Powerful earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills at least 77 in Ecuador; 600 injured

A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador, killing 77 people and injuring nearly 600, the authorities said on Sunday.

Vice President Jorge Glas said the quake hit at 6.58 p.m. on Saturday (11.58 GMT) near the northern coastal town of Muisne.

When he earlier put the death toll at 41, Glas warned that the toll would "unfortunately rise in the coming hours".

BBC reported widespread severe damage, with a bridge destroyed as far south as Guayaquil, about 300 km away from the capital Quito.

A state of emergency was declared in six provinces.

The earthquake, the country's worst in decades, shook buildings in Quito. There were a number of aftershocks, the biggest at 5.4.

President Rafael Correa cut short his trip to Italy to return home.

BBC quoted Glas as saying that at least 77 people had been killed and 588 injured.

The quake was centred just off the country's northwest coast at a shallow depth of 19 km, Xinhua news agency quoted the the US Geological Survey (USGS) as saying.

The USGS first put the quake at a magnitude of 7.4 and then raised it to 7.8. Ecuador's Institute of Geophysics put the magnitude at 6.5 and the depth at 10 km.

In Quito, the quake was felt for about 40 seconds, forcing people to flee to the streets in panic.

In the biggest port city of Guayaquil, a bridge collapsed on top of a car and the roof of a supermarket buckled, Xinhua reported.

In the coastal city of Manta, the airport was closed after the control tower suffered severe damages.

Residents in Manta said that many streets had cracked, power lines had snapped and telephone connections were down.

Reports say a big oil refinery had been temporarily shut as a precaution, BBC said.

Neighbouring Peru also issued a tsunami alert for its northern coastline.

The quake was felt in Colombia, where patients in a clinic in the city of Cali were evacuated from the building as a precaution.

Ecuador is located in a region with frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Maritime India Summit: To invest Rs 1 lakh crore to double port capacity, says PM

The Centre has firmed up a comprehensive plan to increase India's port capacity to 3,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2025 from the present level of 1,400 million tonnes. To meet this target, the government has envisaged an investment of Rs 1 trillion to meet this target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his inaugural speech at the maiden Maritime India Summit 2016 on Thursday.

The proposed plan includes development of five new ports in addition to the existing 12 major ports and the ongoing development at three new ports, the Prime Minister said. A slew of initiatives, including the Sagarmala project — which will allow leveraging of the 7,500-km long coastline — will help revive and restore India's position in the global maritime sector, he added.

Speaking about the initial efforts taken by the Centre, Modi said that major ports had added 165 million tonnes capacity with record addition each year in last two years. The traffic in major ports showed 4% growth in the same period despite global slowdown. Operating margins, which were on a decline, also saw an improvement. In the year ended March 2016, operating profit of 12 major ports increased by nearly Rs 6.7 billion, he said.

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Furthermore, he said that the Jawaharlal Nehru Port alone had posted a net profit of Rs 10 billion, helped by 12% increase in efficiency. This is just a beginning as the government wants to do more, he added. “We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation of ports,” Modi noted.

Modi said the Centre is engaging with the immediate and regional neighbours to promote shippingand maritime security.

Assuring assistance on all fronts, the Prime Minister invited investors to come to India with an open mind, “This is the right time to come to India and even better time to come via sea route. Do not miss it.”Read More.

Miles to go for Dalit entrepreneurs

On Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary on Tuesday, political parties across the spectrum tried to stake claim on his legacy. Since Independence, governments have introduced schemes to improve the social and economic conditions of Dalits. The current government at the Centre, too, has introduced affirmative action programmes such as Stand Up India, aiming to support entrepreneurship among Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and women.

One example of a successful Dalit entrepreneur is Santosh Kamble, 37, who supplies nylon and leather bags to companies in Mumbai, materials for which he sources from 100-odd small units in Dharavi. Kamble's business is thriving and he plans to open a plant in Bhiwandi.

ALSO READ: Ambedkar birth anniversary: Politicians compete to claim inheritance to his legacy

Kamble says government initiatives and an increasing awareness among corporate groups are slowly changing the environment for Dalit businesses like his. "Today, I can proudly say I have about 150 corporate clients," he told Business Standard.

