Amit Shah bets on UP for Modi govt's return in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP on its way to secure a comfortable majority in Parliament. Its ally, Apna Dal, won two seats in the politically crucial state.

With the 2019 Lok Sabha election less than a year away, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah bet on Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the party repeating its 2014 performance and returning to power at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting at Chandauli district in eastern UP, on Sunday, Shah recalled that in run up to the 2014 poll, he had said the path to victory in Lok Sabha poll would traverse through UP.

“I am repeating the same today for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll that UP would play a key role in forming the next government at the Centre and re-electing the Narendra Modi government,” he added.

In 2014, the BJP had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, ally Apna Dal won two. Shah said he was confident the tally would rise to 74.

On the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) combine, Shah said even if the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress joined hands with them, the BJP would emerge victorious.

He said the Modi government had given over Rs 8 trillion to UP, compared to Rs 3.3 trillion by the Manmohan Singh government during 2004-2014, even though the state had friendly regimes of the SP or BSP.

“The BJP government has given projects like the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor and Purvanchal Expressway to the state for faster socio-economic development,” he said. The Expressway would transform the state's economic landscape in future, he said.

Shah was in Chandauli district to attend a programme to rename Mughalsarai railway junction after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay. The function was attended by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other seniors.

Amit Shah mounted attack on Gandhi over National Register of Citizens (NRC) controversy in Assam, saying he had repeatedly asked the Congress president to clarify his stand but there was no response. 

He flayed opposition parties for allegedly siding with illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who, according to the BJP chief, would be identified and evicted. In his address, Goyal said under the Modi regime, the railways had been allocating development projects worth Rs 55 billion every year to UP against Rs 10-11 billion during the previous Congress-led government. “The Dedicated Freight Corridor which is being developed would touch most of the regions in UP and contribute to economic development,” he said.

“UP is the first state in the country to facilitate Direct Benefit Transfer of about Rs 1 trillion, against the earlier regime that was marked with anarchy, crime, riots, caste-based politics and nepotism,” he said.

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Live Cricket Score India vs England 1st Test Day 3: India need early wickets to pin down England

Indian bowlers will look to get wickets early in the day, especially of England captain Joe Root's wicket, to keep the hosts under pressure. At the end of third day's play, England were 22 runs ahead.

India Vs England : On Day 3 of the first Test match, Virat Kohli and company need to take early wickets to keep the momentum in their favour which they had in the final session of Day 2. With the scorecard reading 148/6 after the departure of Hardik Pandya during the second session on Day 2, the situation looked extremely bleak for the Indians. 

The prospect of conceding a lead in excess of 100 looked likely and the visitors desperately needed a miracle to even minimise the damage that had been done. And the miracle came in the form of Virat Kohli century who added 92 runs for last 2 wickets, scoring 90% of the runs. To add salt to England miseries, Ashwin dismissed Alastair Cook to end the day with England at 9-1, 22 runs ahead of India.

What England need to do on Day 3?

England went to stumps on Day 2 at a score of 9/1, with Ravichandran Ashwin rattling Alastair Cook's off-stump off the last delivery of the day. The day, however, belongs to Virat Kohli, who fought against the odds to bring up his maiden century in England while almost single-handedly rescuing India from dire straits to help his side post a respectable total. 

With Cook disappointing yet again in the dying minutes of the day, England will have to count once again on Joe Root playing the anchor's role and building partnerships around him. More importantly, the home team will need their middle order to show more character in the second innings after the collapse in the first if they are to post a score in excess of 300, one that might just turn out to be a match-winning one for them.

How Virat Kohli escaped the ghost of 2014?

When Kohli last visited England in 2014, he scored just 134 runs in 10 innings and on Day 2 he scored 149 in one innings to show his class and somewhat he proved that he is world’s best batsmen in present time. During his 149-run knock, Kohli did struggle early on in the innings while facing the bowling of James Anderson and Sam Curran and was even dropped in the slip cordon by Dawid Malan while batting on 21. 

However, he did not let the bowlers get to his head and took on them with aplomb as he patiently scored a century. He kept losing wickets at the other end as none of the other batsmen managed to cross the 30-run mark. Towards the end of the innings, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav played second fiddle and stood around at the crease for a long time, despite scoring just 5 and 1 respectively. To put things in perspective, 92 runs came off the last two wickets and Ishant and Umesh just scored 6 of those. Kohli managed to keep strike for the majority of the deliveries and hit the boundaries whenever he got a chance.

