India News

By IANS, Guwahati : A security alert has been sounded in Assam fearing a possible backlash by militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The group is opposed to peace talks, especially in view of the outfit's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's decision to join the peace process. An Assam government spokesperson said army, police, and paramilitary troopers were deployed in strength in vulnerable areas, guarding vital installations like oil facilities, railway tracks and bridges, besides crowded marketplaces.

By IANS, Patna : Three siblings were burnt to death when their house caught fire in a village in Bihar's Vaishali district, police said Thursday. The incident took place at Karhatiya Paharpur village under Mahua police station in Vaishali, about 50 km from here. "The siblings - three brothers - were burnt to death after their house caught fire late Wednesday night," Deputy Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar Gupta said.

By IANS, New Delhi : The home ministry will form a working group with an industry lobby to explore how modern technology can be used to fight terrorism and other national security challenges. This was disclosed at a conference on "Science and Technology for Homeland Security" organised by the Federation of India Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here Thursday in collaboration with the home ministry.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : As Nepal's Natural Disaster Mitigation Committee began talks under the leadership of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda in the capital Thursday on how to combat the ravaging flood in south Nepal, near the border area, Nepali security forces began turning away dozens of Indians who had also become homeless due to the disaster.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Delhi Traffic Police has issued 114,365 tickets for various violations on the roads of the capital during a special drive Feb 1-13, officials said Saturday. "We have ticketed 20,855 people for improper parking and 19,443 for red light jumping. We have launched this drive so that people follow traffic rules and regulate themselves," a police officer said. "We have issued 325 tickets for drunken driving and 200 for jay walking," he added.

By KUNA, New Delhi : Notwithstanding the mindless terror attack on its mission in Kabul, India Monday announced a fresh development assistance of USD 450 million for Afghanistan and described the suicide strike as an attack on Indo-Afghan friendship. Describing the July 7 suicide attack on Indias Kabul embassy as an attack on Indo-Afghan friendship, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asserted that it would not prevent New Delhi from continuing its reconstruction programme in Afghanistan and declared a fresh assistance worth USD 450 million for it.

By IANS, Islamabad : Pakistan's response to the Mumbai terror dossier will be discussed Monday at a meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) is set to meet "to discuss how to proceed in the matter", the Nation reported Sunday. It said the probe report was to be presented in response to the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks, alleging the involvement of Pakistani terrorists.

New Delhi : Despite stepped up information security measures, businesses in India continue to be an attractive target for cybercriminals with as many as...

By IANS, Phagwara (Punjab) : Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Monday inaugurated a railway over-bridge in this industrial town of Punjab, eight months after it was formally thrown open for use. The bridge was being used by motorists and others since June last year when it was completed after a delay of nearly five years. It was opened for the public following a court order. However, no one could find time earlier to inaugurate it.

By IANS, Kolkata : McNally Bharat Engineering Company Limited (MBE)'s newly acquired German company has won orders totalling Rs.500 million in Oct-Dec period of the current fiscal (2009-10), a company release said here Friday. The orders would be executed through Humboldt Wedag Minerals India, the Indian subsidiary of the coal and mineral technology division of KHD Humboldt Wedag of Germany that McNally acquired in August 2009.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The Indian government Wednesday said it was not contemplating to bring the fabled Kohinoor diamond from Britain and the Peacock Throne from Iran. There have been several demands in the recent past for the return of the diamond, which was mined in the Deccan and is now part of the British crown jewels. It came up again when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited India last month. Putting an end to the speculation, Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy said India is not contemplating to bring both the items back home.

New Delhi : Announcing plans for the new financial year that began on Wednesday, state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) said its refineries have targeted...

By IANS, Lucknow : Students clashed with police and set vehicles on fire in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district after a private bus mowed down a college student Thursday, police said. Students of R.S.K. College went on rampage after the death of Indresh Kumar, who fell from a bus and came under its wheels. He died on the spot in the Phoolpur area in Azamgarh. Demanding that the bus driver should be handed over to them, the irate students set a state-run transport bus and a police jeep on fire and also targeted a number of other vehicles in Azamgarh, some 300 km from here.

By Sharat Pradhan, IANS, Lucknow : A young man-eater tiger that has killed four humans in a forested area in Uttar Pradesh is giving sleepless nights to villagers and wildlife officials. The repeated failure to trap or shoot down the two-year-old tiger that had strayed out of the thick forests of Pilibhit in the Himalayan terai belt two months ago has left state wildlife officials in this north Indian state totally crestfallen and frustrated.

