856 people were forced to evacuate, while 168 houses collapsed Beijing: Over 12,000 houses have sustained varying levels of damage after a moderate 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit a small town in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, officials said on Saturday.The earthquake hit the small town of Datianba on Friday and shook Changning County under Baoshan City at a depth of 10 kilometres. No casualties have been reported.According to the provincial civil affairs department, 856 people were forced to evacuate, while 168 houses collapsed and over 12,000 were damaged, state-run Xinhua news agency reported."I was so frightened that I wanted to cry, and the whole night I tossed and turned with worry," a villager named Yang Wenxue said. The walls of his bedroom cracked.Another villager Zhao Suyun and his family took refuge in their living room as the rest of their home was so badly damaged."I woke up many times that night, scared that the ground was about to shake again," she said. Yunnan Provincial Earthquake Administration has dispatched a 20-member team to the worst-hit area as part of emergency response procedure.Electricity and telecommunication have resumed and 400 tents and 700 coats are being distributed among the affected. Mountainous Yunnan is no stranger to earthquakes.A https://www.seasonsgazebo.com 6.5-magnitude quake hit Ludian County on August 3 last year, killing more than 600 people.
　　The message on the wall was also smart — Columbus travelled the world in a sail boat ...and you can’t get to the Gym "When did we become fans of such muscle-loving, bicep-brandishing hulks Culturally we never allotted much importance to the robustly built bodies of male heroes. Our gods are slim, shaven feminine, while ashuras are burly and hairy, as are our Bollywood villains. Our film heroes of the 60s and 70s barely had robust body structures, nor do we have any myths of brawny superheroes like Atlas or a Hercules. We have our Bhim in the Mahabharata. But his prowess has never given him the status of a hero that Arjuna enjoys. Bhim is an embodiment of excess — he eats big, talks loud, fights, marries and fathers demons while his revenges are gory and spine chilling; he is also the butt of jokes and taunts of his Kaurava cousins. It is true the Super Ape of the Ramayana adorns the wrestling Aakharas inspiring handful of wrestlers to build strong bodies and fight bouts but his popularity among masses is more as a quick problem solver than as a body builder.Body worship is a fairly recent phenomena amongst us.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday approved special financial assistance of Rs 150 crore to onion-producing farmers. This will be given as an ex gratia payment of Rs 200 per quintal with an upper limit of 200 quintals per farmer on the condition that the farmer must have sold onions between November 1 and December 15, 2018. The state government thinks that this scheme will be applied to total 75 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of the bulb.The decision came amid reports about Maharashtra farmers selling freshly harvested onions at as low as Rs 1.50 a kilogram.The sharp fall in onion rates in the retail markets of Nashik district has sparked an agitation there. This has put pressure on the state government to act in an urgent manner.Principal secretary (agricultural marketing) Anoop Kumar said the decision will be applicable to 75 lakh metric tonne of onions.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the officials concerned to preparing a comprehensive policy for onions.Nashik guardian minister Girish Mahajan, highlighting the seriousness of the situation, said, "Onion-growing farmers are facing the problem of price. We are concerned about the situation. This financial aid will be given immediately. This will go to about 75 lakh MT."The Opposition, however, is not satisfied with the Maharashtra government’s decision. "Rs 200 per quintal means Rs 2 per kilogram. Our farmers need to take the China Waterproof Tents Suppliers crop to various markets. The transport allowance needs to be increased. The state government is not helping farmers.

Rather, it is rubbing salt in their wounds," said former guardian minister of Nashik Chhagan Bhujbal.Last month, farmer Sanjay Sathe, from Nashik district, had sent his onion sale earnings of Rs 1,064, after selling 750 kg of his produce in a wholesale market, to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as a protest. The PMO had later returned the farmer’s money order.The farmer had said his intention was to prompt the government to take some steps to ease the financial stress that farmers were suffering because of the low prices. Another farmer from Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, Shreyas Abhale, had sent a money order of Rs 6 to Mr Fadnavis as a mark of protest against the crashing prices of onion and the paltry returns. Abhale had said that after selling 2,657 kg onions at the rate of Rs 1 per kg at the Sangamner wholesale market in the district and adjusting market expenses, he was left with only Rs 6.

