* SUNDA Y TIMES OF INDIA, NEWDELHI DECEMBER 28, 2014 8 TIMES NATION TIMESNEWSNETWORK New Delhi: The government has issued strict guidelines to all ministries asking them to give preference to domestical- ly manufactured electronic products, a move aimed at boosting electronics produc- tion as part of PM Nare ndra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ drive. Acommit tee of secre tarie s has decided that all ministries and departments should iden- tify department-specific do- mestically manufactured el- ectronic products for procure- ment and notify them within a fortnight, a statement from the PMO said on Saturday . All government depart- ments have been asked to ad- here to a tender template al- ready issued by the depart- ment of elect ronics and infor - mation technology for procure- ment of electronic it ems. The d epartment o f elec - tronics and IT has also been asked to put in place an online monitoring system for report- ing by ministries and depart- ments and states on procure- ment of electronic pr oducts. “This system, to be oper- ationalized in a fortnight, will capture the break -up of do- mestically manufactured electronic equipment by val- ue,” the statement said. Industry leaders cheered the move. “We are hopeful tha t if this is implemented in let- ter and spirit, it will lead to crea tion of an e lectr onics manufacturing hub in India. We look forward for a formal notification from the govern- ment in this matter,” said N K Goya l, chairman of Tele com Equipment Manufacturing Association of India. Some experts said the deci- sion should be followed through to ensure that it is im- plemented. “After seeing the non-i mple ment atio n of pref - erential market access, this is a good decision by the govern- ment. It should have been tak- en long back. Now it needs to be supported with statutory provisions. Wishfully, it should be extended to all the purchases in India, whether government or private,” said Ravi Sharma, chairman, CMAI (Associa tion of India Communication Multimedia andInfrastructure) The Modi administration has vowed to boost the manu- facturing sector and aims to take its shar e to 25% o f the economyfromthecurrent15%. It has drawn up an ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign urg- ing investors to set up manufac- turing bases in the country . Purchase only made-in-India gadgets: PMO to ministries Move Aims To Boost ‘Make In India’ Drive We are hopeful that if this is implemented in letter and spirit, it will lead to creation of an electronics manufacturing hub in India. We look forward for a formal notification from the government in this matter N K GOYAL CHAIRMAN, TEMAI Ishita.Mishra @timesgroup.com Agra: For all the harried for- eign tourists, with their lita- ny of compla int s agai nst cheating touts, hoteliers and taxi drivers as they go to see the Taj Mahal, here’s some good news. Foreign tourists neednolongervisitpolice sta- tions in case of an accident or some untoward incident. A new rule that was intro- duced on Saturday says once they complain at the control room number, dialing 100, cops themselves will come to the victims, whether it is on the road or their hotel room, to take details on the spot and addresstheirgrievance. The new rule comes in the w ake of lax p olice re- sponse in a case reported on Friday in which jewellery worth several lakhs was stolen from the cab of a foreign to ur- ist from outside a hotel. The victim, Di-Micelle from Cali- fornia, had claimed that she had to run from pillar to post to get a theft complaint lodged. SSP Rajesh Modak Dinesh Rao clarified that foreign tourists, under the new rule, will be provided full assist- ance in lodging the complaint besides cops helping them contact their families in case they lost luggage or cash. More importantly, only one police official will con- tact tourists as they get ne- rvous with several cops ask- ing them similar questions, the SSP added. “Agra is a to- urist hu b. Th ousands of for- eign tourists come here ev- ery day . This is the responsib - ility of the pol ice to assure smooth journey of tourists in the city,” Rao said. Foreigners in Agra can dial 100, summon a cop FEAR-FREE TOURISM Swati.Deshpande @timesgroup.com Mumbai: Actress Karisma Kapoor and her Delhi-based businessman husband, Sun- jay Ka pur , are not t o end the year with c losure of their decade-old marriage after all. Thecouple,whofiledamu- tual consent divorce petition in the Mumbai family court, disagreed on some issues at their final hearing a few days ago. The two were packed off by the judge to work out a set- tlement by February. The celebrity couple were present in court along with their lawyers before principal judge Laxmi Rao on what was meant to be their date to get the decree — just be fore C hristmas and in time to bring in the New Year with, perhaps, new partners — but both failed to agree to t he terms of a trust being set up for the welfare of their two minor children, a nine-year-old daughter and a much younger son. Karisma is repre sented by lawyer Kranti Sathe, while Sunjay had two top lawyers coming in from Delhi. Karis- ma wanted to have more say and control over the trust than she was getting and Sun- jay w as unwi lling to let go of his control, it has been learnt. Karisma, who resides in Oberoi Crest in Khar, and Sunjay , a resident of Chana- kyapuri in Delhi, had con- verted the custody petition into a mutual consent di- vorce petition in June. All formalities over, they were in court to get the divorce, but left discontented instead. When both sides got loud in the court, the judge put her foot down. She directed them to come back with a fi- nal settlement, after work- ing it out amicably outside the court, or