His company, Bizcraft, clocked revenue of Rs 6 crore last year and is targeting Rs 20 crore, riding on the new Bhiwandi unit. Kamble is confident because of one such government initiative - a new public procurement policy which mandates that four per cent of the Rs 3 lakh crore procured by public sector enterprises annually be sourced from SC/ST enterprises. "This creates an assured market of Rs 12,000 crore for SC/ST businesses," he said.

However, examples like Kamble's are not common. Stand Up India is expected to benefit 125,000 SC/ST entrepreneurs over the next three years. These numbers, though, are pale in comparison to the Dalit population of 300 million, 65 per cent, or about 198.6 million, of whom are believed to be in the age group of 18-35, according to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Dicci).

P S Krishnan, former secretary in the Ministry of Welfare and currently advisor to Government of Telangana, says there has never been a "systematic study" of SC entrepreneurs. "The general impression is that SC entrepreneurship is growing, but it still is minuscule," he said.

Krishnan says SC entrepreneurs continue to face discrimination, particularly those who want get into the business of food. "Moreover, entrepreneurial quality is a result of a network of existing entrepreneurs, which Dalits lack. Hence, they need much more hand holding. In any case, a vast majority of SCs live in rural areas and are landless agricultural labourers. So, while the increase in Dalit entrepreneurship is welcome, it isn't a complete solution," he says.

Recently, Devesh Kapur, director, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, conducted a survey of the top 1,000 Dalit entrepreneurs in the country. Although the findings are yet to be made public, sources said all 1,000 entrepreneurs, products of the post-reform period, were together worth about Rs 15,000 crore. This is roughly the amount of capital raised by companies in a not-so-great year through initial public offerings, and is just a minuscule fraction of the Rs 96.75 lakh crore that the 1,300 NSE-listed companies are worth.

Even this presents an exaggerated view of the community's economic prospects. Journalist Chandrabhan Prasad, who has co-authored a book Defying the Odds with Kapur, said: "These entrepreneurs do not represent the larger Dalit reality. But the rise of Dalit enterprise is a new narrative that we must watch."

The survey found that most of these entrepreneurs are in the manufacturing sector, supplying parts to Tata Motors, Honda's and Bajaj's motorcycles. The Tata group companies and Pune-based Forge Marshall use services of over 100 welding companies owned by Dalits.

Milind Kamble, chairman of Dicci said, there would be about 8.7 million Dalit enterprises in the country. "From 1.5 million in 2001, the number has grown significantly," Kamble added.

Dicci's calculation was based on numbers given by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his previous Budget, where he said there were about 57.7 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, of which 62 per cent belonged to SC, ST and OBC entrepreneurs.

While anecdotal evidence often tends to paint a rosy picture, the share of SC/ST entrepreneurs hovers around 15 per cent, according to Kamble.

According to the third All India MSME Census in 2001-02, there were 1.5 million enterprises floated by SC and ST businessmen. This accounted for about 15 per cent of the 10.52 million enterprises that were operational at that time.

In the fourth census (2006-07), the number grew to 4.9 million, but their share fell to about 13.6 per cent of 36 million enterprises in the country. Between the third and fourth census, the number of ST businesses grew at a faster pace than SC entrepreneurs. The fifth census is currently being conducted.

At a broader level, the economic prospects of the community seem to be improving. A 2013 Columbia University study by Arvind Panagriya and Vishal More on 'Poverty by Social, Religious & Economic Groups in India and its Largest States 1993-94 to 2011-12' said, "The first and foremost point to make is that the level of the SC poverty in 2011-12 has shown a strong tendency to converge toward the poverty rate prevailing across all groups. At India-wide level, the rural poverty rate for the SC at 31.5 per cent in 2011-12 is now less than six percentage points away from the poverty rate of 25.4 per cent for all groups. The percentage point gap in 2004-05 was twice of this gap."

A LEGACY TO BE REMEMBERED

Rohith's family converts to Buddhism

Late Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's family on Thursday converted to Buddhism, nearly three months after his suicide led to massive protests. Rohith's mother Radhika and brother Naga Chaitanya Vemula were given 'deeksha' by Buddhist monks in Mumbai in the presence of Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar.

