ProUI

GURGAON: It was free for all in Jamalpur village near Pataudi on Sunday, as thousands of villagers went on a rampage disrupting road and rail traffic, in addition to destroying public property and thrashing policemen on duty. The violence broke out after a resident was allegedly hacked by cattle smugglers. Following the incident, thousands of residents from more than 12 villages in the area blocked the Gurgaon-Pataudi Road and the Delhi-Jaipur rail route, protesting against the murder of the local youth.Vikrant Yadav, 24, a resident of Khwaspur village, and a member of the local 'Gaurakshak Mandli', learnt about the alleged cow smugglers which were allegedly transporting cows for slaughter in a Tata 407. Yadav informed a few others about the vehicle and they started chasing it from Babda village. Yadav was on a two-wheeler and the others were in a tempo.Yadav was driving fast and soon he caught up with the vehicle carrying the cows while the others were far behind. According to local residents, he was driving parallel to the Tata 407 near Janaula vilage. At this, the driver of the Tata 407 allegedly took out a sharp weapon and attacked Yadav on his throat and then his head.

According to Yadav's family even the local police was part of the chase but they left after seeing the body.

As the news of the death spread, residents from nearby villages gathered at Jamalpur and started an agitation. They initially blocked the road, and later went to the railway tracks and disrupted it. They demanded the termination of all police officials on duty, in addition to the status of martyr for Vikrant.

Though Pataudi SDM Manoj Khatri reached the spot, the villagers refused to budge. Seeing no positive response, they went on a rampage. A group went to Tajnagar railway station and blocked the Delhi-Jaipur railway line. As a result, the Bhuj-Bareily Express was delayed.

The disruption of the railway line also affected more than 20 trains meant to run on Delhi-Jaipur line. The protestors started torching vehicles and even trains, when police started a lathi charge. Police were also forced to open fire in an attempt to disperse the villagers. Over half a dozen policemen were injured. The condition of two of them was stated to be critical. The train traffic could be restored only after 5pm.

"The situation is tense but under control. We are trying to restore rail as well as road traffic," said deputy commissioner of police (south) Rahul Sharma.

"The police not only kept their eyes shut on cattle smuggling but also on my brother's death. Had they stopped the vehicle at the naka, my brother would have been alive. They did not even make an effort to chase the vehicle even after seeing my brother's dead body," said the victim's cousin Harish Yadav.

India’s internet population witnessed a 31 per cent year-on-year increase to 73.9 million at the end of March 31, 2013 compared with 56.3 million in the year-ago period. The preferred medium to surf internet and consume information online also changed from PC to mobile, according to the study ‘2013 India Digital Future in Focus’ by comScore. The study also claims that India is now the world’s third-largest internet population in terms of numbers.

The study also revealed that India overtook Japan to become the number two country in terms of internet population in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year China led with 55.2 per cent, followed by Japan with 12.2 per cent and India represented 9.3 per cent. This year, India’s share increased to 11.5 per cent while Japan’s went down to 11.4 per cent. Though China still leads with a healthy 54 per cent, it saw a decrease in its share.

PC v/s mobile

India’s non-PC traffic grew to 14.2 per cent in March 2013 from 10.9 per cent during the same time last year. Traffic via mobile was the highest in the country, followed by PC and tablets. Interestingly, majority of internet users were consuming data via Wi-Fi, while only 23 per cent were using cellular data, showing consumers are still not comfortable with paying for data (probably due to high tariff and connectivity issues). This could change going forward when 4G comes in the picture.

Myntra leads with most number of users; Flipkart gets highest per-user engagement

As compared to other markets in the BRIC region, India’s online retail market is pretty underdeveloped. While worldwide the penetration of retail category stands at 74.4 per cent, in India it stands at 60.3 per cent. China has 84.1 per cent penetration of retail categories.

Among the major e-commerce companies In India, fashion and lifestyle portal Myntra.com has emerged as the most popular with the highest number of unique visitors. However, the users spent the longest amount of time on Flipkart (16.2 minutes per visitor) followed by Snapdeal (7.8 minutes) and Amazon sites (7.6 minutes).

In terms of individual categories, apparel continues to lead, followed by computer software, comparison shopping and electronics, in that order.

Indians like travelling

Travel sites got the most amount of users with the penetration of online travel sites being the highest in India in BRIC region as well as worldwide. While globally the reach is 36 per cent, in India travel sites’ reach was 38 per cent. Average time spent on travel sites was also the highest in India at 26.7 minutes, followed by Russia (25.9 minutes), Brazil (15.9 minutes) and China (15.4 minutes).

IRCTC led the pack with 13.6 million unique users among the homegrown players. IRCTC and Indiarailinfo also had the highest user engagement with each user spending 25.2 minutes on both sites. Interestingly, while all OTAs saw positive year-on-year growth, the penetration of unique users for Yatra.com and Cleartrip.com slipped by 49 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.