New Delhi: Concerned over rising tomato and onion prices in the city, the Delhi government directed the food and civil supplies commissioner to act against hoarding.  Food and supply minister Imran Hussain reviewed the issue of price hike of onion and tomato at a meeting with department officers."The minister expressed his concern regarding rising prices of tomato and onion. He directed the officers to take effective action against hoarders, black-marketers, etc. Steady and continuous rise in prices of tomato and onion without any plausible reason indicates possibility of hoarding of these commodities," the government said in a statement.

Mr Hussain, it stated, directed his department to carry out "intense inspections" of wholesale markets such as Azadpur Mandi, Okhla Mandi, Ghazipur Mandi and Keshopur Mandi. The minister also directed inspection of retail markets in different parts of Delhi.The teams were also ordered to conduct surprise visits at different city markets early in the morning, as food items reach wholesale markets at night and are sold to retail markets around 3 am. He also directed the food and civil supplies department to send inspection reports to https://www.seasonsgazebo.com/ him everyday. "The minister directed the officers to take effective action against hoarders and black-marketers," the statement added.

New Delhi: The US Fed rate hike is no surprise and may not impact RBIs policy next month as it had already factored in the global development and will be guided by local factors, said experts.The US Fed hike is as per the expected lines, which raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three months and there is forecast of two additional hikes this year, experts said."RBI will not cut interest rate... rate cut cycle is over as far as RBI is concerned," Crisil Chief Economist D K Joshi said. RBI is expected to stay put on the repo rate in its upcoming monetary policy next month because of rise in inflation -- both wholesale and retail.The monetary policy review is due on April 5-6. Wholesale inflation soared to a 39-month high of 6.55 per cent in February and retail inflation inched up to 3.65 per cent due to higher food and fuel prices, justifying the RBIs move to hold rates at the last policy meet.

Last month, the RBI left interest rates unchanged for second time in a row, waiting for more clarity on the inflation trend and impact of demonetisation on growth even as it hinted at no interest rate cut in immediate future by shunning its long-held "accommodative" monetary policy stance.RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.25 per cent, the lowest in 6 years. According to Rupa Rege Nitsure, Group Chief Economist, L&T Finance Holdings, the rate hike by Fed yesterday is no surprise and going forward, https://www.seasonsgazebo.com/ there will be further hikes.This has already been taken into account by the RBI. So, it will be local factors for the future policy rate consideration, she said. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said Fed rate hike was very much anticipated and will have very little impact on India.He further said three rate hikes are already factored in and India is well-cushioned to absorb any future rate hike. "Now, a lot will depend on our own economy and what happens domestically. If we can keep up our stability, growth and everything, I think this is something that we should be able to manage without much discomfort," he said.As per the SBI Ecowarp, the impact of Fed rate hike on India will be muted partly because the results of UP elections have altered view of country risk for India beyond 2019.Though the currency can appreciate in the short term, the rupee is expected to settle at 66.5-67.5 per dollar at the end of 2017, it said."However, this view is subject to position taken by other central banks in response to the US Fed rate hike. The fallout of present rate hike is already divergent with Bank of Japan maintaining a status quo and Peoples Bank of China indicating a tightening stance," it added.

4 areas for improvement, but ‘no wholesale changes’The Supreme Court on Tuesday framed four important areas for improving the collegium system of judicial appointments — transparency, eligibility criterion, a mechanism to deal with complaints against candidates considered for selection and the need for a separate secretariat for the collegium. The next hearing will be held on Thursday.At the outset, a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices J.S. Khehar, J. Chelameswar, Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Goel made it clear to all parties: "It (improvement) cannot be a wholesale thing. we can’t touch the parameters already laid down by this court by nine judges. We are all on one side. We can only improve by adding, subtracting or deleting within the parameters. We can build on the suggestions you give."

