News Digest: More Bank Accounts Compromised

Here are some headlines from the daily newspapers:

1. More bank accounts compromised

The ripples of the ingenious ATM skimming fraud that astounded Kerala are yet to abate. On Wednesday, a new set of ATM card holders reported unauthorised withdrawal of cash from their accounts, reports The Hindu.

The development has alarmed bankers. It has triggered concern in the State police that the scale of the customer information stolen could be much higher than what was initially suspected.

2.Govt To rejig laws for pay hike to President, V-P

The Centre is firming up changes to three laws to give the President, Vice-President and governor a pay hike to ensure they do not earn less than senior civil servants, including their key aid es. REPORTS The Hindustan Times.

The laws passed by Parliament in 2008 entitle the President to a monthly salary of ` 1.5 lakh, the Vice-President to Rs 1.25 lakh and governors to ` 1.1 lakh.

Under the new pay scales cleared by the government for civil servants, the cabinet secretary will get a monthly salary of ` 2.5 lakh, a secretary to the government will get ` 2.25 lakh and an additional secretary upwards of ` 1.82 lakh. A joint secretary level officer will get a basic salary ranging between ` 1.18 lakh and ` 2.14 lakh, depending on how many years they have spent at the post. Government officials said if the change wasn’t made, the President would receive a salary lower than about 14 officials at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

3. Irom was fed rich diet thrice a day during fast

Irom Sharmila, who ended the world’s longest hunger strike on Tuesday afternoon with a lick of honey, was forcefed a rich diet through a nasal pipe every day of her 16-year fast, reports The Hindustan Times.

The Manipur government spent at least ` 10,000 a month on a special vitamin and mineral-enriched diet to ensure the right activist did not – at least technically – go hungry.

4. US report red flags rising religious intolerance

A US report on religious freedom around the world in 2015, released on Wednesday, took note of the returning of state awards by Indian filmmakers and authors protesting growing intolerance, reports The Hindustan Times.

The report, an annual exercise by the state department, also noted “reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, coerced religious conversions, actions restricting the right of individuals to change religious beliefs, discrimination, and vandalism”.

5. Crackdown on illegal shuttles

The transport department has started a crackdown on illegal shuttle bus services in the city .Over the past two days it has impounded 17 buses, most of them belonging to the app-based service Shuttl, reports The Times Of India.

“The buses were impounded as part of the drive against unlicensed shuttle services. The permits of these buses will be cancelled as well,“ said a senior government official. The owners will now have to go to court to get the buses released after paying a fine.However, if the transport department cancels their permits, the vehicles would not be able to ply at all.

6. Meters to be must for app taxis

Delhi government seems to be finally getting ready to regulate taxi aggregators. Transport minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said that a draft policy has been finalised and it will be released after public consultation within a month, reports The Times Of India.

Jain, who compared the draft taxi aggregator policy to the premium bus policy tabled earlier, added that meters and transparent pricing have been made mandatory. “A meeting with the stakeholders will be held soon along with a public consultation before we send the draft policy to the LG for approval,“ he said.

7. A car stolen or snatched every 15 minutes in city

Every 15 minutes, a car in Delhi is either stolen or snatched. According to recent data, nearly 100 vehicles were reportedly stolen on each day of last month, reports The Times Of India.

A police study shows that the number vehicles stolen this year is double the figure registered in the whole of 2011. Officers also say that there's been a 13% drop in the number of vehicles recovered. But they say that the spurt in the numbers is due to the increase in vehicle numbers and lack of parking space.

The study finds one-sixth of the thefts are reported from east Delhi.

8. IGI's Aerocity easy terror target

The ultra-sensitive airports in Delhi and Mumbai may be sitting ducks for terror attacks due to glaring chinks in their armour.A parliamentary panel has red-flagged the slums around Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) and the hotel district at Delhi's IGI Airport, reports The Times of India.

At Delhi's IGI, the panel has identified the hotel district near the main runway , called Aerocity , as a “potential security threat to the runway and the airport“.

9. AFTERMATH OF PUL SUICIDE - Data Services Suspended in Tense Itanagar

Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul had been slated to visit New Delhi and met BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal a day ahead of his suicide, reports The Economic Times.

However, a restless Pul asked his driver to turn back on the drive from Itanagar to Guwahati on Monday . Mittal confirmed to ET that Pul was slated to meet him, though he did not turn up. “Pul was a great friend of mine,“ said Mittal.

Meanwhile, tension prevailed in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday , with the Congress government suspending SMS, GPRS, 3G and 4G data services in Itanagar as a precautionary measure after instances of vandalism by Pul's supporters.

10. NDA's forest policy begins to fall into place

The government recently disowned its draft National Forest Policy, raising a stink. It intends to now come up with a new draft at some later stage for public consultations.

But the draft, widely floating around by the time it was withdrawn, has given a good sense of the direction forest-related policy is poised to take. Coupled with the draft forest policy, the NDA government has made three other key moves, reports The Business Standard.