Other highlights

Women aged 35-44 are the heaviest internet users among all age/gender groups. Indian blogging audience grew 48 per cent to close to 36 million; 26 per cent of the total blog traffic came from mobile and tablets. On an average, 217 minutes or over three-and-a-half hours are spent on Facebook every month by Indian users. Over 54 million Indians watched online videos on their PCs, a 27 per cent increase year on year. (Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

Mumbai: In a face-saving breakthrough for authorities, Railway Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a man who had allegedly attacked and robbed an American woman inside a sub-urban train in south Mumbai.  "Accused Rajkumar Tiwari was arrested in connection with the attack on Michelle Marks, a US national," railway police sources were quoted confirming the development to a news agency.  According to reports, Tiwari had slashed the victim on her neck and cheek when she refused to part with her I-Phone while travelling in a first-class ladies' compartment of a Borivali-bound local train at about 5 pm on August 18.    The accused had jumped out of the train as it slowed down at Charni Road railway station.    According to police, Marks was alone in the compartment. As it was a Sunday, the bogie was empty. The victim spotted the accused inside the train at Marine Lines station.    The victim, who resides at Goregaon along with her brother and two others, works with an NGO and has been in Mumbai since a year. On the day of the attack, she had gone to Colaba for a prayer meet.    The arrest comes at a time when police across Maharashtra have launched a massive drive to crack down on eve-teasers across the state in wake of gang-rape of 22-year photojournalist in Mumbai just days ago.

India’s internet population witnessed a 31 per cent year-on-year increase to 73.9 million at the end of March 31, 2013 compared with 56.3 million in the year-ago period. The preferred medium to surf internet and consume information online also changed from PC to mobile, according to the study ‘2013 India Digital Future in Focus’ by comScore. The study also claims that India is now the world’s third-largest internet population in terms of numbers.

The study also revealed that India overtook Japan to become the number two country in terms of internet population in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year China led with 55.2 per cent, followed by Japan with 12.2 per cent and India represented 9.3 per cent. This year, India’s share increased to 11.5 per cent while Japan’s went down to 11.4 per cent. Though China still leads with a healthy 54 per cent, it saw a decrease in its share.

PC v/s mobile

India’s non-PC traffic grew to 14.2 per cent in March 2013 from 10.9 per cent during the same time last year. Traffic via mobile was the highest in the country, followed by PC and tablets. Interestingly, majority of internet users were consuming data via Wi-Fi, while only 23 per cent were using cellular data, showing consumers are still not comfortable with paying for data (probably due to high tariff and connectivity issues). This could change going forward when 4G comes in the picture.

Myntra leads with most number of users; Flipkart gets highest per-user engagement

As compared to other markets in the BRIC region, India’s online retail market is pretty underdeveloped. While worldwide the penetration of retail category stands at 74.4 per cent, in India it stands at 60.3 per cent. China has 84.1 per cent penetration of retail categories.

Among the major e-commerce companies In India, fashion and lifestyle portal Myntra.com has emerged as the most popular with the highest number of unique visitors. However, the users spent the longest amount of time on Flipkart (16.2 minutes per visitor) followed by Snapdeal (7.8 minutes) and Amazon sites (7.6 minutes).

In terms of individual categories, apparel continues to lead, followed by computer software, comparison shopping and electronics, in that order.

Indians like travelling

Travel sites got the most amount of users with the penetration of online travel sites being the highest in India in BRIC region as well as worldwide. While globally the reach is 36 per cent, in India travel sites’ reach was 38 per cent. Average time spent on travel sites was also the highest in India at 26.7 minutes, followed by Russia (25.9 minutes), Brazil (15.9 minutes) and China (15.4 minutes).

IRCTC led the pack with 13.6 million unique users among the homegrown players. IRCTC and Indiarailinfo also had the highest user engagement with each user spending 25.2 minutes on both sites. Interestingly, while all OTAs saw positive year-on-year growth, the penetration of unique users for Yatra.com and Cleartrip.com slipped by 49 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.

Other highlights

Women aged 35-44 are the heaviest internet users among all age/gender groups. Indian blogging audience grew 48 per cent to close to 36 million; 26 per cent of the total blog traffic came from mobile and tablets. On an average, 217 minutes or over three-and-a-half hours are spent on Facebook every month by Indian users. Over 54 million Indians watched online videos on their PCs, a 27 per cent increase year on year. (Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

Mumbai: In a face-saving breakthrough for authorities, Railway Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a man who had allegedly attacked and robbed an American woman inside a sub-urban train in south Mumbai.  "Accused Rajkumar Tiwari was arrested in connection with the attack on Michelle Marks, a US national," railway police sources were quoted confirming the development to a news agency.  According to reports, Tiwari had slashed the victim on her neck and cheek when she refused to part with her I-Phone while travelling in a first-class ladies' compartment of a Borivali-bound local train at about 5 pm on August 18.    The accused had jumped out of the train as it slowed down at Charni Road railway station.    According to police, Marks was alone in the compartment. As it was a Sunday, the bogie was empty. The victim spotted the accused inside the train at Marine Lines station.    The victim, who resides at Goregaon along with her brother and two others, works with an NGO and has been in Mumbai since a year. On the day of the attack, she had gone to Colaba for a prayer meet.    The arrest comes at a time when police across Maharashtra have launched a massive drive to crack down on eve-teasers across the state in wake of gang-rape of 22-year photojournalist in Mumbai just days ago.

