China ready to invest $160 billion in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: China is ready to invest about $160 billion in different sectors in Andhra Pradesh and improve bilateral ties with India, according to economic advisor to the President of China.

Shoosan Maa, the economic advisor to Xi Jinping and also the Member of Parliament, met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Hyderabad and discussed plans to invest in sectors like food processing, small-scale industries, infrastructure and education, among others, a CMO release said.

While quoting Shoosan on China's intention of pumping in $160 billion in the state, the release did not state any timeframe or phases in which such a huge investment could materialise.

"The Chief Minister invited proposals and asked Shoosan to spell out the areas in which they were interested in investing. Shoosan said he would make efforts for promoting investments and improving relations between the two countries," the release said.

Shoosan said his country would send 10,000 students to Hyderabad for education in various streams, according to the release.
PTI

Kolkata's largest Metro station to open today

Kolkata: Commuters using the city's lifeline -- the Kolkata Metro Railway -- will have two reasons to celebrate this summer. The Metro will throw open its largest station today, and starting later this month it will play instrumental music at select stations.

The largest station at Noapara, 2.2 km from the Dumdum stop, the northernmost of the Metro, boasts of four platforms instead of the usual two.

The sprawling station will have three elevators and six escalators for the ease of passengers, and will link the city and Barasat in North 24-Parganas.

"We have 24 stations, now this will be the 25th one and the largest. There will be four platforms instead of two and host of other facilities," the Metro Railway's deputy general manager Protyush Ghosh told IANS.

Stretching across 25.135 km on the city's busy north-south axis, from D

umdum to Kavi Subhash, the Kolkata Metro ferries around 6.5 lakh commuters on weekdays and nearly four lakh passengers on weekends.

Close on the heels of the inauguration of the new stop, sound systems at 16 stations will play a collection of instrumental music for the travelling public from the end of July.

"Initially, we will start music at 16 stations, then it will be followed in six more stops," said Mr Ghosh.

Currently those travelling in AC coaches can revel in lilting tunes of Hindustani classical, Rabindra Sangeet and world music.

IANS

Badal offers Rs 10 cr for reconstruction work in U'khand

Dehradun: Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal Friday announced a financial assistance of Rs 10 crore for reconstruction of Kedarnath shrine, Hemkunt Sahib and other Himalayan centres of faith in the wake of the recent calamity.

Badal, who met Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna at the secretariat here, said in these moments of crisis Punjab stands in solidarity with Uttarakhand and will offer all help to the state government in relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Besides announcing a financial assistance of Rs 10 crore for reconstruction of the damaged Himalayan temples, Badal also announced that relief material including 10 thousand tonnes of flour and rice, 100 tonnes of sugar, 10,000 blankets and woollens as per requirements will be provided by Punjab government.

Expressing his gratefulness to Badal, Bahuguna said the Punjab Chief Minister's gesture reflects the country's ethos of helping each other in times of need.

PTI 

US adds better-than-expected 195,000 jobs in June

Washington: The US unemployment rate in June has remained unchanged at 7.6 percent as more than 195,000 jobs were added to the economy this month, latest official figures said Friday.

"Non farm payroll employment increased by 195,000 in June and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.6 percent. Over the prior 12 months, job gains averaged 182,000 per month," said Erica L Groshen, Commissioner of Bureau of Labour Statistics.

"In June, employment increased in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, health care, and financial activities," Groshen said.

The number of unemployed persons remained steady at 11.8 million, while the number of part-time workers increased by 322,000, Groshen said.

PTI

Trucks with over 150 bags of cash seized in Mumbai

Mumbai: Four trucks carrying over 150 bags ofcash and other valuables have been seized by the investigating wing of Income Tax and National Investigation Agency from outside the suburban Mumbai Central Railway Station here. The amount of seizure is yet to be ascertained and NIA officials are probing the money trail.

The trucks seized last night, after a tip off received by NIA, were on their way to Gujarat, I-T officials said today. "Four trucks containing more than 150 bags have been seized and around 40 people have been detained," they said.

According to sources, each truck with 15 people on board, was carrying around 35 bags, allegedly stuffed with cash and valuables.

I-T officials said that so far, 50 bags containing cash have been scrutinised and they are looking into the contents of the remaining. Prima facie the cash appears to be part of hawala
transaction, to be carried to Gujarat from Mumbai, they said.