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Twitter users unable to automatically post tweets to Facebook: Here's why

Twitter's support team tweeted on Thursday after users reported they were not able to post publish tweets on Facebook.

With Facebook cutting off access to its API platform for hundreds of thousands of apps, Twitter users are no longer able to tweet and retweet automatically on their connected Facebook accounts.

Facebook has deprecated its Publish actions permissions from its API -- a feature that allowed apps to publish posts on the social media platform as the logged-in user.

Ime Archibong, Vice President of Product Partnerships at Facebook, said all apps using the Facebook Platform APIs would need to go through a more comprehensive review to better protect people's Facebook information.

The deadline was August 1 to submit for review for all existing apps.

"As a result, we are cutting off API access for hundreds of thousands of inactive apps that have not submitted for our app review process," said Archibong.

Twitter's support team tweeted on Thursday after users reported they were not able to post publish tweets on Facebook.

"We've learned that Tweets and Retweets will no longer automatically post to connected Facebook accounts due to a recent Facebook update," said Twitter Support.

"Don't worry, you have other ways to share a Tweet," it added.

"According to Facebook, anyone wanting to have Twitter content automatically post to Facebook has the option to use Facebook's Share dialogs for web, iOS and Android," said marketingland.com.

"You have the option to share via Direct Message with your followers, or through an SMS or email to your contacts from your phone's address book," said Twitter Support page.

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Three seasons on, 'Naagin' continues to rule the viewership charts

The show's popularity among the urban audiences, and more specifically, in the affluent audience segments, makes it a lucrative option for advertisers looking to advertise on GEC's during the weekends.

Colors' costume drama Naagin, currently in its third season, boasts consistent audience in urban markets, taking the sting out of the myth that the show's viewership is rural-skewed.

According to data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC), 66 per cent of the show's viewership comes from urban India. For season one, the contribution of urban India was 65 per cent, and in season two, it was 64 per cent.

One of the major reasons for the urban skew would be because Naagin is aired on Colors, a paid channel, and hence is more widely distributed in urban India. Free-to-air (FTA) channels have better and wider reach in rural areas since they are available on DD Freedish.

That's not all. In terms of NCCS (new consumer classification system), it is the affluent segments, NCCS A and B, that contribute 51 per cent of the show's viewership. NCCS is a system of categorizing households according to socio-economic status based on criteria such as education and goods owned. NCCS A and B are the groups advertisers usually target. Add to this the fact that 46 per cent of the viewership on the show comes from male audiences. This, however, is below the average viewership of males on general entertainment channels (GECs), which is 48 per cent of the total eyeballs the genre attracts.

"The success of Naagin in the urban and NCCS A and B markets is a positive for Colors. Since the paid GECs anyway only look at urban data, a show doing well in that market means more leverage with advertisers. Having the affluent audiences hooked and a healthy male skew means that advertisers have a good vehicle on Colors during the weekend prime time slot," a broadcasting executive says.

The show's viewership ebbed and flowed over the three seasons. The first season had a viewership of 17.6 million impressions in the Hindi speaking market (HSM). The figure dropped to 11.9 million impressions in the second season. And now, the third season has bounced back with a viewership of 15 million impressions, so far.

Experts believe that adopting a seasonal format has actually helped the show hold its own in viewership. Unlike other soaps/dramas on GECs, Naagin has successfully adopted the format of the finite episode.

"Having a break between seasons allows for crisper storytelling. It also allows the show to end on a cliff-hanger, baiting the audiences to return next season. It has been done successfully in the west and is a norm there," the industry expert says.

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20 Skin Care Tips for Summers from Dermatologist, Sunscreens for Summer

One should use a mild scrub twice a week, says dermatologist Sachin Dhawan, along with several other skin care tips during summers.

Different seasons require different tactics to maintain a healthy skin, especially in a tropical country like India. The rainy season with high moisture and sticky heat can leave your skin prone to bacteria. Therefore, it is a must to know the right kind of care for your skin type.

Today, we have skin care products not just for hand, but nails as well; not just for the face, but for eyes, nose, lip and eyebrow as well. In such a fast-growing industry, it can be excruciating to keep track of what’s new, what’s old and what to even trust.

You must have read thousands of tips from an equal number of portals. Should you believe in the wonders they promise? Maybe. But how about taking skin care tips from an award-winning dermatologist.