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has issued an order to hand over 78 acres of land to railway for Cherthala wagon factory, including 58.288 acres near Ilanji in Cherthala taluk and another land as sought by railway. Alappuzha district collector will have charge of future proceedings. The land will be handed over only after getting a written promise from the railway that they will start the factory.

इलाहाबाद (ब्यूरो)। उफनाई यमुना के कारण दिल्ली-हावड़ा रेल रूट किसी भी दिन बंद हो सकता है। यमुना के जलस्तर में लगातार हो रही बढ़ोतरी के कारण बाढ़ का पानी कभी भी पुराने पुल के ऊपर पहुंच सकता है। पुल पर ट्रेनों का संचालन बंद होने से इलाहाबाद-मुंबई रूट भी पूरी तरह प्रभावित हो जाएगा। इसके पहले 1978 में आई बाढ़ के कारण इस पर ट्रेनों का संचालन कुछ दिनों के लिए बंद किया गया था। फिलहाल रेलवे की इंजीनियरिंग विभाग की टीम लगातार मॉनीटरिंग कर रही है। एनसीआर के सीपीआरओ संदीप माथुर के मुताबिक जलस्तर बढ़ने पर आवश्यक कदम उठाए जाएंगे।

In the wake of the recent incident of 28 devotees being run over by a train in Khagaria district, the East Central Railway (ECR) has decided to launch an awareness drive to dissuade people from walking on the tracks.   The drive will be carried out in all the five ECR divisions, Atul Pathak, IG-cum Chief Safety Commissioner of Railway Protection Force (RPF) told reporters.    ECR comprises Danapur, Samastipur (under which Dhamara ghat station falls), Mughalsarai, Dhanbad and Sonepur divisions.    ECR Chief Public Relations Officer Amitabh Prabhakar said the drive would be speeded up to dissuade people from hopping from one platform to another by using the tracks or walking on the tracks.    Pathak said besides prosecution, counselling of the people violating the rules would be done as part of the drive.    28 'kawarias' (devotees of Lord Shiva) were mowed down by Saharsa-Patna Rajya Rani express on Dhamara Ghat station while they were walking on the tracks to visit Katyani temple on the last Monday of the month of 'Shrawan'.    Despite frequent drives, trespassing, which is an act of offence under section 147 of The Railways Act has been rampant in the zone accounting for almost 45 per cent people undertaking a Railway journey, Pathak said.    The Act has a provision to impose a penalty of upto Rs 500 or seven days imprisonment for trespassing, the RPF IG said.

A total of 1,415 persons were sent to jail on the charge of trespassing in areas falling under the ECR in 2011, Pathak said.    

The figure increased to 1,808 in 2012 and in the first seven months of 2013, 702 persons have so far been sent to jail, he said.    

ECR with its headquarters at Hajipur realised over Rs 1.34 crore as penalty from people walking on the tracks in between 2011 and July 2013, the RPF IG added.    

Pathak said that RPF personnel have been told in all the divisions to be vigilant against trespassers to avoid Dhamara Ghat-type incident.    

On the instructions of Minister of State for Railway Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury, who had visited the mishap site, public address system has been installed at Dhamara Ghat station to warn passengers against trespassing and for conveying other necessary information, Prabhakar said.   

Crossing over from one platform to another through the tracks instead of using the over bridge is a common sight in Patna junction and other Railway stations in Bihar resulting in accidents.

Chennai:  For passengers who arrive at Chennai Central station last week and tried to book a prepaid autorickshaw, the unavailability of the facility has caused great inconvenience.  However, there might be hope ahead as the Government Railway Police (GRP) has indicated that it might operate the facility once tariffs for autorickshaws are fixed.

The prepaid auto counter was closed nearly one-and-a-half months ago, owing to work on the Metro Rail project. The facility began in 2007 and catered to an average of 1,000 passengers per day. The facility was very popular with commuters looking for relatively inexpensive rides.

“My uncle had advised me to take a prepaid autorickshaw so that I would not have to pay a huge sum. But I finally had to take a regular auto anyway,” said Mr. Kishore. The prepaid autorickshaws charged Rs. 30 for two kilometres and Rs. 9 for every additional kilometre, said G. Arumugam, president of the prepaid autorickshaw drivers’ association.

Mr. Arumugam said that following the closure of a portion of the road for Metro Rail work, the traffic police prevented prepaid autorickshaws from waiting on the road.

“Around 50 vehicles are parked on the station premises but they charge the same rates as regular autorickshaws. We have requested railways officials and the traffic police to provide us with a separate counter from where operating the prepaid facility would be easy,” he said.

A GRP officer said they might soon begin operating the counter. “The counter used to be run by the police before it was handed over the autorickshaw drivers’ association. We will operate it again and provide tokens to passengers and streamline the system,” said the officer.

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has issued an order to hand over 78 acres of land to railway for Cherthala wagon factory, including 58.288 acres near Ilanji in Cherthala taluk and another land as sought by railway. Alappuzha district collector will have charge of future proceedings. The land will be handed over only after getting a written promise from the railway that they will start the factory.