Modi visits Ambedkar's birthplace

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to B R Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow cantonment town of Madhya Pradesh.

UN starts a new tradition

For the first time, the United Nations celebrated the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, describing him as a "global icon" for marginalised people.

We got Telangana because of Ambedkar: KCR

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a 125-feet bronze statue of Ambedkar in Hyderabad.

Mayawati sounds bugle for 2017 UP polls

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday sounded the bugle for 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election and said any move to weaken the reservation system will not be tolerated.

Shift all IPL matches out of Maharashtra after Apr 30, Bombay HC tells BCCI

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered that all Indian Premier League (IPL) matches scheduled in Maharashtra after April 30 be shifted elsewhere in view of the severe drought in the state.

This gives the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 18 days to look for new venues for 13 matches in May, including the final in Mumbai on May 29.

The order came despite an assurance by the BCCI that IPL franchises of Mumbai and Pune had agreed to contribute Rs 5 crore to the chief minister’s drought relief fund.

The court said: “We agree that merely shifting of IPL matches out of the state will not be a solution but this can be a beginning to address the drought situation in Maharashtra. Several people are dying because of water scarcity in the state. This court cannot ignore the plight of such people.”

Sources close to both the Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants said the team promoters were now waiting to sit with the BCCI to chart the way forward.

“In 2014, when the IPL moved to Dubai for the first leg of the season, the BCCI had, after consulting the teams, agreed to partly compensate the added expenses on the teams for travelling and staying abroad. Both teams expect a similar resolution,” said an executive.

The loss of revenue for the teams will become clearer when new venues are decided. As a rule, if a team is unable to play at its home stadium for any reason, the ground that the match shifts to becomes the team’s home ground for that period.

For example, if Mumbai Indians’ matches are held at Eden Gardens, the Kolkata ground will be treated as Mumbai Indians’ home ground and the proceeds from the gate revenues will go to the Mumbai team, as they would have at the Wankhede Stadium.

“One of the main things that the teams would want to discuss with the BCCI is the new venues. There has to be some following of the Mumbai and Pune teams at the new venues,” said another executive close to the development.

The court order came on a public interest litigation filed by non-government organisation Loksatta Movement, which challenged the use of more than six million litres of water for ground-management, despite Maharashtra facing drought. It had wanted all the matches shifted out of the state.

The court also noted that several districts in Maharashtra were not even getting water for sanitation and other purposes, and the non-potable water being used by the stadiums to maintain pitches can be of use in such districts. “In such cases, one would have expected the BCCI and other respondents (Maharashtra Cricket Association and Bombay Cricket Association) to come forward on their own and shift the matches out of Maharashtra. However, unfortunately, nothing has been done. This court has now no other option than to direct the BCCI to transfer matches out of Maharashtra.”

All matches to be held from April 30 onwards in Maharashtra will have to be shifted to another state. We are giving the authorities 15 days to make all necessary arrangements.”

After April 30, 13 matches were scheduled to be held in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

BJP bets its all on Yeddyurappa for its re-entry in South India

Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, who faces charges of underhand dealings in the state’s biggest mining scam, will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next Assembly election in 2018.

The strongman of the majority Lingayat community is facing a trial in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)  court for receiving bribes from a private mining company.

The decision to make him the face of the Karnataka News and perhaps its chief minister candidate was taken by a party high command that is pledged to fighting corruption.

The decision follows pressure by the Lingayat community after Yeddyurappa edged himself out of a slew of cases on illegal denotification of government land. The cases were quashed by the Karnataka High Court on procedural grounds, which the Supreme Court upheld.

In 2011, Yeddyurappa had to step down as chief minister after his name figured in a Lok Ayukta report on a Rs 3,000 crore scam in the iron-ore rich Bellary district. Apart from Yeddyurappa, party colleagues Sriramulu, Janardhana Reddy, Anand Singh and Nagendra were indicted for shipping thousands of tonnes of iron ore to China.

