INNOPROM’ will also offer India a platform to showcase ‘Brand India Engineering’ and ‘Make in India’, it said.

Further, it said that Russia has now become the first country to have agreed to invest under the ‘Make in India’ umbrella in two key strategic sectors – nuclear and defence.

India and Russia have set a goal of boosting bilateral trade to USD 30 billion and mutual investment to USD 15 billion by 2025.

The two-way trade stood at USD 6.18 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 6.34 billion in the previous fiscal.PTI

Rejecting the charge of its MLA’s involvement in the Malerkotla sacrilege incident, the Aam Aadmi Party today hit out at the BJP-SAD alliance in Punjab, saying its popularity has “rattled” the ruling dispensation prompting it to “cook up” cases.

Sanjay Singh, the party’s Punjab in-charge targeted the Badals over the state police’s decision to summon its Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav, whose name has reportedly cropped up during the ongoing probe into the incident that had sparked violence.

“Badal has cooked up this case. Dirty politics by BJP and SAD has begun in the form of conspiracies to frame our MLAs.

They are rattled by AAP’s popularity. People will respond to the game being played by the Badals and BJP,” Singh said in a series of tweets.

Singh said that he will meet the Punjab DGP tomorrow over the case. Yadav also dismissed Punjab Police’s claim that he was in touch with one of the accused of the June 24 incident.

Sangrur SSP Prithpal Singh has told the media that during the investigation and questioning of the accused, it came to light that the accused had met him (AAP MLA) and that calls were also exchanged between them.

“Hundreds of people come to meet me everyday. I don’t know the accused nor have I called him. It is a political conspiracy. And if the charges are proven right, then I am ready to be hanged,” Yadav said.

“When everyone across the county, the Hindus, Mulsims, Sikhs and Christians, support us and we are winning the elections, then why will I do it? The whole country knows that only one party can do this,” he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in Amritsar today as part of his three-day visit to Punjab. The AAP is aiming to wrest power in the northern state where it will cross swords with the ruling SAD-BJP combine and Congress in Assembly polls due early next year.

Actress Katrina Kaif will not be seen opposite superstar Salman Khan in director Kabir Khan’s next film.

Speculations were rife that Katrina will be working with Kabir in his forthcoming film, “Tubelight” after she was spotted with him recently at a programme.

“Katrina is not in the film. There will be someone else.

We have not locked the actress yet,” industry sources said.

“Tubelight” will be the third collaboration of Salman and Kabir, who have earlier delivered blockbusters, “Ek Tha Tiger” in 2012 and “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”.

“The shoot begins by the end of July in Ladakh,” sources added.

The film, which will be Salman’s next Eid release, is a human story with a larger than life political backdrop.

The film will also have the “Dabangg” star’s brother, Sohail playing his younger brother on the screen.PTI