Electoral stakes: PM Modi keeps focus on UP polls at BJP meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, L K Advani, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj at the BJP meeting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not want BJP MPs to leave any stone unturned in Uttar Pradesh, where the party is preparing a high-stakes electoral battle next year.

Modi met party MPs from the state Monday night and grilled them on how they were implementing the NDA government’s schemes for the poor in their constituencies, sources said.

Modi reportedly asked the MPs how many of them have information about the number of villages electrified so far. With no one responding, he shot another question: how many of them had downloaded the mobile app GARV, which provides real-time updated data of ongoing electrification process.

With no hands going up, a visibly disappointed PM apparently told them about the importance of keeping track of implementation of the scheme and the need to publicise government’s initiatives for the poor, a source in the party said. The BJP has 71 Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh. BJP chief Amit Shah was present at the meeting and asked the MPs to intensively campaign on the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the scheme to provide free LPG connection to women from BPL households, for which Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside in this year’s Budget. At the Parliamentary party meeting Tuesday morning, Parliamentary Affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu issued a warning: if the MPs do not have 100-per cent attendance in Standing Committee and other Parliamentary panel meeting, they will not get their choice of the committee next time. According to Naidu, attending standing committee meeting will make MPs push the party’s stance on policies and legislation, as also give them a chance to put their views without restrictions. Later, BJP made some changes in its members in the parliamentary committees. 

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at a farewell function for the retired and retiring Members of Rajya Sabha (2016) at Parliament Library Building in New Delhi on Tuesday. 

(Source: PTI)

Royal Enfield Himalayan Launched in India; Prices Start at Rs. 1.55 Lakh

Royal Enfield has finally launched the much awaited Himalayan adventurer tourer in India today, priced at Rs. 1.55 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The company also announced that the on-road price of the bike in Mumbai will be Rs.1.78 lakh. However, the company confirmed that the bike will not be sold in Delhi and the reason given to us by it was that the Himalayan is not BS4 compliant. However, the bike will be available for display in the city but cannot be registered. The bike will be however, available in the NCR region.

The company also said that it is working on the BS4 compliant version and it should be ready by April 2017. The Himalayan has been one of the most anticipated launches of 2016 and is the first purpose built motorcycle to be introduced by any Indian manufacturer. The Himalayan will cater to those who have been looking forward to buy an affordable adventure tourer.

Royal Enfield has hardly left anything to our imagination and the bike was unveiled a couple of days before the 2016 Auto Expo. Having disclosed all the technical specifications then Royal Enfield has waited for more than a month to unveil the price of the bike.

At the heart of the Royal Enfield Himalayan is a 411cc air-cooled, single-cylinder engine with an overhead crank and carburetor that produces a healthy 24.5bhp at 6500rpm. Now don't be disappointed by these figures because at the end of the day the Himalayan is built for munching miles rather than win races and that is exactly what the bike is capable of doing with its massive 32Nm of peak torque which is achieved at 4500rpm.

Bengaluru pals building India’s first driverless car

Cennai: A few years ago, Bengaluru-based techie Roshy John was one his way home from the airport in a taxi when the sleepy driver almost ran into another vehicle. John took the wheel and drove the driver and then himself home — but the near-death experience got him thinking. Five years later, he and his friends have developed India's first driverless car — Tata Nano Autonomous.

John, who is practice head, robotics and cognitive systems at TCS, and his 29-member team worked on the software and algorithms in their free time and created a 3D model to test it. The car is yet to be tested on the road, and John is hoping to get permission from the traffic police soon.

In 2011, John purchased a Nano to test the software. "The Tata Nano is considered an engineering marvel. What better car to test Indian technology than on a car made in India?" says John. Across the world, Daimler, Nissan, General Motors, BMW, Google and Tesla are investing big bucks in developing driverless cars.

John used onboard diagnostics, a regular feature in most cars today, and a scanner to monitor the engine. "I had to get data from the car to make it accelerate or slow down based on the RPM," explains John. Creating an algorithm using a custom cluster (multiple computers), John and his team were able to read all parameters of the engine.