Yeddyurappa, who is now a Lok Sabha member from Shivamogga, will on April 14 take over of the state unit’s reins at an event the BJP plans to use to project itself as a Dalit-friendly party.

On Saturday, BJP leaders thronged Yeddyurappa’s residence in Bengaluru, calling him the only popular face of the party who could lead it in elections two years from now.

The developments were watched warily by the Congress, which has been ruling the state since 2013. “It shows their hypocrisy in appointing a person charged with corruption,” said party spokesperson Dinesh Gundu Rao.

The Congress government has been facing flak over infighting and for not providing development. “In the last three years, there were irritants… Now that is over, we have two years to showcase our performance,” Rao said.

“Yeddyurappa has time and again proven he is inevitable for the BJP. The party’s  calculation is that only he can galvanise the state unit,” said Sandeep Shastri, political scientist and pro vice-chancellor at Jain University.
 

While some would give full marks to the BJP for starting early in the only state in the south where they stand a chance – having given up on Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – finally, it was a tainted leader that the "party with a difference" has to fall back on.

Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary J Jayalalithaa has changed several of the party's candidates from the list of candidates earlier announced on April 4, 2016, for the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections.

In a statement issued by Jayalalithaa, the party announced that N Murugumaran (to contest in Kattumanarkoil), S Pounraj (Poompuhar), B Satyanarayanan (T Nagar), S Semmalai (Mettur), O S Manian (Vedaranyam), S Kamaraj (Mannarkudi) and A Nanjil Murugesan (Nagercoil) will contest instead of the previously announced candidates in the respective constituency.

Earlier, she changed the candidate for Aruppukottai constituency, announcing former School Education Minister Vaigai Selvan as the new candidate. C R Saraswathi, who has been a spokersperson of the party, was announced as party candidate for Pallavaram constituency replacing C V Elangovan. She also announced Rajan Chellappa for Madurai North seat instead of MS Pandiyan.

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According to reports, she also changed three candidates in Puducherry, where the party is contesting in all the 30 seats. M Shankar (to contest in Thirubuvanai), K A U Asana (Karaikal South) and G Murugaian (Thirunallar) will be the official candidates instead of the people announced earlier.

AIADMK is contesting in 227 seats out of the total 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu Elections 2016 and 30 seats in Puducherry, and seven seats in Kerala, for the assembly elections scheduled to take place in May, 2016.

Virat Kohli-backed Chisel Fitness plans 100 centres by 2018

Chisel, the Virat Kohli-backed fitness start-up, is set to introduce technology-enabled workout routines, targeting young information technology workers, as it expands its network of fitness centres across India.

Targeting 100 centres across the country by 2018, the Bengaluru-based start-up is planning to launch its own fitness devices and will introduce ‘gamified’ fitness routines. While technology will play a big part in fitness, Chisel believes there’s no alternative to having a physical presence and giving users access to qualified trainers.

“Fitness is all about being physical. You cannot just use some watch to track your calories and not work out. It has to be a combination of technology and the environment of where you go that motivates you to work out. We are thinking of coming out with our own brand, which can sync with our programmes,” said Satya Sinha, co-founder of Chisel.

To grow its base of centres, Chisel is looking at a hybrid model of having its own centres along with signing up franchise partners. The firm isn’t just looking at tapping customers in metros, but also in tier-2 towns such as Guwahati and Indore in the coming months. For this, it has come up with four different levels of centres, varying in luxury and size.

The investment demanded by franchise partners is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3.5 crore, depending on the level they choose. Chisel charges Rs 25-35 lakh as annual franchise fee, while offering partners a business model that allows them to break even within 25-30 months.

A large part of that fee will go towards training and certifying trainers and staff in each of the centres under Chisel. “Hiring and training is our responsibility because we believe only a certified and experienced trainer will help members achieve their goals,” said Sinha.

Chisel has signed up 18 partners and opened three centres. The firm plans to open four more centres in April, one of which will be located in Manyata Tech Park, where Chisel will target young IT workers who are prone to several health and fitness issues because of their lifestyle.

