IANS/PTI
Mortal remains of another man, among 39 killed in Iraq, consigned to flames in Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur (Pb), April 4 (PTI): The mortal remains of a resident of Jaitpur village, who was among the 39 Indians killed in ISIS captivity in Iraq, were consigned to flames at his native place in this district today. Gurdeep Singh along with other Indians had gone missing in Iraq in 2014. A special aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 38 out of out of 39 Indians, which included 27 from Punjab, landed at the Amritsar international airport from Baghdad on Monday. Singh is survived by his mother Surinder Kaur, wife Anita Rani, a 5-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.
GMAT to be 30 minutes shorter from April 16
New Delhi, April 4 (PTI): Candidates vying for admission into premiere business schools across the globe will now have to appear for a 30-minute shorter Graduate Management Admission Test, a senior GMAC official said here today. The decision to reduce the duration from four hours to three-and-a-half hours was taken by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the owner of the GMAT, without disturbing the quality and scoring algorithm of the exam. The candidates will be able to take the shorter exam from April 16. The exam duration has been shortened by streamlining two longer sections - Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning - reducing the number of unscored, research questions in these sections.
Salt content in Kurkure to be cut: PepsiCo India
New Delhi, April 4 (IANS): Snacks and beverages maker Pepsico will reduce salt content in its snacks brand — Kurkure — in line with its global nutrition objectives, a top company official said on Wednesday. According to PepsiCo India Vice President, Snacks, Jagrut Kotecha said the company has recently launched new multigrain variant Kurkure packs with 21.5 per cent less salt. “The recently launched Multigrain variant with power grain ragi is meeting our global agenda on sodium reduction with a 21.5 per cent less sodium,” he said. Kotecha said in 2018, the brand Kurkure plans to expand its reach through both “push and pull strategies”. “We will further accelerate our distribution efforts in fast growing semi-urban and rural markets by leveraging our distribution strength and tapping into indirect channels,” he said.
Cabinet approves amendments to human rights act
New Delhi, April 4 (IANS): The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the human rights protection bill for “better protection and promotion of human rights in the country”, a statement said. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018, was cleared in a Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The statement said the amendment bill “proposes to enlarge the scope of eligibility and scope of selection of chairperson of National Human Rights Commission as well as the State Human Rights Commissions”. It also aims at to incorporate a mechanism to look after the cases of human rights violation in the union territories. The statement claimed that the amendment would “strengthen” the human rights institutions “for effective discharge of their mandates, roles and responsibilities”. It would also bring India’s human rights law “in perfect sync with the agreed global standards and benchmarks towards ensuring the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual in the country”.
Dalit protests: Curfew in three MP districts relaxed
Bhopal, April 4 (PTI): The curfew imposed in Gwalior, Bhind, and Morena districts of Madhya Pradesh after the April 2 Dalit protests was relaxed today as no major incident of violence was reported, police said. Eight persons were killed during the largescale violence during the Bharat bandh called by Dalit groups against alleged dilution of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court. In Gwalior district, the curfew was relaxed from 6 AM to 8 AM and again between 4 PM and 6 PM at Thatipur, Murar, and Gola Ka Mandi area, said district collector Rahul Jain. In Bhind city, curfew was relaxed for two hours from 10 AM to 12 noon, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajendra Verma told PTI over phone. In Morena district’s City Kotwali, Station Road and Civil Line police station areas, curfew was relaxed twice from 10 AM to 11 AM and from 5 PM to 6 PM, said district Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Umesh Shukla. Eight persons, including six Dalits, were killed and 153 persons were injured in the violence.