While I-T sleuths impounded the truck and bags, NIA picked up the occupants, who were supposed to board a train to Gujarat with the bags.  

MP announces Rs 5 lakh for kids orphaned in Uttarakhand tragedy

Bhopal: Amid an emotional reunion of stranded pilgrims with their families, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday described the tragedy in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand as "terrible" and announced a relief of Rs five lakh to the children, who lost their parents in it.

"I have never seen a disaster of such a magnitude. It was terrible, much bigger than the Bhopal gas tragedy," Chouhan, who arrived at the airport along with 167 stranded pilgrims in a special plane, told reporters.

After landing, the Chief Minister along with his wife Sadhna, welcomed all the stranded pilgrims by offering them garlands and directed officials to ensure proper arrangements for their onward journey to their respective towns/villages by bus.


The state government will provide an assistance of Rs five lakh to those children who have lost both their parents, Chouhan said while narrating the horrific tale of Snehlata from Gwalior, who lost her mother and father in the tragedy.

"Snehlata's story is very heart rending. She was constantly crying for her parents who were missing since the tragedy struck the hill state," Chouhan said.

"The state government will not only take care of Snehlata and her sister Ayushi for their entire life, but also look after other such children," he said.

Besides, the state government will also provide an immediate assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families of those missing and another Rs 1.5 lakh after a week if they were not found, by relaxing the mandatory seven-year period for providing relief in such cases.

A total of 741 are still missing from the state and of them, the government has a list of 593 pilgrims along with their photographs, Chouhan said, adding that efforts were on to identify the remaining missing persons.

The state has so far evacuated 1,301 pilgrims by special planes. One more flight will arrive tomorrow and another day after with stranded persons, he said. The Chief Minister said that besides the pilgrims from MP, the state's rescue teams have also rescued 1,810 pilgrims belonging to other states without any discrimination.

The state government's choppers rescued 292 pilgrims of Madhya Pradesh and 247 of other states, Chouhan said while praising the efforts of the two pilots, who, despite not having much experience of flying in difficult terrains, did a commendable job.

Chouhan said the rescue team has so far evacuated 5,330 stranded pilgrims and has made arrangements for food and other facilities for over 7,200 people in the relief camp, set up at Gayatri Pariwar's premises in the hill state.

"There were many pilgrims who insisted on camping in relief camps in the hope that their missing relatives would soon join them and therefore we allowed them to remain there for some more time," he said.

The CM has urged his Uttarakhand counterpart to continue the relief and rescue operation till all the missing pilgrims are found.

The state government has also decided to adopt a village in Uttarakhand for rehabilitation, but the decision on which village would be adopted will be taken later on in consultation with the Uttarakhand government, he said.

In view of the magnitude of the tragedy, Chouhan has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare it as a national calamity so that entire nation can pool resources for rebuilding the hill state, he said.

On queries regarding rebuilding of Kedarnath temple and allegations of negligence, the Chief Minister said this was not the time for doing politics on the issue.

However, he said that the Uttarakhand government should have remained more alert when it was warned about heavy rains by experts.

PTI 

Narayana Murthy seeks airport near electronic city

Bangalore: Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has pitched for a small airport near Electronics City, the biggest hub of Bangalore's IT industry that houses the main Infosys campus, as he called for improving the infrastructure facilities in Karnataka.

"We are not asking for anything extraordinary. We are asking for reasonably good roads, electricity, water, clean air and some English schools. We need reasonable connectivity to the airport. Ideally, we would like a small airport near Electronics City," Murthy said at a Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce event on Friday night.

While putting forward industries wish list to the state government he also said the software sector has made big contribution towards the economy of the state.

"Ours is an industry that contributes about 25 per cent of the state's GDP (Gross Domestic Product),has created half a million jobs with an average monthly salary of Rs 50,000 and 1.5 million jobs in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. It earns net foreign exchange of Rs 55,000 crore a year and has a capital output ratio of 1:5," he said.

PTI

Maharashtra to get 15,000 micro-ATMs from Centre for rural inclusion

Mumbai: In order to facilitate financial inclusion of people from remote areas in the state, Maharashtra will get around 15,000 micro-ATMs from Centre.

