International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde hailed India as a bright spot in the otherwise gloom-ridden global economy on Monday, saying the recovery from the 2008-2009 financial crisis was still fragile.

Speaking at the start of a two-day visit, Lagarde said India was bucking the trend of declining growth seen in other major economies and was on course “to become a key engine for global growth”.

With the global economy expected to grow at only 3.5% this fiscal year and even Chinese growth decelerating, Lagarde predicted India would soon be the fastest growing major economy.

“More than six years after the global financial crisis, the recovery remains too slow, too brittle, and too lopsided,” Lagarde said in a speech in New Delhi ahead of talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi later Monday.

“We have pared down our forecasts of global growth since last October, despite the boost from cheaper oil and stronger US growth.

“And while the global economy is expected to grow by 3.5% this year, and 3.7% next year, this is still below what could have been expected after such a crisis,” she told an audience of business leaders.

“In this cloudy global horizon, India is a bright spot,” she added.

Since Modi came to power last May, inflation has fallen to around five percent while revised gross domestic product (GDP) data has put growth for the current financial year at 7.4%, meaning Asia’s third largest economy is now outpacing China.

A fall in global crude prices has also been a major boon to a country that is one of the world’s biggest oil importers.

Lagarde welcomed the government’s first full budget last month for striking “a good growth-equity balance” and praised Modi’s drive to make India a major manufacturing hub and an easier place to do business.

But she also stressed that the government needed to do more to allow “an open and competitive business environment to flourish”, saying up to $1 trillion in infrastructure investment was required over the medium-term.

While Modi has pledged to streamline bureaucracy, Lagarde said that too many projects were still being stalled by red tape.

“Much needs to be done in easing land acquisition, expediting clearances, and establishing a stable regulatory regime so that the private sector can invest,” she said.

“These issues are on the radar of policymakers, which is promising, they must be on the action list.”

Lagarde is paying a two-day visit to India, her first since Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ousted the centre-left Congress party last May after a marathon general election.

As well as her talks with top officials and the keynote speech in Delhi, she will travel to the financial capital Mumbai for other meetings on Tuesday.

New Delhi- The Gorkhland movement has been going on in Jantar Mantar for the past few days. The Gorkhalis of the Darjeeling District of West Bengal have been demanding a different state.
There seems to be a renewed vigour in the GJM camp, following the arrival of party president Bimal Gurung. Yesterday those currently sitting on a dharna intensified their protest, and tried to march towards the Home Minister’s Office.

However, a strong contingent of Delhi Police stopped them on the way and prevented them from moving forward,

Binay Tamang, assistant secretary of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, said that Delhi police had stopped the party’s rally on Sunday. “There was intense agitation today. We had brought out a rally from Jantar Mantar but Delhi police stopped the procession from moving forward,” Tamang said over the phone from Delhi.

The Morcha has been holding a dharna at Jantar Mantar since March 9 to demand the creation of Gorkhaland. The dharna will end on March 17. Bimal Gurung reached Delhi on Saturday to participate in the dharna.

Trio, aged 17-19, in custody at London police station after Turkish officials stop their plan to join Isis following tip-off from British officers

Three male British teenagers have been arrested after being stopped in the Turkish city of Istanbul while attempting to reach Syria to join Isis, according to police.

The Metropolitan police confirmed on Sunday that Turkish officials stopped two 17-year-old boys from north-west London after being tipped off by British officers. They were with a 19-year-old man and all three were on their way to Syria.

The three were brought back to the UK late on Saturday night and were arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks.

The two younger teens were reported missing on Friday. Officers from the Met’s SO15 counter-terrorism unit alerted the Turkish authorities, who stopped the trio and prevented them from travelling into Syria. The families of the three teenagers have been told.

The Met said: “On Friday, 13 March officers from the CTC were made aware that two 17-year-old boys from north-west London had gone missing and were believed to be travelling to Syria. Inquiries revealed that they had travelled with a third male aged 19.

“Officers alerted the Turkish authorities who were able to intercept all three males, preventing travel to Syria.

“On Saturday, 14 March the three males returned to the UK and at approx 23.10 [GMT] were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

Police said on Sunday night that the trio had been bailed to return to a central London police station pending further enquiries.

Turkish authorities have been under increased pressure to intercept British nationals travelling through Turkey in order to join Isis fighters in Syria, after three British teenage girls fled their families in east London to join the terrorist organisation and were pictured apparently crossing the border.

Related: Man suspected of helping UK schoolgirls join Isis is Syrian, says Turkey

Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase – friends from the Bethnal Green academy in east London – flew to Turkey on 17 February and subsequently crossed the border into Syria. Two months previously, one of their school friends, Sharmeena Begum, also 15, had run away from her home in Bethnal Green to travel to an Isis-controlled part of Syria. It is understood that, in early December 2014, Sharmeena flew out of the UK from Gatwick airport to Istanbul, and then travelled by road across Turkey to its border with Syria.

Her friends were reported missing by their families to police, who said they immediately contacted Turkish authorities – a statement that was questioned by Ankara. The trio were later pictured on CCTV waiting for 18 hours at a bus station and then apparently crossing the border.

The families of Kadiza, Shamima and Amira issued a statement on Sunday appealing for them to immediately come home.