New York : Specialised oral nutrition supplement can lower by as much as 50 percent the death rate in older malnourished patients with a...

New Delhi: A Delhi University (DU) professor was arrested here by a team of Maharashtra Police for his alleged involvement in Maoist activities, police...

By IANS New Delhi : Having agreed already to shell out more for the refit of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, India Wednesday said the assessment of the technical work required on the carrier is on track. "The assessment has been going on for quite a long time as it is an exhaustive inventory. But it is broadly on track," Defence Secretary Vijay Singh said here. Even though India has agreed to the cost escalation of Gorshkov - re-christened INS Vikramaditya - negotiations on the hike have not yet reached a conclusion.

By IANS,

By IANS New York : Indian American banker Vikram S. Pandit, who joined Citigroup seven months ago, appears to be emerging as the financial group's choice for a new chief executive over former Pakistan premier Shaukat Aziz, the New York Times has reported. As the group closes in on the final decision, the board appears to be leaning toward an insider, the Times said citing people briefed on the situation. And the inside candidate is Pandit, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker, they said.

By IANS, New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the central government to list the steps it had taken on a 2008 Law Commission report calling for suicide to be decriminalised.

By IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, Chandigarh : With over 500 personal guests, most of them from his home state, descending on this city, former Rajasthan chief minister Jagannath Pahadia was Monday sworn-in as the 15th governor of Haryana. Pahadia, the 77-year-old Gandhian, was administered the oath of office by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T.S. Thakur at a ceremony at the Haryana Raj Bhawan here. He took the oath in Hindi in the name of god.

By Puja Awasthi, Banda (Uttar Pradesh) : In Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, power still flows from the barrel of the gun, where - believe...

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The department of Telecommunications (DoT) Wednesday said it has replied to all the queries raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the issue of allocation of second generation (2G) spectrum in 2008. According to a draft prepared by CAG, the method of allocation of 2G spectrum in 2007 has caused a loss of over Rs.1 lakh crore to the government. The telecom ministry has denied any wrong doing.

By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS Davos : India will catch up with the West and take its place alongside "the best" in the world but it's not going to happen overnight, India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told an audience of young people at the World Economic Forum. "I see a shift but I don't think it's going to be a dramatic shift or over a short time. China and India have some way to go before we catch up, but we will catch up and we will take our place," Chidambaram said at panel discussion televised live by BBC Television in this Swiss town.

By IANS, Thekkady (Kerala) : Indian Navy divers Friday evening ended their search in Kerala's Thekkady lake for the day as four victims remained missing following the boat capsize that killed 41 tourists. The tragedy, meanwhile, led to acrimony between the state government and the defence ministry over an alleged Rs.45 lakh payment demanded to transport the bodies in a military plane.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The Indian government was seriously considering "an institutionalised mechanism" to prevent racist attacks on Indians abroad, Vayalar Ravi said Friday after taking charge of the overseas Indian affairs ministry. After taking charge of the ministry again with a simple function at Akbar Bhavan here, Ravi said his immediate task was to protect the Indians in Australia as a number of Indian students have faced allegedly racial attacks there this week.

By NNN-PTI New Delhi : In a departure from the past, Country's major Ordnance factories have been allowed to have advanced technology tie-ups with foreign companies. The tie-ups have been allowed by the Government to enable these factories to roll out advanced light weight weapons, heavier artillery guns and air defence guns, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha (Lower House) today. He said Ordnance factories have been allowed to have tie-ups with US Company Flyer Defense for production of advanced rapid rate firing air defence artillery guns.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By IANS, Kuala Lumpur : Many ethnic Indian voters who abandoned the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) during the March general election are now returning to the party, claims its long-time president S. Samy Vellu. "Hundreds of people" have started thronging the party's offices, knowing that "only the MIC could help them", Vellu told reporters Sunday after opening a workshop on what he calls "re-branding" of the party.

