Heena Sharma Blog

The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 90 bn Current Affairs News : Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya , wanted in India on fraud charges, returned to Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Tuesday for closing arguments in his high-profile extradition trial. The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, who has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 90 bn. He arrived at the court along with his son Siddharth. "At the end of the day, the courts will decide," Mallya tells reporters outside the court. At the last hearing in the case on April 27, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had received a boost in the case as Judge Arbuthnot confirmed that the bulk of the evidence submitted by the Indian aut...

TNPSC had invited application for 9351 positions in various departments, namely TN Ministerial Service, TN Judicial Ministerial Service, TN Secretarial Service Education News : Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission has released the result of CCSE-4 (Group-IV) exam on Monday, July 30th. The results are available on the official website tnpsc.gov.in . The exam was conducted on February 11, 2018 in around 7000 centres in which more than 2 million candidates participated. Here's how candidates can check their results: Step 1: Go to the website: tnpsc.gov.in step 2: Click on either of the two given server: Server 1 or server 2 step 3: Click on the result link. step 4: Enter the registration number. step 5: Click on the submit button. Your scores and rank will be displayed on the screen. step 6: Take a print out of your result for future reference. TNPSC cut-off marks: The cut-off are also released on the official website and the cut-offs may vary accord...

Actress Dalljeit Kaur, who made a comeback on the small screen after a year with the supernatural thriller "Qayamat Ki Raat", says content makers on Indian television were not willing to cast her for younger roles in shows as she is a mother of one General News : Actress Dalljeit Kaur , who made a comeback on the small screen after a year with the supernatural thriller " Qayamat Ki Raat ", says content makers on Indian television were not willing to cast her for younger roles in shows as she is a mother of one and 35 years old. Asked if age, marital status and motherhood is looked down upon in the small screen, Dalljiet, 35, told IANS: "I faced all of this for a year. I was looking young. They (makers) would approach me for a mother's role, but they would say 'You are looking young'. "Then why are you not casting me for something else? Because I am a mother? So, the conflict of this thought level really used to depress me....

In terms of best-selling models, OnePlus 6 was the best in the premium segment followed by Samsung S9 Plus and OnePlus 5T Technology News : Riding on the success of its OnePlus 6 device, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus controlled 40 per cent of the premium segment in India in the second quarter of 2018, a new report has said. Samsung accounted for 34 per cent share of the premium segment, while Apple's share of the market reduced to 14 per cent - its lowest ever. According to Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, the premium smartphone segment (Rs 30,000 and above) grew 19 per cent annually and 10 per cent sequentially during Q2 2018. "The uptick in consumer demand in the premium segment was driven by increasing offers around the new launches as compared to a year ago," said the report, released late on Monday. The top three brands -- Samsung, OnePlus and Apple -- contributed 88 per cent of the overall premium market as compared to 95 per cen...

The BlackBerry Key2 features an enhanced design, slightly powerful processor, more RAM, latest Google Android operating system and a dual camera set-up on the back Technology News : Canadian smartphone brand BlackBerry, licensed to India-based Optiemus Infracom, on July 23 launched the BlackBerry Key2 , a successor to the BlackBerry KeyOne, which had a full-QWERTY keyboard. Compared to the predecessor, the Key2 not only features an enhanced design but also gets a slightly powerful processor, more RAM, latest Google Android operating system, and a dual-camera set-up at the back. The Amazon-exclusive touch and type smartphone goes on sale today i.e. July 31. In current times, when almost all smartphones have begun to look almost the same, the BlackBerry Key2, with a rectangular touch screen-cum-physical-keyboard design, offers a fresh new experience. But, is it worth going back to legacy keyboard design, which one ditched in  favour of the all-screen mobile phone for...

The reservation system still stokes a fire among the Indian masses and is a polarising topic Current Affairs News : Some men brandish swords, others pelt stones, a few others torch a tire and together they howl, all the while stomping together to railway tracks to bring either their state or, in some cases, the country to a standstill. These images have become familiar to Indians, who have these pictures roaring out of the front pages of their newspapers and on their TV screens on an uncomfortably frequent basis. The protesters gather in a show of strength not to impose their superiority but to convince the nation that they need reservation to be on an equal footing with the rest. The why of reservation: When India gained independence in 1947, the new constitution provided reservation to scheduled castes and tribes -- which were seen as the ones who had historically been discriminated against -- in educational institutions, government jobs and even seats in parliame...

