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Washington: The US admi-nistration on Friday tempora-rily suspended the expeditedpremium processing of H-1Bvisas as part of its squeeze onwhat it said was an overload-ed guest worker programme.The suspension came even asDelhi pressed, without succe-ss, for a fair and rational appr-oach on the issue from a tradeand business perspective.
By paying an additional$1,225 premium, companiescan have an H-1B applicati-on processed within 15 days,whereas a standard processtakes three to six months.
The decision was anno-unced hours after top Indi-an mandarins—foreign sec-retary S Jaishankar and co-mmerce secretary Rita Teo-tia—had urged the US to vi-ew the H-1B issue as a tradeand services matter, not animmigration one. “If theUS’s intention is to bringback American companiesto the US and attract moreforeign investment, it is im-portant that America rema-ins competitive. So, therewould actually be (a) growi-ng need for this partnersh-ip,” Jaishankar said.
US snubsIndia, stalls
priority H-1B visas
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O F I N D I A
Lyon (8/50) Devours IndiaTeam skittled out for 189,Rahul (90) top scorer P 23
Chief election commissi-oner Nasim Zaidi has
told TOI that the Centre didnot inform the poll panel ab-out its decision to advancethe budget, and it would’vebeen better had the EC beenkept in the loop. P15
‘Govt didn’t takenod for budget’
About 73,000 studentswho had been failed in
exams conducted by Mumb-ai University from 2014-16have cleared them after opt-ing for revaluation. P2
Revaluationboon for pupils
Mumbai: In a strategic movewhich may initially look like aclimbdown but will have majorrepercussions on the delicatepolitical relationship betweenthe Shiv Sena and the BJP, chiefminister Devendra Fadnavisdeclared on Saturday the BJPwould not contest the March 8mayoral elections to the BMCbut support Sena mayoral can-didate Vishwanath Mahadesh-war. The BJP, which got just twoseats less than the Sena’s tally of84 in the recently-held civic elec-
tions, will also not contest forthe posts of deputy mayor, stan-ding committee chairman orchairmanship of any otherBMC panel but support Senacandidates for these posts.
At the same time, the BJPwill not sit in the opposition, hesaid, adding that it will supportthe Sena on proposals that are inMumbai’s interests but will act
as a custodian of transparency.In the same breath, the CM
said in order to pursue its agen-da of transparency and corrup-tion-free civic governance, thegovernment would appoint a th-ree-member panel of Sharad Ka-le, Ramanath Jha and GautamChatterjee, all retired IAS offi-cers, to suggest guidelines to ma-ke the functioning of all munici-
pal corporations in the state, in-cluding BMC, more transpare-nt. While this committee will su-bmit its report in three months,Fadnavis said, the governmentwill appoint an Up-Lokayukta,with jurisdiction limited to Mu-mbai, so that a close watch can bekept on the BMC’s working.
Offers Issue-BasedSupport, Shuns Top
BMC Panel Posts
BJP steps aside in mayor polls,clears path for Sena candidate
BJP could agree with, or object to, proposals moved by Sena
The govt may play a more
aggressive role in the policies and contracts passed by BMC
The Shiv Sena, in its own political interests, could ensure less corruption and better delivery of servicesFadnavis govt may be stable for
now, with Sena getting top civic postsFuture could be decided by what
3-member panel on transparency recommends and how state acts on its report
WHAT BJP’SSTAND MEANS
It will not be in opposition but play a key role in all committees. There is proportional represent-ation in the committees; so, for instance, in the standing committee which has 27 members, Sena and BJP will have 10 members each
Mumbai: Forty-eight hours aft-er the HSC question paper forMarathi was leaked, two morepapers for Saturday’s exams we-re similarly out on an instantmessaging app. TOIgot a copy ofthe 80-mark Secretarial Practicepaper 13 minutes before it wasdistributed in exam halls acrossthe state. Within minutes, at 11.01am, copies of the Physics paperwent viral on the app as well.
Students are allowed to enterexam centres till 11.30am. On Satu-rday, more than 1.3 lakh studentssat for the Secretarial Practice ex-
am in Mumbai division and morethan 2.6 lakh across Maharashtra.In case of the 70-mark Physics pa-per, 94,623 appeared in Mumbaiwhile more than 4.5 lakh took theexam across the state. Like theMarathi paper, these two werealso received by a teacher of atutorial, indicating the leakwas not contained among a fewstudents. At the same time, thepaper was shared on a group ofHSC aspirants.