By Rohit Vaid, IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, Jammu : Politicians, businessmen and intellectuals in Jammu and Kashmir say the Mumbai attack should not be allowed to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan and both the countries have to fight the scourge of terrorism together. "The Mumbai attack in which innocent lives have been lost is most condemnable. These are reprehensible acts of terror against humanity," Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, patron of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former chief minister, told IANS on telephone from Srinagar.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : A 16-year-old school boy, who created history by becoming the youngest Indian to climb Mt. Everest, met Indian Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh and expressed his desire to join the force, an army spokesperson said Friday. Arjun Vajpai, a doughty schoolboy from Noida, met Singh Thursday, the spokesperson said. "Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh felicitated Arjun Vajpai, a young boy from Noida who scaled Mt. Everest recently," the spokesperson said.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy Thursday said that the Telangana issue is not hampering the investments into the state.

Washington : With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "providing a new momentum", the US has suggested four areas where India and the US can...

New Delhi: Delhi University's decision to scrap a controversial four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) was Saturday approved by the varsity's statutory bodies. "The resolution for rolling...

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The broadband subscriber count in the country is likely to rise to 275 million by 2015 from the current nine million, says a report. The growth in subscriber base will take place because submarine cable capacity is expected to grow and supply of capacities is likely to increase significantly with the adoption of wireless broadband (BWA), it says.

By IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked Right to Information (RTI) activists to mobilise the movement for the selection of the chief information commissioner (CIC). The high court declined to give directions to the government to change the procedure for appointment of the CIC, stating that it was not in its jurisdiction to lay down criteria in this regard.

By IANS, New Delhi : Orissa Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik has said he would support only a non-Bharatiya Janata Party or non-Congress government at the centre and was ready to consider NCP chief Sharad Pawar as well as any Left leader as the next prime minister. In an interview on CNN-IBN's "Devil's Advocate" programme, Patnaik said that he would look into "with a great level of possibility" at the candidature of Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar for the top job.

By IANS, Ghaziabad : Two people were arrested for possessing crackers and other explosive material in a large quantity in a densely populated locality here, a police official said Sunday. Deepak Ratan, Ghaziabad's senior superintendent of police, told mediapersons that late Saturday night in Loni a police team found two people manufacturing crackers from explosive material stored in a huge quantity.

By IANS, Mumbai: Child star Darsheel Safary's journey on the fifth season of dance reality show "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa" came to an end as he was voted out of the show Saturday night.

By IANS,

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

New Delhi : The Supreme Court Wednesday sought a report from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on the environmental impact of the...

By Dr kouser Fathima, The release of data about Indian population based on religion has shattered many preconceived notions. The fear among the majority...

By IANS, New Delh: Mauritius should not be singled out by India in its attempt to curb tax avoidance as the African nation's image as a financial haven is ill-placed, according to its visiting Vice Prime Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen. "Mauritius is definitely not a tax haven," Sithanen, who holds the portfolios of finance and economic empowerment, told a business roundtable to forge trade and economic ties with India.

By IANS, New Delhi: Underworld gangster Abu Salem Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking to upturn the lower court's rejection of Delhi Police's plea to drop charges against him under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) in a 2002 extortion case. In his petition through his counsel Arvind Shukla, Salem contended that he can only be charged under those sections that are in the extradition order.

By IANS, New Delhi : Managing editor R. Sukumar is to be the new editor of The Mint, the business newspaper of the Hindustan Times group. He succeeds Raju Narisetti, who is stepping down. Narisetti launched the paper in February 2007 after quitting as editor of the Wall Street Journal's European edition. According to the Mint, he will remain an advisory editorial director.

By IANS, New Delhi : After a spell of winter showers, the weatherman now expects the fog to return to the capital after the next couple of days. "There will be mainly clear skies in the next few days and mist in the morning is expected. There is less likelihood of rain in the next two days and after that fog may set in," an official at the Safdarjung Meteorological office said here. Delhiites experienced a misty morning with cold winds Tuesday. General visibility hovered at 9.00 a.m. around 800 metres.

By IANS, Gandhinagar: The Gujarat High Court Tuesday prohibited the registrar of Saurashtra University (SU) from functioning in the post as he was removed by the chancellor in February.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : A peace rally was held Sunday in Orissa's riot hit Kandhamal district where communal violence in the past six weeks left at least 36 people dead and thousands, mostly Christians, homeless. People, including women, marched on the streets of Phulbani town, the district headquarter of Kandhamal, some 200 km from here, shouting slogans and holding placards and banners seeking peace in the region. The march was organised by the opposition Congress party.