The families said they felt the girls’ loss “more acutely” on Mother’s Day and criticised police, the girls’ school and their local authority for not passing on information they say could have stopped them leaving.

In a joint statement, the families said: “With respect to the disappearance of our children we have been disappointed by the handling of this matter by the school, Met police and the local authority, all of whom we feel failed to act appropriately and pass on vital information to us or indeed between each other.

“Had we been made aware of circumstances sooner, we ourselves could have taken measures to stop the girls from leaving the UK.”

Under pressure from the US, Turkey has increased border security, trying to prevent smuggling and tightening rules for Syrian refugees trying to enter the country. According to one diplomatic source in Ankara, the Turkish police have stepped up efforts to stop foreign nationals from crossing the border into Syria.

So far Turkey has banned 12,519 people suspected of wanting to go to Syria from entering the country and 1,154 more were deported, the Turkish foreign
minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said on Friday.

Other British nationals have travelled to Syria to fight against Isis.

It also emerged on Friday that a London teenager, who was allegedly trying to join a Kurdish military women’s unit fighting Isis in Syria, had been charged with a terrorist offence.

Silhan Ozcelik, who is of Kurdish descent, was arrested earlier this year at Stansted airport. She is believed to be the first British citizen to be arrested for trying to join the campaign against the jihadis who control eastern Syria and western Iraq.

Ozcelik, from Holloway, north London, faces one charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism under the 2006 Terrorism Act.

Earlier this month a former British Royal Marine, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, died fighting for Kurdish YPG forces in northern Syria.

A Delhi court has upheld the conviction of a 34-year-old man for driving his car in an inebriated state, saying a deterrent message must be sent to society.

Additional Sessions Judge Atul Kumar Garg, however, reduced the three-day imprisonment awarded to the man by the trial court to sentence till the rising of the court after noting his age, dependent family members and that he was a first time offender.

Haryana resident Gaurav Jindal had approached the sessions court challenging the trial court’s order awarding him three days imprisonment for the offence of drunken driving.

“Considering the fact that the appellant had consumed liquor while driving the vehicle i.E. Car, a deterrent message must have been sent to the society.

“However, considering the age of the appellant as well as his dependent family members, coupled with the fact that the appellant (Jindal) is a first time offender, sentence passed by the trial court is reduced to the sentence of till rising of the court,” the sessions court said.

According to the prosecution, Jindal was found driving his car under the influence of liquor and in breath analyser test, the alcohol level in his body was found three times more than the permissible limit.

Jindal, in his appeal, claimed that the magistrate had not given any opportunity to defend himself during the trial of the case and also alleged that there were discrepancies in police probe.

He alleged that the trial court had passed the order without considering the fact that he was a poor person and only bread earner of his family.

GUWAHATI: Two hardcore NDFB(S) militants were apprehended today during a joint operation by Army and police in Assam’s Kokrajhar district.

Acting on specific information, a joint team of the Red Horns Division of the Army and police nabbed the duo, allegedly involved in the December 23 attack on adivasis and snatching weapons from the ecological battalion in October last, from Kokrajhar town this morning, a defence spokesman said here.

The Myanmar-trained militants have been identified as Sumkwr Mushahary alias Sugum and Swmkwr Basumatary and both were suspected to have fled to Bengaluru after the December 23 attack and had returned to the district recently.
The security forces recovered two 7.65 mm pistols, four live rounds of ammunition and some combat materials including documents, sources said.

Opposition parties in Parliament on Monday vociferously protested the “snooping” on Rahul Gandhi, with the government dismissing their contention saying they were making a “mountain out of what is not even a molehill”, leading the Congress to walk out of Rajya Sabha.

The government maintained in both the Houses that Delhi Police personnel had recently visited Mr. Gandhi’s residence to collect information on him as part of a transparent security profiling that was used to profile 526 other VIPs, including former Prime Ministers and Sonia Gandhi since UPA rule.

In the Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad who said Mr. Gandhi had been a SPG protectee since his father Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister and it was “beyond comprehension” why the police was only now collecting such information on him like his shoe size, colour of hair, habits, his associates, friends and aides.

His senior party colleague Anand Sharma accused government of tapping phones of political leaders, judges and others through imported devices and demanded an inquiry monitored by the Supreme Court into the snooping issue.

The Upper House also saw Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong), Naresh Agarwal and Ramgopal Yadav (both SP) and K C Tyagi (JD-U) raising the issue of “snooping and spying” on the government’s political opponents.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the NDA government was pursuing the Gujarat model of governance by snooping on political opponents.

“This has never happened in democracy,” Mr. Kharge said and asked the government to tell police officials to read ‘Who’s Who’ instead of seeking simple information from the persons concerned.

Responding to the charges, Leader of Rajya Sabha and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in both Houses the police has been collecting such information since 1987 on VIPs living in Lutyens Delhi through a proforma as part of a transparent security profiling.

Security needs and profiling should be left to security experts and “we should not attempt to become one”, he said, adding “the issue raised is making mountain of what is not even a molehill.”

The proforma, which was revised in 1999, has been used to profile former prime ministers H D Dewa Gowda, I.K. Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The same was also used to profile Congress President Sonia Gandhi in October 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, he said.