Business Standard asked for skin care tips from Sachin Dhawan, MD Dermatology, Skin n Smiles. Here’s what he has to say for maintaining a healthy, rejuvenating skin:

1. Which SPF sunscreen to use during summer? And why is using an SPF so important?

During summers, one should use sunscreens that are SPF 30 and above. Using an SPF is important to protect the skin from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is not just limited to sun exposure. Smartphone screen, computer screen, LED lights also emit UV radiations, therefore, we should protect our skin by using a good dermatologically tested SPF.

2. How many time should one clean his/her face?

Twice a day at least, one in the morning and another before going to bed. It should be more frequent if you are out in dust/pollution or if you are working out/sweating more on the face.

3. How to keep skin hydrated during the summer?

Drink at least three to four litres of water, and add fresh juices, coconut water and citrus fruits to your everyday diet. Also, use an oil-free moisturiser

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Google Maps not only about navigating: Here's how it's innovating for India

The two-wheeler mode in Google maps comes to India first as 70% of all the vehicles registered in the country are two-wheelers.

Google is bringing in India-specific features on Google Maps to address unique challenges and opportunities, a senior company official said.

"Google Maps is not just about navigating from point A to B. We have been building for India, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities, with the sole aim of making Google maps more comprehensive, accurate and reliable," Google Maps for India, Program Manager, Anal Ghosh said.

Ghosh talked about innovating features for India specifically.

The two-wheeler mode in Google maps comes to India first as 70 per cent of all the vehicles registered in the country are two wheelers, he added.

"Two-wheeler mode in maps shows trip routes that use shortcuts not accessible to cars, buses and trucks. It also provides customized traffic and arrival time estimations," he said.

Google Maps' transit feature provides details on trains, bus and metro routes. It shows schedules for roughly 12,000 Indian railways trains, apart from updated public transport information for bus and metro routes.

"We are working closely with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. We have been working with them to add public toilets (on google maps) across different cities in the country," Ghosh said.

The company has added public toilets on google maps in partnership with the government, the company said in a statement.

"We have launched real time buses in two cities--Kolkata and Surat. We are working to see how we can extend it to other cities as well," he added.

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Ind vs Eng 1st Test, day 2: Can Kohli overcome Anderson scare at Edgbaston?

Indian batsmen would look to take advantage of the pitch which looked like a typical sub-continent wicket as the wicket which doesn't have bounce and starting turning from Day 1.

India Vs England : On the Day 2 of first Test match, India took 10 balls to take the last wicket. Now the onus will be on Indian batsmen to put a spirited batting performance to get an upper hand at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham today. Mohammed Shami took the last wicket as he beautifully set up Sam Curran, an inswinger followed by a delivery shaped away which drew Curran into poking away from his body and a healthy outside edge, easily taken by the Dinesh Karthik. After a sub-par first two session on Day 1 India bounced back brilliantly after a spirited fielding by Virat Kohli to remove Joe Root in the final session picking 6 wickets. Ashwin’s bowling was the highlight of Day 1 as he picked 4 wickets and he will look to get his 5th scalp on day 2. On the other hand, Indian batsmen would look to take advantage of the pitch which looked like a typical sub-continent wicket as the wicket which doesn’t have bounce and starting turning from Day 1.

How Virat Kohli’s inspired fielding effort reduce England to 285/9 from 216/3

At 216/3 England were cruising and it seems they will get past 400- runs marks as Joe Root was looking set to get a big with Jonny Bairstow at the other ens. But a brilliant piece of fielding from Kohli saw the England skipper getting run-out for 80. Root tried to steal a second runoff Ravichandran Ashwin but Kohli ran quickly, picked up the ball and threw it in one swift motion to knock down the stumps with a direct hit. Jonny Bairstow also followed his captain as he chopped on Umesh Yadav delivery onto the wicket and England were not able to recover from the two quick blow after the tea. Ashwin kept things tight and get the two crucial wickets of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Read Day 1 session by session report here.

Will India miss Cheteshwar Pujara at Number 3?

Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor form in recent past prompted Virat Kohli to exclude him from the playing 11. But the player-- Shikhar Dhawan—who was preferred over him is also not in the best of his form as he get a pair in the practice game against Essex and also have a very dismal record overseas, averaging only 24. However, Pujara form is also a concern as he didn’t score a half century during the first class summer. He has managed only 172 runs in six matches at an average of 14.33 for Yorkshire. He scored a mere 35 against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, and in the practice game at Chelmsford, he managed 1 and 23. In 2014, too, Pujara had has a poor series with a score of 222 in five matches at 22.20. But given Dhawan’s weakness against the moving ball, Pujara would have been much better choice.

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