Moreover, as many as 20,000 Business Correspondents (BCs) will be appointed for the purpose of taking banking to the doorstep of the people in remote areas by allowing them to do transactions at Point of Sale or PoS (the micro ATM).

The four Aadhaar-enabled basic types of banking transactions can be done through micro-ATMs are balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, cash deposit and Aadhaar to Aadhaar funds transfer.


At present, there are about 500 BCs and their number will be enhanced considerably so that Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) funds can be disbursed to the labour force immediately.

This assurance of micro ATMs was given by Nandan Nilankeni, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan here recently.

According to Information Technology Secretary Rajesh Agrawal 6.35 crore Aadhar card enrolments have been done in Maharashtra.

"On a daily basis, we are doing 1.5 to 1.8 lakh enrolments which is the highest in the country. At 70-75 per cent, one crore enrolments have been done in Mumbai," he informed.

He said that 50 per cent of Aadhar card machines in the state will be shifted from schools to housing societies to facilitate the penetration.

"50 per cent of the total 4000-5000 Aadhar card machines in the state will be shifted from schools to housing societies. There are about 500 machines in Pune and Thane," Agrawal said, adding that the state will cross 85 per cent enrolment by March 2014.

PTI

Maha govt plans biometric system to facilitate pensioners

Mumbai: In a bid to provide relief to pensioners from submitting yearly life certificates to avail pension, Maharashtra government plans to set up biometric reader machines for online finger print authentication.

Officials in the Department of Information and Technology (IT) said the plan is to set up biometric reader machines in all villages. The machines are proposed to be in PDS shops, citizen service centres and government offices providing e-services.

"The initiative will be useful to state government employees who settle in their native place after retirement. Every year, they have to produce life certificates from tehsildar offices to be submitted to respective banks.

"Instead, the pensioners with Aadhar cards can do their finger print authentication, which will be directly matched with the UID card number stored in the data hub in Ba

ngalore and the banks will get direct intimation about it," the officials said.

They said the state government is awaiting clearance of its proposal by the Centre.

Aadhar card numbers would be made mandatory for sale and purchase of property so that benami transactions can be curbed, officials said.

PTI

Kerala gets 72 percent surplus rainfall

Thiruvananthapuram: Ushering in brighter prospects for the power sector, Kerala has received over 72 per cent surplus rainfall since the onset of Southwest monsoon on June 1, after passing through a rain-deficient year that witnessed severe energy crisis and grim drought conditions.

According to India Meteorological Department, till June 19 the state as a whole received 665 mm rainfall against the normal 386 mm for the period.

While all parts of the state received good rains without long pauses, it is all the more significant that Idukki district, where reservoirs of major hydro electric projects are located, got 93 per cent excess rainfall, state power board sources said.

Among the 14 districts, Kannur in north Kerala received the highest amount of rainfall with a surplus of 114 percent.

Last year, the rainfall received by the state was deficient by 24 per cent during the southwest monsoon and 35 per cent during the northeast monsoon periods.

The shortfall pushed the state into one of its worst power crisis, forcing the Government to clamp 90 minutes load-shedding, half of which was during peak hours in the evening, curbs in consumption by non-domestic consumers. rainfall, replenishing reservoirs in that area.

With the prospects brightening, Kerala State Electricity Board last week lifted the one-hour day-time load-shedding and the 30-minute peak-hour cut.

According to KSEB, generation from hydro-electric projects accounts for bulk of the power available in its grid, with supply from thermal plants and small and small and micro projects and non-conventional sources yielding just a minor portion of the demand required.

PTI

SBI to hire 10,000 officers, employees in current fiscal

Mumbai: State Bank of India plans to hire 10,000 officers and employees in the current fiscal to spruce up its operations.

"We will be hiring 10,000 people this year, including 1,500 probationary officers, the process for which started in April. Around 7,500 will be retiring this fiscal," SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told PTI.

"We have upgraded our branches, all have become air-conditioned. We have adequately staffed our branches. In the last quarter, we recruited 20,000 assistant grade employees at front office," he said.

The bank plans to open about 1,200 branches in the country and another eight branch offices overseas, including China and the UK, in the current fiscal.

Public sector banks hired around 63,000 persons in the last financial year.

The country's largest bank SBI alone recruited 20,000 clerical staff and 1,200 officer level employees.
Besides, other public sector banks hired 22,000 officers and 20,000 clerical staff in the last fiscal.

