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New Delhi:  The hashtag #incredibleindia witnessed a sudden spurt in traffic today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the people to share their experiences of travelling across India.

“During the holiday season many of you would have gone to places, many would be planning to do so now. Can you share your experiences with me? Do so using #IncredibleIndia. Share photos, your experiences etc,” PM Modi said. “I will share your experiences with others as well.”

The Prime Minister also asked the people to pen down their experiences. “I don’t know if you write a diary but you must write down your experiences,” he said. “One should keep a diary while travelling, for it is another side of education.”

Within minutes, the hashtag was filed with photographs taken at various corners of India, from Ladakh to Goa to Andamans.

Others hailed the initiative to popularize Incredible India, the government’s campaign to give a push to the tourism industry.

The Prime Minister also reminded people that June 21 was the International Yoga Day.

“Could you ever imagine that Yoga will connect the world in this manner?” He asked, mentioning how the idea had found support at the United Nations.

While releasing the logo of the International Yoga Day, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had called it a “world record”. The resolution was passed within 75 days and was co-sponsored by 177 countries – both a first.

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has overtaken state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to become India’s most profitable company, posting a consolidated net profit of Rs 23,566 crore in fiscal year 2014-15 (FY15).

ONGC, which posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 18,334 crore in 2014-15, slipped to number three, behind Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT firm, according to earnings data of listed firms available on the BSE.

The state-owned firm had for long held the pole position as India’s most profitable firm. It remained on top till 2013-14 when it posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 26,506.53 crore. That year, RIL had posted a net profit of Rs 22,493 crore.

TCS posted a net profit of Rs 19,852 crore in FY15 to become the second most profitable firm in the country. Another Tata Group firm – Tata Motors – too figured on the list of top 10 profit-making firms.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, with a net profit of Rs 16,994 crore in 2014-15 was fourth on the list, followed by Tata Motors (Rs 13,986 crore).

Coal India Ltd, the world’s largest coal producer, was at the sixth spot with a net profit of Rs 13,727 crore, followed by Infosys (Rs 12,329 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 12,247 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 10,689 crore) and ITC (Rs 9,663 crore).

RIL, which has presence from oil to yarn to retail, has seen profits grow by a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 10.75 per cent over the past one decade. In contrast ONGC’s profit has seen 1.96 per cent CAGR growth in the same period.

In 2005-06, RIL’s consolidated net profit was Rs 9,398 crore. In the same year, ONGC had reported a net profit of Rs 15,397.63 crore.

Even on quarterly profit basis, RIL topped the list with a net profit of Rs 6,381 crore in January-March period. ONGC came a distance fourth with Rs 3,935 crore fourth quarter net profit.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) had the second biggest quarterly net profit of Rs 6,285 crore, followed by Coal India at Rs 4,239 crore.

Srinagar:  A fire broke out today in a building of the office of Jammu and Kashmir Cements, a public sector undertaking, which also caused damage to the headquarters of opposition National Conference party.

Fire broke out at 6.00 am in the building housing office of JK Cements which spread to nearby Nawai-e-Subah (headquarters of National Conference),” an official of the Fire and Emergency Services department said.

He said 14 fire tenders were rushed to the scene and the blaze was brought under control. Four employees of the Fire department sustained injuries while dousing it, the official said.

He said while the JK Cements building suffered extensive damage, Nawai-e-Subah also suffered some partial damage in the incident.

New Delhi:  President Pranab Mukherjee has approved the land ordinance, which was cleared by the Cabinet yesterday for the third time after the government failed to convert it into law during the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament.

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had decided to re-issue the ordinance on Saturday, saying it was necessary for maintaining continuity and providing a framework to compensate people whose land is acquired.

The President has given assent for the re-issuing of the ordinance, official sources said in New Delhi on Sunday.

The ordinance has been issued for the third time and it is the 13th executive order of the NDA government since it came to power in May last year.

The measure was issued for the first time in December last year to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The ordinance was replaced by a bill.

While Lok Sabha has passed it with 10 official amendments, the government has not taken it to the Rajya Sabha as it lacks numbers there.

The ordinance was re-issued in March this year and was due to lapse on June 3. To re-issue the ordinance, the government had prorogued Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session.

An amended land acquisition bill is under consideration of a Joint Committee of Parliament.

Battle formations and war cries take centre-stage in the first teaser of Baahubali, featuring Prabhas as the titular Baahubali and Rana Daggubati as Bhallaladeva.

The 10-second clip, which was released by director SS Rajamouli on Twitter last evening, crossed 4 lakh views on YouTube within 12 hours.