The Political Science pap-er, held in the afternoon, wasattempted by 28,546 studentsin the Mumbai division.
2 days after Marathi, HSC SecyPractice & Physics papers leaked
Hemali Chhapia & Vinamrata Borwankar TNN
Mumbai: The state governm-ent has finally unveiled the Ci-ty Taxi Scheme, which aims tostreamline rules for app-bas-ed cabs in the state. It will, forthe first time, bring all aggre-gator cabs like Ola and Uberunder government regulationand they will now have to obta-in a fresh licence to operate inMaharashtra.
The government also pla-ns to control the fares, altho-ugh the fare structure is yet tobe recommended by a four-member panel. Commuter gr-
oups have been opposing any“drastic control” on fares asaggregator cabs have been thebest alternative to the black-and-yellow taxis, which arenotorious for refusals, badlybehaved drivers and dirty ca-bs. The fares offered by the air-conditioned Ola and Uber arethe lowest among all cab servi-ces in Mumbai.
The new scheme will nowallow the black-and-yellow ta-xis to join the app-based sche-me and operate as aggrega-tors.
State brings app-basedtaxis under its control
Bhavika Jain & Somit Sen TNN
Nalasopara builder Ali As-gar Bhanpurwala (37)
was stabbed to death by his wi-fe’s former husband in his15th-floor Jogeshwari flat onSaturday, reports S AhmedAli. His wife Bismillah was al-so stabbed by Umar Shaikhand has suffered grievous in-juries. Shaikh had come in aburqa and was wearing bangl-es and lipstick. Reportedly up-set over their divorce and Bis-millah leaving their two kidswith him, Shaikh wanted tokill her too, but developed coldfeet on seeing her nieces. Inc-identally, Bhanpurwala’s firstwife and kids were unaware ofhis 2nd marriage. P 2
Builder killedby 2nd wife’sex-husband
Premium for 3rd party ve-hicle insurance could ri-
se by nearly 50% as the Cent-re has agreed to do away wi-th the cap on 3rd party liabil-ity of insurance firms. P 10
3rd party motorcover cost to soar
The Enforcement Direct-orate is likely to book
former CBI director A P Sin-gh under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act andattach his properties overhis alleged involvement wi-th controversial meat expo-rter Moin Qureshi. An EDofficial said the agency wasin the process of registeri-ng a case based on “concreteevidence” it had against Si-ngh, including pecuniarybenefits. P 11
ED may book CBIex-boss A P Singh
for laundering
Mumbai: Bollywood produc-er-director Karan Johar hasbecome the single parent of tw-ins—a girl and a boy—born th-rough surrogacy last month.
Johar wasn’t in the city toconfirm the news, but BMC of-ficials said the births were reg-istered with its public healthdepartment. “The birth regist-rations were done on Friday,”BMC executive health officerDr Padmaja Keskar said. TOIconfirmed this from the centr-al government website for bir-th and death registrations.
The twins were born at Ma-srani Hospital, Lalubhai Com-pound, Andheri (W), on Febru-ary 7. However, Johar hasn’tyet informed the BMC aboutthe names of his children. A
high-ranking BMC official sta-ted the children have been reg-istered in their birth record asa “baby girl” and “baby boy”.Incidentally, Johar’s close frie-nd and actor Shah Rukh Kh-an’s third baby, AbRam, too,was born in the same hospitalto a surrogate mother.
Civic officials stated thatthe birth registration details li-st Johar as the children’s fath-er, but there is no mention oftheir mother’s name.
Karan Joharfathers twins,via surrogacy
�To play backer & critic, P 5
�Issue of origin, P 4 �Dodges surge pricing, P 2
�Wanted child, P 4
�May last 6 mnths, P 16
TOI got the Secretarial Practicepaper on WhatsApp at 10.47am, 13 mins before it was distributed
Boy & girl born in the same city hospital as SRK’s 2nd son, AbRam
Now, Indian bizmangunned down in USDays after the killing of an
Indian engineer in anapparent hate crime, anIndian-origin businessman,Harnish Patel (43), was shotoutside his home in SouthCarolina on Thursday. P 16
MUMBAI, SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 * PAGES 44PRICE ` 7.00 ALONG WITH SUNDAY MUMBAI MIRROR OR RAVIVAR MAHARASHTRA TIMES
GST UpdateGovt for 5% levyon small eateries P 11
Banarasi BabusHoly city hosts MP Modiand Akhilesh & Rahul P 15