The fitness sector in India is highly unorganised and there are several start-ups looking at utilising technology to bring order to the space. Some of them include GOQii, a marketplace for personal fitness trainers that monitors a user’s progress via a smartphone-enabled app; and Orobind, a fitness tech firm that was acquired by Housejoy, which provides users with a personal fitness trainer at home.

With an investment of Rs 90 crore in Chisel Fitness, Kohli's biggest competition will come from SportsFit, a chain of gyms backed by teammate Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Chisel will also compete with global brands such as Gold’s Gym, which functions in the premium fitness segment.

“There are a lot of international brands, but we want to introduce fitness concepts that are tailored for the Indian body type and mindset. We can’t completely copy what they do because the food we eat is different, the body type is different and we have conceptualised our brand around that,” added Sinha.

Bajaj Auto to ready a Royal Enfield rival

Royal Enfield's dominance in the middle-weight motorcycle category might soon have competition from Bajaj Auto.

According to Bajaj Auto, the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the country, the 350-600cc motorcycle market Royal Enfield operates in has enough room for more players to come in. When asked if Bajaj Auto would get into this space, Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said, "Definitely. Every mature segment becomes a two-horse race eventually in any given market. The entire market is monopolised today by one person.... there is room for a second person. We can create a brand for that space. I am sure everyone else is thinking about it. The success of Royal Enfield is not lost out on anyone."

Eicher Motors-owned Royal Enfield sold 600,000 units in FY16 growing at 52 per cent compared to FY15. This come, at a time, when the rest of the two-wheeler pack led by Hero MotoCorp struggled to beat FY15 sales owing to subdued demand from rural markets.

Robust demand has forced Royal Enfield to expand capacity six times from 100,000 units a year in 2012, even as the current waiting period on its models stretches to up to six months. The company is installing its third plant on the outskirts of Chennai, which will take its installed capacity to 900,000 a year by 2018.

"Typically, a lot of people buy the leader," said Bajaj, adding there are many takers for the competing brand as well. "Harley (Davidson) is about 400 bikes a month, but Royal Enfield has created a huge space for itself in the 350-500cc segment. I'm sure there are at least six manufacturers who are asking themselves 'what should we do about it'. There is chance, in my opinion, for only one."

Although it has a limited line-up, Royal Enfield is present in leisure, cruise, touring and sports segments under different well entrenched brands such as Classic, Thunderbird, Bullet and Continental GT. While Bajaj also has established brands like Pulsar (sports) and Avenger(cruise), a new brand might get created, considering the price position and product offering of Royal Enfield, whose model's average price is around Rs 1.5 lakh.

On whether brand Avenger would be capable of steering Bajaj Auto's entry into the segment, Bajaj said, "It could be. But, would a fellow buying a Royal Enfield 350-500 consider a brand like Avenger suitable when he sees lots of people on Avenger 150? I'm not sure. I would not say no, but I'm not fully convinced that's the best way. I'm not sure if an Avenger can impart the same charm as, say, a Royal Enfield."

However, getting into the segment will be a challenge for not just Bajaj Auto but everyone, given the brand legacy created by Eicher Motors managing director Siddhartha Lal. "The two-wheeler sector is about brand. It is not going to be easy for anyone to steal volumes from Enfield. We saw what happened to the Dream series of Honda and to the Discover series of Bajaj - both in the economy segment. Pulsar has been so strong in its segment that no competition has affected it," said a Mumbai-based analyst.

"It is inevitable that other people will enter the space. We're not the brand that claims to be everything for everybody. We are the only chaps in the middle-weight motorcycle (segment) in India. While we have done 50,000 bikes a month, none has done even 1,200. We have a totally different scale and cost structure and we have a very different brand positioning. We'll continue to maintain a very strong and leadership position in 250cc and above," said Lal. Riding high on the recent success of a differentiated product, V15, in the 150cc category, Bajaj feels it can compete effectively with Royal Enfield.

"The reality is that Eicher, led by Siddhartha Lal, has breathed new life into Royal Enfield, in product and marketing terms... There's only one way to compete with Enfield or with any other strong brand for that matter - develop a differentiated alternative that creates its own category by repositioning the incumbent," said Bajaj.