According to the new bill, there will be stringent punishment for rapists of girls under 12 Current Affairs News : The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018, which will allowsthe death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12. The bill seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated by the government in April after an outcry over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018 was supported by most members across the political spectrum and passed by a voice vote, PTI reported. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, "The stringent law was aimed at providing safety to minor girls." Here are few things you should know about the Bill: 1. According to the new bill, there will be stringent punishment for rapists of girls under 12. The punishment for rape of a woman aged under 12 years will be rigorous imprisonment of at least 20 year...

The I-T department alleged that the trio had not disclosed Rs 53.7 mn worth of property they jointly own in Cambridge and Rs 32.8 mn worth of properties in the USA Current Affairs News : A magistrate court in Chennai on Monday directed former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's family members to appear in court on August 20 without fail in connection with the black money case . Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S Malarvizhi ordered the personal appearance of Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi on August 20 since they failed to do so on Monday. According to the Income Tax Department, Karti had not disclosed his bank account in Metro Bank, the UK, and investments he had made in Nano Holdings LLC, USA. Also, the department said Karti had failed to disclose investments made by Chess Global Advisory, a company co-owned by him, which is an offence under the Black Money Act. The department stated that the trio had not disclosed Rs 53.7 ...

To avoid falling for cybercriminals' fraudulent schemes and losing personal data, it is suggested that users should not spread questionable links among their friends Current Affairs News : While legitimate apps like Tokenfire and Swagbucks buy card codes from vendors, to then give them to clients as a reward for certain activities, criminals have apparently recognised the popularity of such websites and have decided to deceive users using a simple algorithm. "The success of these new fraud schemes is based on criminals exploiting the drive of users to get something for free," Lyubov Nikolenko of Kaspersky Lab said in a statement this week. "However, at best they will spend hours of personal time doing worthless tasks, and at worst lose money without receiving anything in return. So, if you want to get your hands on a free gift card, try to earn it on legal and trustworthy sites," Nikolenko added. When on the fake site, the user is asked to...

While Tom Cruise takes complete and unconditional control of the plot, the secondary characters are never outlined in a shadow Current Affairs News : Film: "Mission Impossible - Fallout" Director: Christopher McQuarrie Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Wes Bentley, Fredrick Schmidt, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin Rating: **** ½(4 and a half stars) Paris has never pulsated with more panache. Could it be because cinema's greatest living superstar is chasing down the villains on the cobbled streets of this beautiful city? Or is it just the fact that this instalment of Mission Impossible is impossibly entertaining, wildly engaging and finally more profoundly satisfying than the action genre permits. From Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris to …ahem, Aditya Chopra's Befikre, Paris has always been favourite haunt of filmmakers on a passionate prowl. ...

The 2018 Hero Karizma ZMR will be available in two colour options --- standard and dual tone --- at Rs 108,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) and Rs 110,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) Companies News : Hero Motocorp , a home-grown motorbike manufacturer, has relaunched its premium 220cc Karizma ZMR after pulling it off the shelves last year due to declining sales and BS-IV norms requirements. The 2018 Hero Karizma ZMR will be available in two colour options – standard and dual tone – at Rs 108,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) and Rs 110,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi), respectively. First introduced in 2003, the Karizma was the invention of Hero and Honda, which were then a single entity.  The bike was India’s first entry-level performance motorbike with semi-faired outlook. It was also India’s first motorbike that crossed Rs 100,000 price bracket. However, due to its sharp styling, powerful engine and advanced technologies such as digital speedometer, it became a popular motorbike among motorcycl...

