In the past five years, almost Rs. 10,000 crore has been spent on rural sanitation with not much to show for results, says a report of the Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG). It was tabled in the parliament on Tuesday. It says the Total Sanitation Campaign or Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan has alarming discrepancies in fund allocation and its misuse and also a clear failure in the implementation of the sanitation programme.According to the report, almost 60.69% Indians defecate in public - the highest in the world. At a time where India is being touted as one of the fastest growing economies, we are still struggling with basic sanitation. Major reasons for the failure of sanitation programme can be attributed to the lack of intent on the implementation level, effective monitoring and periodic evaluation of the programme. There was a lack of date integrity submitted by the ministries concerned forcing the auditors to deal with and interpret four different sets of data with conflicting numbers.

PM Modi tweets birthday wishes to Sonia Gandhi
Prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took to Twitter to greet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on her birthday."On her birthday, greetings to Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi. May Almighty bless her with long life & good health. (sic)," PM Modi tweeted.On Tuesday, Sonia Gandhi-led Congress had accused Modi's NDA government of indulging into 'vendetta politics'. The Congress made the 'vendetta' remark in connection with National Herald case.

CBI arrests principal secretary of Delhi govt in bribery case
Arvind Kejriwal's anti-corruption crusade has instilled confidence in public they are taking on officials. On tuesday the CBI arrested a principal secretary in the Delhi government for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 2.2 lakh from the owner of a firm for clearing pending bills. Sanjay Pratap Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of SC, ST and minorities, and his personal assistant were arrested after the complainant approached chief minister Kejriwal's office. They said the businessman, whose firm supplies peons, security guards and other staff for sundry works to various agencies, had accused Singh, an IAS officer of 1984 batch, of demanding Rs 2.2 lakh as bribe.
CBI sleuths laid a trap to catch Singh and his personal assistant.

Asia stocks down as crumbling oil prices take toll on energy shares
Asian stock markets risked slipping to two-month lows on Wednesday as crumbling oil prices took a toll on energy and resource shares, with cooling demand from China putting more pressure on resources-reliant economies.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat but stood barely above its November trough, a break of which would take it to its lowest level since early October. Japan's Nikkei shed 0.6% to hit a three-week low.Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 lost 0.7%, with the S&P energy sector falling 1.5% in its fifth straight day of declines. The sector has fallen 10.4% since Dec.1.The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' decision on Friday not to cut its production target has rattled commodity traders, sparking concerns global oil producers will pump even more crude into an already oversupplied market. That has shaken up oil prices, which is wobbling near seven-year lows hit on Tuesday.With oil prices hovering below breakeven levels for many producers, investors are trying to cut exposures to the sector, hitting countries that depend on revenues from oil and other resources.

Delhi govt to move court against Bassi
The Delhi government is preparing to move the court against Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on the basis of the findings of a probe conducted against him. The vigilance department probe related to the procurement of a flat in a cooperative society in north-west Delhi’s Rohini.The Department will now file a petition in the court along with its probe report. It shall seek registration of an FIR against Mr. Bassi under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) for allegedly acquiring a flat in Lucky Home Cooperative society in an allegedly illegal manner in 1989.

Delhi's 'odd even rule' for cars to be date-based
The Aam Aadmi Party government on Tuesday announced that the odd-even rule for cars starting January 1 will be based on odd and even days of the month. Delhi has nearly 90 lakh registered vehicles, almost a third of them are cars.For instance, cars bearing number plates ending in odd numbers would be allowed on cars on odd dates like January 1, 3 and 5, while even-numbered cars can ply on even dates like January 2, 4 and 6, Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai said.These restrictions would be in place from 8am to 8pm. There would be no restrictions on Sundays.The government  would assess the arrangement on January 15, after collecting air samples from 200 spots. After this further decisions would be taken.

Sikh Gurudwara in Los Angeles vandalised with anti-ISIS graffiti
A Gurdwara has been vandalized in Los Angeles suburbs with hateful graffiti addressed towards ISIS, Sikh community leaders have said, fearing this "hate crime" is a repercussion of the California shooting."We are concerned about the safety and security of our community members. We are of the opinion that this is a hate crime and that this is a direct result of a possible backlash from the San Bernardino killings," said Inderjot Singh, president of Sikh Gurdwara in Buena Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. The incident, which occurred early on Sunday morning is being investigated by local law enforcement agencies.

Drunk Russian diplomat rams into biker, punches Delhi traffic cop
A diplomat from the Russian embassy, who was severely intoxicated, rammed into a police barricade in Moti Bagh here and also rear-ended a motorbike, injuring two people.The incident happened late last night around 1:30 am where the diplomat after hitting the bike was asked to stop by the police. However, instead of stopping, he slammed his car into the barricade.The diplomat refused to come out of the car and allegedly punched and abused a constable on duty.