There were 84,489 vacancies at various levels in the state-owned banks at the end of 2010-11.
Most of the state-owned banks have undertaken recruitment drives in recent years.


The public sector banks had a sanctioned strength of about 8 lakh employees as on March 31, 2012. PTI

Northeast rural areas to have LPG connections

Jorhat: LPG connections will be available in rural and remote areas of the north east region by next year, a senior official of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said on Saturday.

With adequate LPG cylinders available for distribution in towns and cities, the

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to extend the facility to rural and remote villages of the region, IOC Executive Director (Marketing) Pryovat Dey said.

The Rajiv Gandhi Grammin LPG Vitrak Yojana (RGGLVY) scheme will end the cutting and felling of trees, prevent deforestation and save the environment benefitting villages, thereby increasing the people's economic activity.

Initially the people's response would be limited as also investment in LPG distributorship, but would increase over time, Dey said.

Meetings have already been held in the identified remote areas of the region to make people aware of LPG, its benefits and safety measures while using the cylinders, he said.

Under the scheme, small distributors with capacity for 1,000 to 1,200 cylinders and small godowns will be permitted to operate in the rural areas.

The scheme would have to be implemented by 2015 when a minimum 75 per cent of the rural households are expected to be covered and benefited, according to the government mandate.

IOC is the only oil marketing company to cater to all the north eastern states, he said adding it aims to go to the interior areas to supply LPG cylinders to the rural people so that they can enjoy the benefit of using LPG cylinders, Dey added.

PTI

Contract signed with DMRC for mono rail in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Mono Rail Corporation Limited and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on Wednesday signed the contract for the proposed monorail projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

Both projects would be completed in a time bound manner, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is also the Chairman of KMRC, said.

DMRC Chief Consultant E Sreedharan, Speaker G Karthikeyan, State PWD Minister V K Ibrahim Kunju were among those present on the occasion.

The agreement will make DMRC

responsible for the design, preparation of the bid document, short-listing and selection of contractors, supervision, and quality certification for the 22.2-km monorail in Thiruvananthapuram and the 14.2-km project in Kozhikode, estimated to cost Rs 5581 crore.

A single agreement will be signed with DMRC for the projects as the general consultant and the executing agency are the same.

DMRC will be the general consultant of the project.

Instructions to take the initial steps have already been given. Tender procedures will be the preliminary process and offices of the monorail corporation will start functioning in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode soon, official sources said.

PTI

You may soon be able to withdraw provident fund in 3 days

Press Trust of India

New Delhi: Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is planning to settle all claims like transfer and withdrawal of provident fund (PF) within three days, a move that will benefit over one crore such claimants every year.

In order to give effect to the proposal of expeditious settlement of claims, EPFO has called a meeting of all zonal heads on July 5, to draw an action plan.
   
The body is expecting 1.2 crore claims in the current fiscal and hopes that if around 70 per cent of those are settled in three days, then about 84 lakh claimants would be benefited.

Quick settlement of claims "was necessary to improve the image of the organisation", EPFO said in an officer order.

EPFO has already launched a pendency clearance drive to settle all claims received before June 15 this year. As many as 5,38,704 claims were pending as on June 11 this year.

"...in 2012-13, the body has settled 1.08 crore claims, out of which 12.62 lakh claimants were dissatisfied as their claims were not settled within 30 days. Moreover 1.41 lakh claims not settled even after 90 days has brought down the image of the EPFO amongst our members," the order stated.

It further said, "...customers expect change in the mindset from 30 days (maximum period for settlement of claims) to at least three days in computerised era for withdrawing their own
money."

The body is also in the process of introducing a facility where claimants would be able to apply online for transfer and withdrawal of their PF from July 1.
   
EPFO is setting up a central clearance house which will be operational on July 1. This will enable subscribers to apply online for settlement of withdrawal and transfer of funds claims.
   
The new facility will also enable subscribes to track online the status of their applications for transfer and withdrawals.

Under the new system, the onus of verifying the details of the PF account from previous employers would be on the EPFO.

At present, employees have to get their applications verified from their employers for settlement of claims.

The body is managing a corpus of around Rs. five lakh crore with a subscribers' base of over five crore.

Vodafone slashes data prices by 80% in three circles

New Delhi: In a significant move, Vodafone India on Tuesday said it has reduced data charges by up to 80 percent in three circles and the new cheaper rates will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner.