Warsaw, Sep 28(IANS) The Indian Embassy and the Indian Association in Poland are making elaborate preparations to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti here on Oct 2. Speaking to IANS, India's newly appointed ambassador to Poland C.M. Bhandari said, "I have asked people from the Polish Foreign Ministry to join the Indian community in the celebrations, and the response has been very positive." The Indian Association will mark the day with special prayers at the local Gurudwara, recalling Gandhiji's teachings of non-violence.

Patna : At least 95 people, including children, were taken ill after eating 'prasad' - food offered to deities in temples - in Bihar...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : The US has placed India on its second worst category of human trafficking watch list for the fifth year in a row for allegedly failing to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat the problem. "India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation," an annual US State Department report released Wednesday said, placing New Delhi on the Tier-2 Watch List.

By IANS, New Delhi : Two youths were arrested Sunday for raping two Delhi University (DU) students here, police said. The attackers were friends of the girls.

By IANS, Bhopal : Health services were affected in three medical colleges of Madhya Pradesh Friday as junior doctors struck work demanding reduction in the mandatory rural service period to one year and a hike in emoluments. "The junior doctors of Bhopal, Gwalior and Rewa Medical colleges pressing for their various demands went on an indefinite strike from Friday morning," Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (MPJDA) president K.K. Prajapati told IANS.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Islamabad has stayed indefinitely the execution of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner on death row in Pakistan, his lawyer told an Indian news channel Friday. "The death sentence has been postponed till further orders," Sarabjit's lawyer in Pakistan, Rana Abdul Hamid, told private television channel CNN-IBN. He added that the instructions were issued by the Pakistani interior ministry. Answering a question on whether his client's sentence may be commuted, Hamid added, "We may think on this line. We may presume that it will be converted into life sentence".

By IANS, New Delhi : Even as investors in India worry over the markets crash and depleted value of their portfolio, Minister of State of Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal Tuesday said barely two percent of Indians invest in stocks and that losses or gains from the markets were purely notional. "What we are witnessing today in the Indian markets is an indirect effect of the global financial situation," the minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house.

By IANS, Kolkata : The Kolkata police initiated an inquiry Wednesday into the bizarre incident of a newborn being found alive 10 hours after it was pronounced dead by doctors at a private hospital. The premature baby boy, born around 1 a.m. Tuesday, was being treated at another private hospital. "The infant is stable, but still not out of danger. Nothing can be said for certain about such premature babies. But, yes, it is improving," a spokesperson of the Calcutta Medical Research Institute, where the baby was kept in an incubator, told IANS Wednesday.

New Delhi, Oct 6, IRNA, President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas is arriving here Monday night on a state visit to India Mahmoud will be accompanied by the foreign minister, Dr. Riyad Al-Maliki and other senior officials. During his visit, President Abbas will meet President Mrs. Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed.

New Delhi : The central government Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it will issue an advisory prohibiting government employees from accessing social...

By IANS,

New Delhi : A visibly upset Prime Minister Narendra Modi left the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as opposition members created a din demanding the...

By IANS, New Delhi : Adivasis from across India Tuesday demanded immediate implementation of forest rights to ameliorate the living conditions of tribal communities in the country.

By IANS, New Delhi : Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday reiterated that the government does not envisage using the army or the air force to tackle Maoists and urged business and industry captains to partner in the development of the country's hinterland. "There cannot be army of air force action against the Maoists. It is simply not our policy," Chidambaram said while addressing an annual national conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. The home minister ruled out even concerted police action against Maoists.

New Delhi: Three Delhi policemen were Tuesday sent to police lines for assaulting four people arrested for their alleged involvement in a clash between...

By IANS, Agartala : Security forces in Tripura Sunday recovered materials used for making explosives, besides incriminating documents, officials said. Based on specific inputs, police recovered materials used for making bombs, mobile phone accessories, recharged mobile phone coupons, map of Agartala, a diagram of bomb making method and notebooks containing bombing plans from a house at Abhoynagar, on the outskirts of the city, said west Tripura district police chief K.V. Sreejesh.

By IANS, Patna : Bihar has rolled back the hike in fees for filing petitions in courts, an official said Thursday. This move was welcomed by about 80,000 lawyers, including those of the Patna High Court and district courts, who early this year protested against the government's move of last year to hike the fees. The lawyers said the hike would have affected the common man, particularly the poor seeking justice.

By IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Apart from 12 non-stop train services between major cities, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee has introduced as many as 57 new trains in her rail budget for 2009-10. They are: 1. Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad-Mumbai Superfast (bi-weekly). 2. Sriganganagar-Delhi-Nanded Superfast (weekly) 3. New Jalpaiguri-Sealdah Superfast (tri-weekly) 4. Bangalore-Hubli-Solapur Superfast (tri-weekly) 5. Howrah-Bangalore Superfast (weekly) 6. Pune-Daund-Solapur Superfast (daily)

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

By IANS, Ranchi : Five Maoist rebels were arrested from two districts of Jharkhand Saturday, police said. According to police, three guerrillas, including a woman, belonging to the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC) were arrested from Mangra village under Barwadih police station of Latehar district, around 140 km from Ranchi. A rifle, live cartridges and Maoist literature were recovered from the arrested rebels.

By Jivraj Burman, IANS, Mumbai : For 65-year-old Anilbhai Bhatt, who spent hours in his childhood playing in the courtyard of the Taj hotel, the sight of flames leaping out of the heritage structure and the gutted rooms after the gunbattle with terrorists was over Saturday, made him feel as if he had consigned his own childhood to flames. Bhatt is not alone in his feelings of sadness at the state of one of the city's most famous and photographed buildings.

By IANS, New Delhi : India will work with the UN for protecting and empowering women migrants from this country, an official said Friday. This will be done under a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). "This MoU was signed to work together on programmes and projects for better protection and development of women migrants from India," MOIA joint secretary and CEO of the Indian Council of Overseas Employment (ICOE) G. Gurucharan told IANS.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking that the hearing on the beef ban in Jammu and Kashmir be heard...

By IANS, New Delhi : After a few spells of cooling rain in parts of north India, the summer temperature began to rise, making people reach out for their caps and umbrellas to avoid the hot sun. Maharashtra was hard hit by the heat, with Nagpur recording a scorching maximum of 44 degrees Celsius. Bhopal was another hot city Tuesday, with the mercury touching 41.4 degrees Celsius and no trace of any rainfall. Meanwhile, the met office said that the annual monsoon is expected to hit south-western India in a couple of days.

Agartala/Kohima/Itanagar : Tourism could flourish in the northeastern states due to the Buddhist sites in the region, Nagaland, Assam and Tripura Governor Padmanabha...

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : President Pranab Mukherjee has said Indian public sector companies are "interested in opportunities in oil and natural gas in Canada"...

By IANS, New Delhi : Orissa has been advised to take remedial measures to address agrarian distress, Minster of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas said Friday. The minister told Rudra Narayan Pany in the Rajya Sabha that the Orissa government stated that 50 alleged suicides by those engaged in farming activities had been reported in the state's media. But he quoted the Orissa government as claiming that none of the suicides could be attributed to agrarian reasons.

By IANS, New Delhi : India's RTI chief has asked the defence ministry for the enquiry report on the basis of which a naval officer was sacked and jailed for espionage and who has now sought the grounds for his incarceration. "The applicant (Vijender Rana) had asked for the board enquiry report and board enquiry proceedings. I heard what he had to say," Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah told IANS.

New Delhi : The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) spent Rs.16,964 lakh during 2013-14 for conservation of monuments, parliament was informed Wednesday. "Adequate funds have...

By IANS,

By IANS,

New Delhi : The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed several adjournments as AIADMK members created a ruckus to demand action against former finance minister...

New Delhi : Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will launch the electronic toll collection system across the country Oct 27, an...

By IANS, Ranchi : A Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator and his brother own undeclared assets worth more than Rs.10 crore (Rs.100 million), an official of the Income Tax (IT) department said Saturday. According to the official, JMM legislator from Giridih district Munna Lal owns undeclared assets worth Rs.10.20 crore in his name and in the names of his relatives.

By IANS, Chandigarh :Academic activity was completely paralysed in colleges and universities across Punjab and Chandigarh Wednesday following a mass casual leave protest by teachers in the region. The Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (PFUCTO) served a 10-day ultimatum to the Punjab government to notify the revised pay-scales for college and university teachers.

By IANS, Patna : A businessman was robbed and shot dead by unidentified assailants in Bihar's capital Patna, police said Tuesday. Radheyshyam Agarawal, who owns a wholesale medicine business, was shot dead late Monday at Govind Mitra Road when he was returning home. According to police, the criminals snatched a bag full of money from Agarawal after shooting him and fled. The incident has sent shockwaves among businessmen and traders here.

