Mumbai fights for Bijlee, age 58, weight five tonnes

Agence France-Presse

Mumbai: An overworked and overweight Indian elephant called Bijlee is fighting for her life in Mumbai after collapsing in the street, sparking anguish among animal activists and Bollywood stars.

Bijlee, aged 58 and weighing five tonnes, was found lying in pain in a northeastern suburb last week after decades of alleged overwork and neglect.

Local reports said she was used by her owners to beg on the streets and entertain at weddings without a break for more than 50 years.

On Tuesday, elephant specialist K.K. Sharma was flown in to Mumbai to treat Bijlee, and who now has helpers caring for her around the clock and a crane to help her stand up.

"Everybody shows their concerns but unfortunately the prospects are very bad," Sharma told AFP. He said Bijlee is 1.5 tonnes overweight and suffering degenerative joint disease, but even a strict diet many not help much.

Vets say Bijlee's owners have been feeding her junk food for years, such as "vada pav". Indian elephants' usually live off grass and tree bark.

"The damage has been done already. We're trying to control the pain and supplement the vitamin deficiency, give fluid and strengthen her nerves and muscles."

On Tuesday, #savebijlee began trending on Twitter and she appeared on the the front page of Wednesday's Mumbai Mirror.

Bollywood's superstar Amitabh Bachchan is among those moved by her plight, posting pictures and appealing for help on his blog.

"A compassionate appeal to all animal lovers," he wrote on Twitter, asking them to support the "Animals Matter To Me" charity that is caring for Bijlee.

Elephants are a common sight on the streets of many Indian cities although their movements are officially restricted in Mumbai

Uttarakhand: Akhilesh Yadav announces Rs. 25 crore relief

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today announced financial help of Rs. 25 crore to Uttarakhand which has seen large-scale damage due to heavy rains and flash flood over the last few days.

"The Chief Minister has announced Rs. 25 crore financial help to natural calamity-hit Uttarakhand state and asked people to provide help to the state in any way," an official release said.

Mr Yadav assured that the state government would provide all help for relief and rescue operation in Uttarakhand.

At least 130 people were killed in the flash floods triggered by incessant rains in Uttarakhand. The toll is likely to rise manifold as thousands are still reported to be missing

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.

A mobile phone for Kerala CM, finally

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy will soon be flaunting what all others have had all this while - the ubiquitous mobile phone.

All these years Chandy could only be reached through the mobile phones of his personal assistant or his security staff since he did not have his own mobile phone.

Chandy on Tuesday told reporters here that he would make certain changes in his style of working.

"Yes, I am considering a few changes and one is that, I might have my own mobile soon. On the other changes, once I make a decision, I will let you all know," said Chandy.

The sudden decision to own a cell phone cane after his personal assistant Teny Jopan and his gunman Salim Raj lost their jobs following a media expose.

The media published the call details of Saritha S Nair, a con-woman who is now in custody after cheating numerous people to the tune of crores of rupees.

The published call details shows that the two of his staff members, who have been booted out, have been regularly in close contact with Saritha.

Nair and her former live-in partner Radhakrishnan had formed a company "Team Solar", which was engaged in erecting solar panels at offices and homes. They managed to collect crores of rupees on the promise of providing the equipment to tap green sources of energy.

Following numerous complaints of cheating, Nair was arrested on June 3 and Radhakrishnan was arrested from Coimbatore on Monday.

"All of you know that my office is open to all and anyone can just walk in and meet me. For some time my colleagues, my party top leaders and others have been requesting me that I should bring some restriction on meeting people," said Chandy.

"But, I feel I should be with the people and apart from owning my own mobile, a few changes are going to be made...," said Chandy.

Chandy's staff said that if he finally owns a mobile phone, it will still be difficult to get him on that.

"If he has his own mobile, then the next complaint would be that it is always engaged," said one of his staff members.

IANS 

Unbeaten India consolidate top position in ODI table

ANI London: India have strengthened their number one position on the ICC ODI Championship Table as they have added two more rating points to their kitty with an unbeaten run in the group stage of the Champions Trophy.

India had entered the tournament on 119 ratings points and have moved to 121, thanks to victories over South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan.

England are now ranked second after moving up two places from fourth, thereby pushing Australia to third position.

Second-ranked England and third-placed Australia are level on 113 ratings points, but Alastair Cook’s side is ranked above Michael Clarke’s team by a fraction of a point.

 South Africa has dropped a place to fourth with a loss of one ratings points to 112 following the completion of the group stage. Sri Lanka at fifth and Pakistan at sixth have retained their pre-tournament positions.

Meanwhile, among the players, in form Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja has entered the top-5 as he gained three places to be at number four in the ODI bowlers` list.

His Spin colleague R Ashwin though dropped a place to 15th. Jadeja has moved up a place to fourth in the all- rounders` list.

The highest run-getter of the tournament until the end of the group stage, Shikhar Dhawan, has re-entered the batting rankings in 50th place. Dhawan has scored 264 runs so far in the tournament, with two back-to-back hundreds.

The batting table is still topped by South Africa captain AB de Villiers, with teammate Hashim Amla in second place and India`s Virat Kohli in third place and followed by his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.


Suresh Raina has gained a place to be 14th while out of favour Gautam Gambhir dropped three places to 19th.

Others moving in the right direction are Lasith Malinga in 11th (up by one), Kyle Mills in 12th (up by four), Kemar Roach in 18th (up by two), Rangana Herath in 24th (up by six), Shane Watson in 29th (up by two), Stuart Broad in 32nd (up by one), Ryan McLaren in 34th (up by 13) and Nathan McCullum in 38th (up by seven).

The highest wicket-taker of the tournament in the group stage with 11 wickets, New Zealand`s Mitchell McClenaghan has jumped 15 places to 41st.

Meanwhile, England captain Alastair Cook has moved up two places to eighth in the latest Rankings for ODI batsmen.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has jumped seven places to return to the top 10 and is now at 10th after scoring 173 runs from three matches.

Also moving in the right direction inside the top 20 are George Bailey in 17th (up by six) and Ian Bell in 18th (up by three).

Outside the top 20, the batsmen moving up are Kane Williamson in 21st (up by nine), Mahela Jayawardene in 24th (up by three), Chris Gayle in 34th (up by two), Joe Root in 35th (up by seven), Nasir Jamshaid in 38th (up by eight), Faf du Plessis in 43rd (up by seven) and Rohit Sharma in 47th (up by 11).

PTI 

Soon, a car that makes stopping at traffic lights history

Wellington: A car maker from Germany is developing a technology that calculates the amount of time before an upcoming set of traffic lights turn red, and tell driver the ideal speed needed to navigate roads and intersections.

Audi in Germany has joined forces with Berlin authorities in a trial that taps into the city's central traffic management system, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Audi Germany technology and innovation spokesman, Tim Frozek , said that their car is linked wirelessly to the central computer of the city of Berlin, and every second they get a ping from the computer telling them about the status of the traffic lig

hts.

He said that they transfer that info into graphics on the driver information display giving them two options, on one hand they have the possibility to let them know how long the red phase of the traffic light will last, and in the other they tell them about the speed they should use to reach next green light.

Audi has received strong interest in the technology from the US and other countries abroad, meanwhile, BMW is also trialling a similar program for its new vehicles.

ANI 

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