The telecom operator has reduced the price from 10 paisa per 10 KB to 2 paisa per 10KB for Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh circles.

"The rate cut from 10p/10KB to 2p/10KB will make Internet access affordable for customers who use mobile Internet in a limited way," Vodafone said in a statement.

The company said this rate would be applicable for all pre-paid and post-paid customers using 2G network on a 'Pay as you Go' basis in these circles.

"These rates are currently applicable in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh circles and will be rolled out nationally in a phased manner," Vodafone said.

As part of its strategy to "democratise" data, Vodafone is educating current and potential users about how Internet can add significant value to them.

The company is also building content partnerships, simplifying pricing, educating retailers and offering choice to customer basis their interests and consumption patterns.

"We, at Vodafone, want to accelerate mobile Internet adoption ...This 80 percent reduction in data charges for customers using 2G network is an important step in this direction," Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Vivek Mathur said. 

PTI 

Aadhaar coverage in Chandigarh above 95 per cent: UT official

Chandigarh: Chandigarh has achieved enrolment of 95 per cent of its population for the Aadhaar scheme and clocked the highest number of direct cash transfers to beneficiaries through use of the unique identity card, officials here said On Thursday.

Out of 43 pilot districts in India, Chandigarh has recorded highest number of transactions under the Centre's Direct Benefit Transfer scheme with an amount of Rs 3 crore distributed amongst around 17,000 beneficiaries, UT adviser KK Sharma said in a release here.

These include funds from both the central government and the

UT administration, the release added.

IT secretary Prerna Puri, meanwhile, said that a sum of Rs 4.62 crore has been approved for integrating Aadhaar with schemes under the three departments of Social Welfare, Education and Chandigarh Housing Board.

She also stated that with a view to utilising the demographic data collected as part of the Aadhaar scheme, a data hub would be set up in Chandigarh to enable various departments to verify and tally the records.

In due course, the schemes of the departments of Food and Civil Supplies, Registering and Licensing Authority and Property Registration, too, would be integrated with Aadhaar, she added.

PTI

SBI to open 8 new branches & 63 ATM counters in Tripura

Agartala: State Bank of India (SBI) will open eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters and increase the Credit Deposit ratio to give more service to the customers in Tripura, official sources said on Saturday.

Chairman of SBI, Pratip Chowdhury yesterday met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and assured that the CD ratio would be increased to 50 percent by the next fiscal and eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters would be opened in the state.

At present the CD ration is about 34 percent.

Sarkar requested Chowdhury to open more new branches in the rural areas, especially in the tribal compact areas.

Chowdhury said the SBI would be interested to give more loans to the entrepreneurs for development of industries and added that low industrialisation in the state was one of the causes for low credit deposit ratio.

At present there are 51 branches of the bank and 108 ATM counters in Tripura.

PTI 

More central funds for rural jobs, roads in Karnataka

Bangalore: The central government has agreed to release more funds to Karnataka for implementing various schemes to improve the welfare of the people in rural areas across the state, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

"I have agreed to release Rs 2,133 crore to Karnataka under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during this fiscal (2013-14) and the first instalment of Rs 774 crore will be sanctioned soon," Ramesh told reporters after reviewing the implementation of the various centrally-sponsored rural schemes in the state here.

With an opening balance of Rs 345 crore and the first instalment of Rs 774 crore, the state government will have Rs 1,115 crore at its disposal to speedily implement the NREGA scheme till December for providing jobs to the rural people across the state.

"The state Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) has agreed to depute a team of officials to study the implementation of the NREGA scheme in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, which had been able to create more rural jobs under the scheme," Ramesh said after the review meeting with state officials.

The state government has also agreed to open separate bank accounts for women job card holders and set up a social audit directorate in Bangalore to monitor flow of funds under the programme.

"The state government should utilise the NREGA funds also for the benefit of small and marginal farmers to augment their irrigation needs, improve soil fertility and water supply," Ramesh suggested.

Referring to the Comptroller and Audit General's (CAG) critical observations on the implementation of the NREGA scheme in the state, Ramesh regretted that there was diversion of funds and many works were incomplete during the last couple of years.