By Sanu George,IANS, Kochi : Not many know that private hospitals here offer liver transplants that are almost 50 percent cheaper than anywhere else in India and six times cheaper than in the West. Despite a shortage of surgeons in this field, liver transplant surgery here could be the next big thing in medical tourism, thanks to the cost edge, say doctors. Liver transplantation takes place in two private institutes in Kerala - Amrita Hospital and Lake Shore Hospital - and both are located in this city.

By IANS, Mumbai/New Delhi: Rahul Mahajan's showy wedding on reality television, watched by millions across the country and abroad, seems headed for a split with second wife Dimpy Ganguly alleging that her husband, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, had punched, kicked and dragged her by the hair. Dimpy married Rahul - who gained national notoriety after his father's death because of his brushes with the law - on the Imagine TV reality show "Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega" in March this year amid much hoopla and media attention.

Kolkata : India and Pakistan need to narrow down the list of their sensitive tradable items and work towards improving non-trade barriers to boost...

By IANS, Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh is targeting the third place in Information Technology exports in the country, a state government official said Wednesday. K. Ratna Prabha, principal secretary, IT, said the state, though started late in IT exports, has reached the fourth position. "Next year the state will reach third position," she told a programme organised to announce that Hyderabad will host eINDIA 2010, India's largest event on Information and Communication Technology. Karnataka tops in the IT exports in the country followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: The union home ministry Thursday sought ownership details and some other information from a Chinese firm to process its plea for security clearance to export telecom equipments to India. "The ownership details and other additional information of the Chinese firm Zhing Zhong Tyelecom Equipment ZTE was sought by Home Secretary G.K. Pillai during his meeting with a ZTE delegate," said a senior home ministry official.

By IANS, Kolkata: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) Tuesday said the high tax structure in India is keeping away many potential customers from its flagship product PlayStation.

By IANS, Chandigarh : What the Salman Khan-starrer "Ek Tha Tiger" could not achieve, Punjabi movie "Ajj De Ranjhe" has accomplished -- it will be released in Pakistan.

By IANS, New Delhi : Deciphering complex tariff plans and hidden accrued charges applied by telcos may be a thing of the past if the guidelines issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Wednesday are implemented by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Based on TRAI's consultation paper titled 'Issues Arising out of Plethora of Tariff Offers in Access Service Provision' which was released in January and followed up by open house discussions, the watchdog issued the guidelines in order to amend the Telecom Tariff Order (TTO) of 1999.

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court, hearing arguments on the Ram Setu and a shipping canal project, Tuesday wondered if religious beliefs should be allowed to impede modernisation and development of the country. Its observation came as lawyers argued before it that the dredging of the Ram Setu to develop a shorter navigational sea route around the Indian peninsula would go against religious beliefs, which enjoy constitutional protection and cannot be allowed to be disturbed.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Technology-based solutions provider and agri-product major Monsanto has set up a residential learning centre for child labourers in Andhra Pradesh. Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto company, has set up the Monsanto Fund Learning Centre near Nandyal town in Kunrool district, the company announced here Thursday. It is part of its commitment to eliminate child labour in the state.

By IANS, Jamnagar (Gujarat) : An accidental explosion at the Reliance refinery here killed two engineers, the company said Thursday, a day after the incident. The explosion occurred Wednesday while a pipeline was being tested at the hydrogen plant of the newly commissioned refinery at Moti Khavdi. Around 2.30 a.m. two bodies were taken to the Jamnagar civil hospital, 28 km away, for autopsy. They were identified as those of engineers Akshay Bhanderi of Maharashtra and Nitin Singh of Panipat, Haryana.

By IANS, New Delhi : Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Saturday became a votary of rapid electrification of villages in India but for a different reason - to curb population growth by ensuring access to television. "Electricity in our villages can help control population growth. Electricity will lead to television in houses, which will lead to population control. When there is no light, people get engaged in the process of population growth," he said while addressing a function on World Population Day.

By IANS, Thrissur (Kerala) : Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) is close to signing a partnership agreement with a major commercial bank in Qatar, a senior SIB official said Friday. Talks on the agreement are fast progressing and the deal would be announced shortly, the official told IANS on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the matter. "Once we are through with the deal, which is expected to happen any time now, banking would be a pleasurable exercise for our customers. It would be cooperation agreement between the two banks," he added.