In a series of teaser videos posted on Twitter, Samsung hinted that the Galaxy Note 9 would have a bigger capacity battery, ample internal storage and better internet connectivity Technology News : South Korean electronics giant Samsung is gearing up for the launch of the Galaxy Note 9 on August 9. Purported details of the upcoming Note-series flagship smartphone with S-Pen for digital inking capabilities has been making rounds on the web. However, the latest piece of information has come from the company’s official social media channels where Samsung posted a series of teaser videos hinting that the phone would have a bigger capacity battery, ample internal storage and better internet connectivity. In the first teaser video shared on July 26 on Twitter, the company showed an iPhone-like user interface with a low battery message popping up forcing user to lower brightness, disable WiFi and GPS, and close the recently opened apps to save some power. The tweet carries a m...

The next-generation iPad Pro models are also reported to have trimmed-down dimensions when compared with the current generation models, according to a report on Japanese technology portal Macotakara Companies News : US-based technology giant Apple is working on the iPad Pro 2018, which is reported to get some of its features from the iPhone X. These include the advanced facial recognition and gesture-controlled user interface. The next-generation iPad Pro models are also reported to have trimmed-down dimensions when compared with the current-generation models, according to a report on the Japanese technology portal Macotakara. The iPad Pro 2018 models are reported to come in 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch screen formats with edge-to-edge screen. Both the models would feature Apple’s advanced facial recognition biometric set-up, which uses an infrared camera, dot projector, flood illuminator, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and front camera to 3D-map the user's face....

That Shorbhanu's identity got entwined with that of her husband of 30 years is not good enough now, at least not to be a part of the final draft NRC Current Affairs News : Sipping tea between mouthfuls of muri (puffed rice), Hussain Ahmad Madani prodded his mother to respond to my queries. She interjected with “What more do I say? What is there to say?” Some silence, a faint smile – and then she mumbled to me, “We can only wait till July 30 and see what happens.” July 30 is an important day not just for Hussain’s mother Shorbhanu Nessa, but for many other women from the poorest and most disadvantaged sections of Assam, particularly those belonging to the Bengali Muslim community. On that day, the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is being updated in the state since 2015 following a Supreme Court order, will have its final draft ready. The NRC is being updated by the Registrar General of India as per the citizenship cut-off date of March 25, 1971, ex...

People in the national capital witnessed heavy rains and had to face waterlogging, traffic snarls at various places in the city for the second consecutive day today Current Affairs News : Incessant rains overnight that lashed the national capital and its adjoining areas affected the morning traffic on Friday as the city continued to experience moderate and scattered showers. People had to face waterlogging and traffic snarls at various places in the city for the second consecutive day today. In Ghaziabad, many schools remained closed under the directions of the district magistrate on account of heavy rains and adverse weather conditions. No casualty or property damage was reported, even as a girl died here after the roof of a dilapidated house came down on her, police said. As a precautionary measure, owners of 80 flats in two societies in the vicinity of the road have been asked to vacate. Heavy to moderate rains lashed parts of Delhi-NCR . People going towards Noid...

India is the largest milk producer in the world Current Affairs News : India's milk production is estimated to have increased by 6.6 per cent to 176.35 million tonnes during the last financial year. "Milk production in the country is 165.4 million tonnes during 2016-17 and 176.35 million tonnes (provisional) during 2017-18," Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Raj has said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. She also informed that the projected milk production by 2021-22 is 254.5 million tonnes as per the vision 2022 document. India is the largest milk producer in the world. To achieve this target, the minister said that the department has been implementing many dairy development schemes to supplement the efforts of the state governments to create necessary infrastructure across the country. These schemes are -- Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), National Dairy Plan Phase I, Dairy Entrepreneurship De...

Scandals have damaged the company, but the most pressing problem is that there aren't that many people left to convert- they're all already on Facebook Companies News : After all the controversy Facebook Inc. has generated in recent months, it seemed almost inevitable that at some point, the social media giant would get what it had coming. A reckoning. Wednesday’s disappointing earnings report and Thursday’s historic 19 per cent stock drop appeared to be a fitting conclusion to an easy narrative. But the story isn’t that simple. Yes, the privacy protections the company put in place after a series of scandals played a role in the dismal earnings. But the company’s bigger problem is that the main social network— the invention that made it a corporate behemoth—simply can’t grow much more. And the new dollars Facebook will mint in the next few years will have to come from businesses that are less certain, like ads in chat applications, virtual reality, television-l...