Justice Khehar told counsel: "We have received hundreds of opinions and suggestions from all quarters, retired judges, lawyers and others. The diversity is tremendous and unimaginable. We will pass on those suggestions and you can formulate them into ideas."Before rising for the day, the bench took into account the suggestions of attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi, solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar and other top advocates, including K.K. Venugopal, who had argued for replacing the collegium system, and those against NJAC, that included senior counsel like Fali S. Nariman, Anil Divan, Rajeev Dhawan, Arvind Dattar and Gopal Subramaniam. The bench put the responsibility on Mr Dattar and https://www.seasonsgazebo.com/ additional solicitor-general Pinky Anand to compile the suggestions, which will also include those received by the Supreme Court after its NJAC ruling.When counsel pleaded for at least 10 days to formulate all the suggestions from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Justice Khehar said: "Everything (appointments) is stalled now. We can’t delay it further.

I have not participated in any collegium meetings (after the October 16 verdict quashing the NJAC law). Many people are waiting and we don’t want to waste time. Let us begin on Thursday. Collect all suggestions and formulate them based on the four issues we have framed."Attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi said: "We do not accept the correctness of the judgment. Whatever we say is without prejudice to our stand. Already there is a memorandum of procedure evolved by the government. There must be definite criteria for selection of candidates for high courts and the Supreme Court. The criteria can vary from the bigger high courts to smaller high courts. In the name of seniority, merit should not suffer. Only those who reach this benchmark can be considered for selection. The collegium must record reasons for the selection or rejection of candidates for judgeship."Senior lawyer Fali S. Nariman told the bench that the collegium’s job of appointing judges should no longer be a "part-time job, but a full-time one ... and there must be a secretariat". The collegium must consult a body consisting of distinguished jurists, leading lawyers, judges outside the collegiums, the presidents of the bar associations, he said. The Delhi Judicial Service Association wanted the quota for district judges to be increased from one-third to 50 per cent.

New Delhi: The Army is buying jerseys, boots and other such items for its soldiers from state-owned ordnance factories at rates much higher than market ones, leading to a huge loss to the exchequer, an internal defence ministry report says. The report suggests the entry of private companies and competitive pricing to fix the problem.The revelation comes amid a worrying string of videos put out on social media by jawans to highlight the poor quality and https://www.seasonsgazebo.com/ quantity of items supplied to them.Sample these: the Army is spending 175 per cent more for a woolen jersey, buying it for Rs 1,900 against its market rate of Rs 690.A high-ankle boot that can be bought for Rs 1,090 is sold to the Army for Rs 2,900 (inflated by 166 per cent).

Even the humble mosquito net with its market rate of Rs 388 comes at Rs 780 for the soldiers (up by 101 per cent). Clearly, much of what is spent is going waste, indicating an easy solution for the jawans’ problems may well lies in the Army’s accounts books.With the Army’s annual requirement being 4.44 lakh woolen jerseys and 6.72 lakh pairs of high-ankle boots, the avoidable loss to the exchequer for woolen jerseys would be Rs 53.72 crore, while it works out to Rs 121.6 crore for the boots.Based on the agreed levels of annual demands, five ordnance factories supply the Army’s clothing requirements. While the bulk of tents, boots, mosquito nets, sleeping bags, mattresses, ground sheets, parachutes, tents and poncho glaciers comes from Kanpur, the others factories are in Shahjahanpur (for shirts, trousers, jersey, coats, caps and socks), Avadi (for trousers, jacket, parachutes, shorts, overalls), and at Hazratpur (for trousers, coats and bag kits).The findings point out at a pricing policy of the OFBs (ordnance factory boards) that aim at recovering the entire cost of production in respect of items issued to the services.Slamming the pricing policy, a document — part of a 2016 internal defence ministry report — says: "The endemic slippages are a cause for serious concern to the Army.

Absence of a sound pricing policy formula and non-adherence to uniform pricing policy in their various factories lead to inflated fixation of prices by the OFB. Hence the cost of DGOF (directorate-general ordnance factories) products is far higher than the cost of the same item in trade".Suggesting the entry of private companies, the documents point out: "Their (OFBs) pricing should be competitive with the market and realistic. (They) should compete in the tendering process with private competitors".The provisioning route is itself a very long one. In 2015-16, the total number of steps involved in provisioning by the depot till placement of supply order to the vendor was 36, leading to a total running time of 313 days.