For those in Ayodhya, Modi can make Ram temple a reality

The jury may be out on whether Narendra Modi will lead the NDA back to power. But, for those thronging the Ram Janmabhoomi (RJB) site at this temple town he is "the only man who will get the Ram temple constructed".


For 19-year-old Suraj, who sells rosaries (beaded maalas) and other religious items near the barricade of the 'isolated zone' of the RJB, there is only one man who can get the temple built - Modi.

Ramesh Maali, who has come with his friend Ram Niyaad Pandya from Ajmer, said: "Only the Prime Minister appears serious in doing this." 

Septuagenerian Chattrapal who sells religious books like the Ramayan and Gita - came across as a disappointed soul but somewhat hopeful too.

Angry at the political class for the inordinate delay in the construction of the temple, he asked: Will the political class build the Ram temple?"

A self-professed fan of Subhas Chandra Bose, he fumed at the Congress and blamed it for the delay in temple construction. 

Sumitra, who is from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh and is on his twelfth visit to the RJB, said she and her family are certain that Modi would help build the temple.

Raunak Pandey, from Lucknow, on his maiden visit to the temple town with his family echoed similar sentiments. He was in class 2 when the 16th-century Babri mosque was razed in 1992. He admitted that before his visit to RJB on Thursday he had little idea of how much the issue mattered to millions of Hindus.

Ram Nath Pandey from Jaswantnagar, Etawah, who is back from Kumbh and made a stopover in Ayodhya, was, however, doubtful on the timeline of the Ram temple's construction.

"Modi is sincere but what of the other politicians?" he asked.

Everyone was busy creating and appeasing vote banks, Pandey said as he negotiated his way through the rusted iron-grilled corridors leading to the Ram Lalla's makeshift temple under a tent.

Fourteen-year-old Bimal Narayan Das, who is learning priesthood at the fabled Hanumangarhi temple, however, has a different take on the issue. "Not Modi, Not Rahul Gandhi...the temple will be built only when Hanumanji wills," he says.

Davis Cup: Berrettini defeats Prajnesh, Italy take 2-0 lead

Rising star Matteo Berrettini defeated India's top ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran in straight sets to hand former champions Italy a 2-0 lead in the second rubber of the Davis Cup World Group qualifier tie here on Friday.

Earlier, Andreas Seppi made short work of Ramkumar Ramanathan (6-4, 6-2) to give Italy the lead on the grass courts at the Calcutta South Club.

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan now have to pick up a win against Marco Cecchinato and Simone Bolelli in the doubles match on Saturday for the hosts to keep the tie alive.

Berrettini, who was preferred ahead of top-ranked Marco Cecchinato to play the singles, won 6-4, 6-3 in convincing fashion.

The tone was set from the beginning as Berrettini, World No 53 in singles ranking, took the lead with an early break in the first game of the first set.

In the second game, the 22-year old Berrettini, who is making his Davis Cup debut, saved a break point to hold his serve and extend the lead.

Prajnesh, ranked at a career best of 102, slowly eased into the match by staying within sight of Berrettini at 4-3.

Both players looked good on the serve but the gulf in class was visible towards the end of the first set when the Italian saved a game point with a wonderful lob over Prajnesh who responded well on the next point with an unbeatable crosscourt forehand to hold his serve at 5-4.

Serving for the set, Berrrettini wrapped it up in style without dropping a point.

Berrrettini started the second set like the first, breaking Prajnesh to take a 1-0 lead. Prajnesh tried hard to make a comeback and even saved two break points to make it 4-3.

But Berrettini, whose returns sent Prajnesh to all corners of the court, proved too strong for the Indian, winning the game by breaking his opponent in the final game.

Goyal reaches out to farmers with income support scheme

Addressing the distress in the agrarian sector, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced a scheme to provide direct income support of Rs 6,000 to farmers with a land holding up to two hectares, which would benefit about 12 crore people.

He also announced expansion of the interest subvention for loans taken under Kisan Credit Card to farmers involved in animal husbandry and fishing. 

Presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, he said the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) will be effective from December 1, 2018. 

"Under this scheme, direct income support of Rs 6,000 every year will be given to farmers who have a land holding of up to two hectares," he said.

"This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmers in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each." The scheme will be funded 100 per cent by the central government, he added.

Goyal said farm returns have reduced due to the declining prices of agriculture commodities in the international markets and a fall in food inflation in India in the last two years relative to the non-food sector.

"Small and fragmented land holdings on account of repeated division has also contributed in the decline in the income of the farmer families. Hence, there is need to provide structured income support to poor farmer families in the country for procuring inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, equipment, labour and to meet other needs," he said.

Goyal said the scheme will be effective from December 2018 and the first instalment for the period up to March 31 this year will be disbursed soon. 

The government will incur an annual expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore in 2019-20 while it has allocated Rs 20,000 crore in the revised estimates of the current year.

He also reiterated the government's "historic" decision to provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 22 crops with 50 per cent profit over the input cost in order to double farm income. Agriculture continues to be the main driver of the rural economy, he said.

