29th AUGUST, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a record 1.5 crore bank accounts across the country on Thursday to mark the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) aimed at financial inclusion of all Indians. The scheme aims to ensure that every household has at least two bank accounts. Each of the 1.5 crore bank accounts opened on Thursday comes with a RuPay debit card, Rs.1 lakh accident insurance cover and an additional Rs. 30,000 life insurance cover. These benefits will apply to all accounts opened before January 26, 2015. He said the scheme’s launch marked a breakthrough in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and debt. There were similarities between the poor  access to mobile phones and getting access to debit cards as both have the effect of instilling confidence and their pride, he added.gaining

Soon, city residents can apply for water and sewer connections online. Keeping pace with the digital age, Chennai Metrowater is gearing up to strengthen its e-governance system. The agency has roped in KPMG, a consulting firm, to study the requirements to improve the online service and implement comprehensive IT solutions to meet the consumers’ needs and speed up the work. Chennai Metrowater serves over seven lakh consumers in the expanded city. At present, nearly 10,000 people apply for new connections every year. With Metrowater expanding its piped network to the added areas, the agency has sought to strengthen IT services in the core parts of the city and extend computerised service to the merged localities. While the software for improving IT services is being run on a trial basis, Metrowater looks to implement the project at a cost of Rs. 21.42 crore with World Bank funds once the firm submits its report in four months.

Opening a savings bank account just got easier and faster. With the launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, customers can walk into a public or private sector bank with their Aadhaar card and open a zero-balance SB account instantly. But Aadhaar is not mandatory. A National Payment Corporation of India platform is being built to enable customers to access their accounts on mobile devices

Stephen King, who penned the book behind the horror series Under the Dome , will appear on the show in a guest role. The novel is about the residents of Chester’s Mill in Maine, who wake up to find themselves cut off from the rest of the world by a giant indestructible dome

Close on the heels of granting reservation to the Maratha and Muslim communities, the Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday agreed to include several sub-castes of the Lingayat community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The Cabinet has also agreed to recommend to the Centre that the Lingayat community be given minority status. An Indo-Japanese team has already identified 15 possible stations along the proposed 534-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed train corridor, said Katsuo Matsumoto, deputy director general of the South Asia Department of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Speaking to The Hindu from Tokyo, he said in all likelihood it would be a new line as there is “heavy congestion” on the existing rail corridor. “The proposal is to link the high-speed line with the existing rail network at select stations in order to ease transfers,” Mr. Matsumoto said. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to visit Japan shortly, JICA, which is doing the feasibility study for the project, submitted a mid-term report recently. “We’ve made a detailed technology comparison of the pros and cons of several international high-speed train systems, including the French and Italian. Although Japan’s Shinkansen trains are the safest, it’s up to the Indian government to decide what technology suits their needs,” Mr. Matsumoto said.

Referring to women’s bodies as “temples” that are “extremely important from the perspective of a nation’s future”, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said the new National Health Policy would address the rising incidence of reproductive illnesses among young urban women and a committee will be formed to suggest measures for improving the health profile of Indian women.        “ Building a new generation of healthy women has a salutary effect on family, society and nation because each woman multi tasks as professional in her chosen field, mother and teacher of her children, and above all, custodian of collective values,” the Minister was quoted in an official statement.

In fulfilment of his party’s poll promise, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday launched an ambitious road project to connect northern and southern Odisha with an expressway. Biju Expressway  Named after Mr. Patnaik’s father, the late Biju Patnaik, the Biju Expressway will be constructed in two phases at a cost of Rs. 3.200 crore. Speaking at the project launch meeting at the State Secretariat, the Chief Minister said that the expressway will be an economic corridor from Jagdalpur in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh to Rourkela in Sundergarh district of Odisha.Mr. Patnaik said that the project aims at connecting four districts of western Odisha — Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh with four KBK districts — Koraput, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Nuapada.

Social networking giant Facebook has rolled out a new ‘bandwidth targeting’ feature globally for advertisers to help them reach people based on the type of network. The move is especially relevant in emerging countries such as India, where limited data plans and feature phones are common. 

Suresh Raina’s century helped India draw first blood in the One-Day International series against England, hitting an impressive century in the tourists’ 133-run victory in Cardiff. The English batsmen, chasing a revised target of 295 from 47 overs, never looked comfortable from the moment Alastair Cook was dismissed after putting on 54 in good time with fellow opener, ODI debutant Alex Hales.

The seventh edition of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM), to be held on November 23, will also double up as a testing ground to identify budding long and medium distance runners. The Sports Ministry, in association with the organisers of the event, has identified 200 runners from across the country to take part in the half marathon. “The athletes have been selected after a rigorous selection process. Based on the performance in the Delhi Half Marathon, 60 of them will be shortlisted and will be provided high-altitude training by the Athletics Federation of India. Of these, further eight will be identified for elite training in Africa,” Sports Secretary Ajit M. Sharan said at the launch of the ADHM.

The first two rounds of the JK Tyre — FMSCI Indian National drag racing championship, conducted by Spitfire Motorsports Pvt. Ltd (Coimbatore) in association with Speedway Motorsports (Hyderabad), will be held at the Kari Motor Speedway here on August 29 and 31. It is for the first time that Coimbatore will play host to two rounds of the championship during the same weekend. Over 250 cars and bikes from Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Madurai, Tuticorin, Nagercoil and Kerala have confirmed participation for the big-time event.