withdraw their joint pet ition for divorce un- der the Hindu Marriage Act. Once a mutual consent plea is filed, there is a six mont h cooling off peri od to give time to both sides for a rethink, a t the end of which if they still want to split, di- vorce is granted. They also have up to another year to work on their decision to take divorce by consent. Sunjay was the first to move the Bandra family court on May 31. He filed a custody petition for the children, say- ing K ari sma was s eei ng someone else. Karisma’s al- leged love interest, pharma company honcho Sandeep Toshniwal, has his divorce plea pending in the same court before another judge. T rust is sues: N o di v orce for Lolo before end of yr A few days ago in a family court, the couple failed to agree on the terms of a trust being set up for their kids. When both sides got loud, the judge dir ected the m to come back with a final, amicably worked out settlement, in February Bhopal: With Congress reel- ing under a st ri ng of pol l defeats, its se- nior member Digvijaya Si- ngh on Satur- day said party vice-president Rahul Gandhi should assume “full-time” leadership of the AICC . “All Congressmen today want Rahul Gandhi to take over full-time leadership of the All India Congress Com- mittee,” the party general sec- retary said in Bhopal, unfazed by Congress having distanced itself from a similar suggesti- on made by him last month in which the party described it as his “personal view”. Singh, however, said Con- gress president Sonia Gandhi will continue to remain “our leader”. “Under her leader- ship Congress has achieved miraculoussuccess. From just two states at one point of time , the party went on to form government in 14 states. Also, Congress stormed to power at the Centre in 2004 and again won elections in 2009,” Singh said. “But now the time has come for Rahul to take charge of the party ,” he said. PTI Diggy wants Rahul to take over Cong reins ‘full time’ Digvijaya Singh Saibal.Gupta @timesgroup.com Kolkata: In a significant de- velopment in the Saradha scam probe, the NIA and the CBI will now jointly investi- gate the possibilit y of a Ponzi cash link with the Burdwan blast and the Jamaatul-Muja- hideenBangladeshmodule. Sources say top officials of both central agencies met in Delhi on December 18 and de- cided to continue the probe in a coordinated manner and sh- are information. This comes just weeks aft er Union minis- ter of state for personnel Jiten- dra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that investi- gators had so far not found any pro of of Sar adha lin ks with the Khagragarh blast. Central investigators have agreed that while NIA will continue prob- ing into the terror aspect of the JMB blast, the CBI — which is conducting the Saradha probe — will tr y to ascert ain if ille- gal proceeds were used to fund cross-border terror cells. When asked about the rea- son for this change of strategy , a senior NIA officer said, “Dur - ing interrogation, some infor- mationhascomeup thatshows a huge amou nt of mone y was transferredtovariousbanksin Bangladesh. We need to identi- fy the money trail that played animportantrolein theblast.” During the interrogation of JMB ope rati ve Sa hanur Alom and Myanmarese Ad- bul Kahled, NIA sleuths real- ized that t he amount of mon- ey transferred to Bangladesh is much higher that thought. Meanwhile, the SSKM Hospital discharged trans- port minister Madan Mitra on Saturday, which means the TMC member will ring in the New Year behind bars. NIA, CBI j oin forces to tr ack Saradha-JMB Ponzi cash ‘link’ About `75 crore changed hands between JMB and some Bengal politicians Money was transferred to Bangladesh bank s and routed back through NGOs Shakil Ahmed, who died in Burdwan blast, moved money 18 times in 3 years NIA probing transactions of a TMC MP and a former TMC leader who allegedly helped in money transfers NEW LEADS Udaipur (Rajasthan): Debt waiv er schemes of centr al and state governments have not benefited farmers as they restricted credit flow subse- quently , Reserve Ban k of In- dia governor Raghuram Ra- jan said on Saturday . “Studies have shown that debt waiver programmes have been ineffective, con- straining credit flow to farm- ers after their loans were waived off,” Rajan said at a conference in Udaipur. Concerned over farmers’ suicides, arising partly out of their inability to pay back loans, Rajan said there was a need t o stud y if the y wer e caused by indebtedness or “other factors”. He recalled that waivers were declared for farmers in Andhra Pradesh after cyclone Phailin made landfall in October 2013. Referring to subsidies in the agriculture sector, the RBI governor said it would be worth studying if they (subsi- dies) have actually helped farmers. “The concern is if the benefit in the form of cheap credit to agriculture is being put to right use or leading to over-indebted- ness,” Rajan added. IANS Loan waivers have not helped farmers: Rajan IN FOR THE LONG HAUL: Rajan T he RBI would focus on medium-term inflation to let the economy adjust to changes rather than chasing short-term inflationary goals, its governor Raghuram Rajan said on Saturday. Rajan asserted that no country in the world chased short- term inflation targets ig- noring domestic and globaldevelopments. IANS ‘Short-term inflation goals not our target’ T he CBI has registered two fresh cases against Saradha boss Sudipta Sen in connection with alleged ch- eating of investors in Assam by his firm. The case was filed on Friday. On the same day, cent- ral agencies began tracing more than Rs 50 crore Sen had allegedly parked with his imm- ediate family before he fled Kolkata in April last year. TNN 2 new cases lo dged against Sudipta Sen