By IANS, Bhopal : Thousands of tribals, including a large number of women and children, held a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district Tuesday alleging inaction by the central and state governments on drought and high food prices. The tribals, who were protesting under the aegis of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, said the rich and the corporate sector were being pampered with tax subsidies while they were being left to die of hunger.

By IANS,

By IANS, Kolkata : West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Saturday submitted before a district court a chargesheet in the case of medical entrance examination question paper of the state's joint entrance examination being leaked and sold. "We have submitted the chargesheet before the Ghatal sub-divisional court in West Midnapore district. Three people, who were arrested in connection with the case, have been mentioned as accused in the chargesheet," Inspector General (Special) of CID Niraj Nayan Pandey told IANS.

By IANS, New Delhi : After stationing the Sukhoi Su-30MIK war jets in Tezpur in Assam, the Indian Air Force will post another squadron of its frontline jets at the Chabua air base under its military policy to boost security along the border with China in the northeast. On June 15, four Su-30MKIs will land in Tezpur for a symbolic induction, making the airbase the third in the country to house the combat jets. "It will be a symbolic induction as of now. Currently it's not clear which of the Sukhoi bases - Pune or Bareilly - the aircraft belong to," a senior IAF official told IANS.

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By IANS, Ghaziabad : Public anger and protest have been building up against a steep 50 percent hike in house tax in Ghaziabad. The Uttar Pradesh government in a gazette notification Thursday also raised the tax on commercial properties in the city by 200 percent. Residents and local councillors cutting across party lines Friday said they would not allow municipal employees to collect the taxes from their respective wards.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net Bhopal: To highlight the agrarian crisis and the unabated farmers' suicides a "Candlelight Vigil" is being organised by Peace Mumbai and Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), tomorrow (2nd October) at Marine Drive in Mumbai on the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, The "Candlelight Vigil" is part of an international event being organized by Association for India's Development,(AID), a USA-based NGO, in more than 200 cities across the world.

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By IANS, New Delhi : Activists Wednesday lauded the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha but said that it was just one of the many hurdles it will face before women get true representation in governance. Manorama Bawa, patron of the All India Women's Conference (AIWC), said she anxiously watched the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday where the bill was passed by an overwhelming majority after two days of pandemonium.

By IANS Kathmandu : India's Eastern Railway is upgrading links between frontier town Jogbani and Kolkata with improved services expected from March, a report said. Jogbani, located in Arariya district of Bihar, is the nearest Indian railhead for Nepal. Currently, it is connected to Katihar town in Bihar through metre gauge tracks.

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By IANS, New Delhi : External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will Friday leave for a two-day visit to Japan, the world's second largest economy, for the third annual strategic dialogue between the two countries. This will be Krishna's first bilateral visit outside South Asia since he assumed office. Krishna will hold delegation-level talks with his counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone on a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including the intensification of economic and commercial ties and the global financial crisis.

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By IANS, Shillong: The paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Sunday expressed concern over poor road connectivity along the India-China border, with several of its forward posts accessible only on foot. "There is no road connectivity to many of our forward posts. The men have to trek to reach to these posts," ITBP Director General Ranjit Kumar Bhatia told reporters. The ITBP guards a vast stretch of the 1,148 km Himalayan border that India shares with China in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

By Sanjay Suri President Zail Singh could not get through to then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi when he needed most to, when thousands upon thousands...

By IANS Kozhikode : Dissatisfied with a vigilance inquiry into the controversial land purchase by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Congress party Saturday demanded either a judicial or a CBI probe. "We reiterate that only a judicial or a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe will reveal the truth into the mysterious role of ISRO in this land scam," state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.

By IANS, New Delhi: The union cabinet Friday approved a bill to accord legal backup to the project providing unique identification numbers for the residents of the country.

By IANS, Pune : Six people were killed early Monday when their car was hit by a truck on National Highway No.9 near Osmanabad town in Maharashtra, police said. Six employees of a private company were travelling in a car (AP 16 1001) from Mumbai to Hyderabad when a truck rammed into their vehicle at about 4.30 a.m. at Andur village in Tuljapur taluka near Osmanabad. Police are awaiting the post mortem examination reports to identify the dead.

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