 

Here’s the teaser link for #Baahubali the beginning https://t.co/xd26aK8B0m

? rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) May 30, 2015

An elated SS Rajamouli thanked viewers for their response.



 

Thank you so much for the great response! Here’s the YouTube link for the teaser. https://t.co/IeIAya9Rpm

? rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) May 30, 2015

Prabhas also plays the second role of Shivudu in the two-part epic which is reportedly about two brothers fighting for the throne. The female leads are played by Tamannaah and Anushka Shetty. The cast also includes Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj and Nassar.

Baahubali, reportedly the most expensive film made in India, is being shot in both Telugu and Tamil. It will also be dubbed in Hindi, English and other languages.

The first trailer of Bahubali will be released on June 1 while the film will hit the screens on July 10.

Watch



 

New Delhi: You will have to shell out more while using mobiles, eating out and travelling from Monday, June 1, as the service tax rate rises to 14 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget had proposed to raise service tax from 12.36 per cent (including education cess) to 14 per cent. The proposal takes effect from June 1.

The tax is levied on all services except a small negative list.

Some of the key services that will attract higher taxes and, hence, become costlier are railways, airlines, banking, insurance, advertising, architecture, construction, credit cards, event management and tour operators.

Mobile operators and credit card companies have already started sending messages to subscribers conveying the increase in service tax rate which will have a bearing on the bills.

According to Railway Ministry officials, fares for first class and AC classes in passenger trains, besides freight charges, will go up by 0.5 per cent from June 1.

“Currently, 3.7 per cent service tax is levied on train fares for AC Class, First Class and freight. This will go up to 4.2 per cent from June which means the rise is only 0.5 per cent,” the official said. Currently, there is abatement of 70 per cent on passenger services. (Read more)

Mr Jaitley had proposed to raise the service tax rate to 14 per cent to facilitate a smooth transition to the GST or Goods and Services Tax regime, which the government wants to roll out from April, 2016.

Once implemented, GST will subsume service tax, excise and other local levies.

“To facilitate a smooth transition to levy of tax on services by both the Centre and the States, it is proposed to increase the present rate of service tax plus education cesses from 12.36 per cent to a consolidated rate of 14 per cent,” Mr Jaitley had said in Budget speech.

Education cess, which is levied on service tax, will be subsumed in the service tax rate with effect from June 1.

Although the Budget also proposed a 2 per cent ‘Swachh Bharat’ cess on selected services, the government is yet to come out with a notification in this regard.

New Delhi:  Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who has been in the past accused of bias by Congress while conducting business of the House, today said her pitch for carrying out maximum legislative work could have been misconstrued by the opposition.

“Parliament is for enacting legislation. Government is interested that business is conducted and the House goes on… Opposition may think that I am helping the government, but it is not the case”, Ms Mahajan, who will be completing one year in office next month, told PTI.

Congress had earlier this month raised concern over the impartiality of the Chair in the Lok Sabha.



     



The charge came after Ms Mahajan had allowed Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal to make a statement on the cancellation of a food park in Amethi on May 12.



    



Congress members had questioned how the government was being allowed to speak on the same issue repeatedly, whereas their party’s requests for adjournment motions are rejected by the Speaker.

The 72-year-old presiding officer of the Lok Sabha said Parliament will function more meaningfully if MPs see themselves as lawmakers and not only representatives of their constituency and thus understand the larger responsibility bestowed on them by the nation.

‘Tai’, as the Speaker is affectionately called, is satisfied over the Lower House creating a record of passing the maximum number of legislations in recent times in her first year as the Presiding officer.

The preceding five years of the UPA-II had witnessed record disruptions in Parliament following opposition uproar over a range of issues and scandals.

“There have been many achievement, but they are not mine but the collective one with all sides cooperating”, she said.

Ms Mahajan has now plans to raise the level of the debate in the House through various means including by setting up a ‘support system’ that can help members to make a forceful and studied participation.

This, she said, is necessary at a time when the current Lok Sabha has record new members.

Through support system, the idea is that members could avail the services of experts and resource persons on the relevant subjects.

The Speaker said that she is getting letters and emails expressing satisfaction over the working of the Lok Sabha as also the way debates are being held.

In order to strike greater rapport with members, the Speaker has initiated a series of interactions with younger members seeking to understand their problems and concerns and to see how best they could carry out their responsibilities.

The Speaker said that in order to ensure greater participation of new members, she has resumed the practice of reading of urgent matters of importance through special mentions.

For several years, the special mentions were being laid on the table.

Her decision not to suspend the question hour has now been accepted by one and all as she has given an assurance that all those seeking such suspension would be given time in the zero hour to raise the issue concerned.

A virtually uninterrupted question hour has helped members seek the maximum information from government on diverse issues.