Saying an increase in farm loans to Rs 11.68 lakh crore in 2018-19, the minister said the allocation for interest subvention on farm loans has been doubled in order to provide farmers with affordable loans.

Moreover, the benefit of two per cent interest subvention will be provided to the farmers pursuing activities of animal husbandry and fishery who avail of a loan through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), the minister said. 

"Further, in case of timely repayment of loan, they will get three per cent additional interest subvention," he said.

He also said that the government has decided to provide benefit of three per cent interest subvention for disaster affected farmers for the entire period of reschedulement -- from the earlier period of one year-- besides interest subvention of 2 per cent.

Goyal said Rs 1.7 lakh crore has been allocated in order to bring food at affordable rates to families belonging to the poor and middle class.

"We ensured that everyone gets food and nobody goes to sleep without food," he said. 

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been provided Rs 60,000 crore in 2019-20 and more funds will be poured in if required, he said.

Saying the government seeks to break the urban-rural divide in the country, Rs 19,000 crore has been allocated to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana as against Rs 15,500 crore in the previous budget, Goyal said.

Out of the total 17.84 lakh habitations in the country, 15.80 lakh were provided with pucca roads and the remaining work will be done soon, he said.

Goyal also announced a 'Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog' to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows. 

"The Aayog will look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cows. The government will not hesitate in allocating funds for the respect of "Gomata".

Goyal also announced a separate Department for Fisheries. 

Trump-Kim Summit 2.0 in Vietnam

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold a second summit in the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang by February end, a senior administration official said here on Friday.

The plan for the summit is being finalised, CNN quoted the official as saying.

Vietnam had been widely believed to be the location ever since the second summit was announced.

White House officials announced on January 18 that the two leaders will hold the second summit following discussions with Kim Yong-chol, North Korea's lead negotiator on nuclear talks. 

The first such meeting took place last June in Singapore.

Another informed source said that there were no current discussions for Trump to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping around the summit.

Trump's agenda for the summit and the actual date were yet to decided.

Soon treatment for obesity, fatty liver disease

Israeli researchers have discovered 27 new molecules, which may lead to a potential treatment for fatty liver disease, obesity and to heal wounds.

The findings, led by Professor Amiram Goldblum at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, were made possible by a new algorithm, which chose the 27 molecules with the strongest therapeutic potential from a database of 1.56 million molecules. 

These molecules, which are undergoing pharmaceutical evaluations to treat obesity and the incurable fatty liver disease, all activate a special protein called PPAR-delta (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta).

PPAR-delta activation has the potential to increase physical endurance and trim waistlines by getting muscle cells to burn more fat, according to the study published in the Scientific Reports journal. 

"With such a large group of highly active molecules, there is a high probability to find treatments for several common diseases. However, we should wait till all the experiments are done before we get our hopes up too high," said Goldblum.

Future evaluations will hopefully include testing treatments for improved wound healing, and to prevent kidney toxicity in diabetics, the researchers said.

There is much pharmaceutical interest in Goldblum's new molecules. 

Integra Holdings, Hebrew University's biotech company, determined that 21 of the 27 have the potential to reach pharmaceutical success, especially as a possible cure for fatty liver disease. 

In addition, Israel's Heller Institute of Medical Research is currently testing PPAR-delta's physical endurance properties on mice. 

Goldblum predicts that in a few years we will hopefully be seeing several of these molecules in the pipeline for clinical studies on humans.

1,330 cr provided for women protection, empowerment: Goyal

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the government has provided Rs 1,330 crore for the protection and empowerment of women, an increase of Rs 174 crore from last year.

"An amount of Rs 1,330 crore has been provided for 2019-20," Goyal said while presenting the Interim Budget it in the Lok Sabha.

"While taking several welfare initiatives for women, the emphasis of the government has been to move from 'women's development' to 'women-led development' during the last four and a half years."

Goyal said that more than 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana were women who were getting affordable and collateral-free loans to start their own businesses.

The Minister also added that maternity leave of 26 weeks have provided financial support to women while empowering them to participate in work.

He noted that the government embarked upon the Ujjawala Yojana to deliver eight crore free LPG connections and six crore connections have already been provided while the remaining will be given by next year.

Balanced budget will stimulate India's growth: Parrikar

 Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday congratulated the Modi government for presenting a budget that will stimulate India's economic growth.

"A balanced budget that will uplift every section of the society and further stimulate India's economic growth. Farmers, poor, middle class and youth are all set to benefit from #BudgetForNewIndia," Parrikar tweeted.

Another reports said  Parrikar has been admitted to the cancer department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

According to AIIMS sources, Parikkar, who was taken to the hospital on Thursday evening, is under the observation of Dr Atul Sharma, Oncologist, at the Dr. B.R.A IRCH (Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital) of AIIMS and will remain admitted for a few days.

The former Defence Minister is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer which was diagnosed in February last year. He has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York since then.