"We were very unhappy at the manner in which the central schemes were implemented under the previous (BJP) government. There were diversion of funds and works were incomplete as the NREGA was very badly implemented," Ramesh lamented.

For instance, the state spent Rs 1,440 crore under the NREGA scheme last fiscal (2012-13) as against Rs 1,640 crore in previous fiscal (2011-12), he noted.

"I have told the state government to eliminate misuse of funds and bogus job card holders," Ramesh noted.

The minister has agreed to set up a national rural training academy in Bangalore to impart job skills to rural folks to work under the NREGA scheme on the lines of the rural development and self-employment training institute at Dharmasthala, about 300km from here.

"I have agreed to sanction Rs 278 crore for integrated watershed development this fiscal to supply water for three lakh hectares of arid areas across the state," Ramesh said.

Siddaramaiah sought funds from the central ministry to develop 2,245km of roads for rural connectivity across the state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

"I have asked the Chief Minister to send the proposal by July to release funds by August so that upgradation works can be taken up after the monsoon under the PMGSY at a cost of Rs 40 lakh per kilometre," Ramesh said.

The state government also sought funds to build an additional 50,000 dwelling units for the rural poor under the centrally sponsored Indira Awaz Yojana (IAY) to house tribals, devadasis and migrants.

"I have agreed for additional sanction provided the new units are also targetted at destitutes, vulnerable social groups, widows and forest dwellers," Ramesh added.

The central government has sanctioned funds to build 87,814 dwelling units under the IAY this fiscal.

"Implementation of the IAY scheme was very bad during the previous government, as 13 districts did not send utilisation certificates and 17 of the total 30 districts across the state did not close their accounts," Ramesh recalled.

IANS

Uttarakhand gets Rs 39 cr for disaster management

Dehradun: Uttarakhand government has released Rs 39 crore for disaster management in view of the state's extreme vulnerability to natural calamities during monsoon.

Officials said Rs three crore will be given to each of the state's 13 districts for the purpose.

District Magistrates across the state have been directed to be on the alert and put in place mechanism needed for disaster management in case of an emergency with a stern warning that no laxity in this regard will be tolerated, they said.

Cloudbursts in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts during monsoon n 2012 had wreaked havoc in a number of villages flattening homes and killing scores of people.

PTI

Governor takes Re 1 as salary, returns the balance

PATNA: Keeping with his tradition of drawing a token salary of Re 1, Bihar governor Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil has surrendered Rs 2,19,998 after receiving the salaries for the months of April and May as the first citizen of the state.

Patil's salary account at the State Bank of India (SBI) is credited with Rs 38, Re 1 each for his 36 months' tenure as the Tripura governor and two months here. In fact, the septuagenarian has been taking only a token salary from the government since 1967, when he was first elected an MLA from Panhala constituency of Maharashtra and all his government postings henceforth.

When asked the reason, the soft-spoken governor replied, "It is not necessary for me."

Patil, who follows the ideologies of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, said, "People give respect to a person after he dies. But, helping out a living being is more important and would earn more blessings." The governor also pays for the higher education of 32 students from India who study at Mauritius at his college. And that's just one of the several humanitarian activities that Patil is involved with.

According to Shivdeep W Lande, ADC to governor, Patil has about 70 acres of agricultural land in Maharashtra, which is a source of his sustenance and philanthropic works. "He also pays for the travelling allowances (TA) of his aides who travel with him. Even I don't claim my TA," said Lande, adding that if Patil's guests stay at the circuit house, the expenses are also paid for by the governor.

Patil took over the charge of Bihar governor on March 22 this year. He has founded 160 colleges and four deemed universities. "I retired from active politics in 1980 and then from the administrative work of my colleges in 1993," he said.

His duties as the head of the state keeps him occupied for most part of the day. "However, I like to go for a walk early morning," said Patil, adding that his day begins by drinking a glass of popular Bihari drink "sattu". In fact, another Bihari cuisine that has invaded the otherwise Maharashtrian kitchen of the governor house is "litti-chokha", having found favour with Patil lately. But, food is only necessary for survival and is a taste to the tongue, feels the educationist.

In fact, his visits to Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and a few other places of Bihar have helped him form a positive opinion of the state. "In Mumbai, the place where I lived was named 'Siddhartha' and there were two temples of Buddha there. Now I am on the land where Buddha once walked. There must be some divine connection," said the Padma Shri recipient.