Several other devices were used to extract vitals of the car and its surroundings — wheel encoders to measure the speed of the wheel, multiple lidars (a surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light) to identify obstacles around the car, HDR cameras and GPS. The data was processed by the software to make the car 'drive' like a human.

Idea Cellular Network Develops Glitch in Delhi NCR

The mobile network of Idea Cellular was on Friday crippled in the National Capital Region

 (NCR), causing inconvenience to its customers, a company executive said.

"The network faced some technical problems in Noida, services were been
badly affected in Delhi and NCR areas, and our team is on work to rectify
the problem. It will take some more hours to resolve the fault," Idea's friend
 desk executive Gurvir Singh told IANS.

The network failed around 10.30am IST.

Despite several attempts, company officials were unavailable for
 any further details.

When customers tried to make a call earlier in the day, a "Mobile network
not available"message appeared on their screens.

"I thought it was some problem with my mobile set and I came to know about
the network failure after I went to one of the idea customer care centre,"
said Ravinder Yadav, an executive with a private firm.

Confused subscribers queued up in front of several customer care centres,
failing to understand whether their handsets have developed any problem
or the service provider has withdrawn their connections without intimating them.

Late in the evening, a communication officials said: "There is no update on
this matter."

After being dumped by WhatsApp, Blackberry exploring ways of making BBM more attractive

BlackBerry is exploring alternatives to make working on BBM, its messaging platform, "more convenient and fun" to support users after rival WhatsApp announced to stop its support to Canadian firm's operating system from later this year. 

WhatsApp, which has over a billion users globally, had earlier this week said it will end support for BlackBerry phones and those powered by Nokia's Symbian operating system later this year. 

"BlackBerry is committed to our BlackBerry 10 operating system, and we work closely with developers to create and deploy solutions to bring apps to our consumer and enterprise fans. We continue to invest in the BlackBerry 10 platform and will introduce several key security updates this year," BlackBerry said in a statement. 

It added that the company is "actively exploring alternatives for BlackBerry users once support of WhatsApp Messenger for BBOS and BlackBerry 10 ends in late 2016". 

"Users of BlackBerry PRIV, which runs on Android, will not be impacted...While the app landscape continues to evolve, our commitment to BlackBerry10 and our developers is unwavering," it said. 

BlackBerry, in its blog, said it is building more features into BBM, especially on the security front. 

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Former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma passes away

Sangma was a nine-time member of Lok Sabha and the Speaker in the 11th Lok Sabha.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma died of a heart attack here on Friday. He was 68.

Parliament sources said the end came this morning after he suffered a heart attack.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced the news of his death in the House, which was adjourned for the day.

While expressing deep grief over Sangma’s passing away, Ms. Mahajan said he knew how to run the House with a smile and “I learnt this from him.”

“A man of masses, Sangma strove relentlessly for the amelioration of the marginalised sections,” the Speaker said.

Condoling the death of Sangma, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “a self-made leader whose contribution towards the development of the North East is monumental.

Saddened by his demise.”

Sangma’s tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker “is unforgettable. His down-to-earth personality and affable nature endeared him to many,” he said, adding “Sangmaji was deeply influenced by Netaji Bose.”

Sangma was a nine-time member of Lok Sabha and the Speaker in the 11th Lok Sabha. He had also held important portfolios in the central government.

He was also the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Leader of Opposition in the assembly from 1990 to 1991.

Born on September 1, 1947 in village Chapahati in the picturesque West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, Sangma grew up in the small tribal village and struggled hard to rise in life.

After completing his graduation from St Anthony’s College, he went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations. Subsequently, he also obtained a degree in Law.

A Congressman who was one of the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was expelled from it in July 2012 when he refused to accept his party’s decision to quit the race for India’s President. In January 2013, he had formed the National People’s Party.