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Strike closes banks

         New Delhi: Around ten lakh Indian bank employees went on a one-day strike on Tuesday demanding a revision in wages. Employees of public sector undertakings (PSUs), foreign and private banks participated in the strike. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not join the strike. Bank workers would go on another two-day strike in September if the wage issue was not sorted out soon. Wage agreements are negotiated between unions and the Indian Banks Association (IBA). The last agreement expired in October 2002. Bank employees also staged a sit in outside various banks in national capital New Delhi.

Truckers' strike enters fourth day, coal industry badly hit

         Chandahsi (UP): The nation-wide truckers' strike has stalled movement of goods causing huge losses to coal traders and labourers at the wholesale market in Uttar Pradesh. The strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), the country's largest truck union, to protest against a new service tax, entered its fourth day on Tuesday. Nearly three million vehicles are staying off the roads. Hundreds of godowns lay fully stocked at the Chandhasi coal mart, the biggest in Asia, near the northern city of Varanasi. The market employs over 50,000 daily wage labourers who earn their living by loading and unloading thousands of trucks that carry coal every day. The men, who barely make 200-300 rupees a day for eight hours of back breaking work, have completely lost income and say with their meagre savings dwindling, they cannot sustain much longer.

Security beefed up in Hubli for Uma's surrender: Dharam Singh (Go To Top)

         Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh said on Tuesday that security had been beefed in Hubli where former MP chief minister Uma Bharti is likely to surrender before a court on Wednesday. "Tomorrow Uma Bharti will be entering Hubli. I had discussion with my police officers about what will be the course of action when she comes. So many things...I have decided. It is left to her because non-bailable warrant has been issued, what she will tell when she meets," said Singh. When asked if Bharti would not be arrested if she surrenders, Singh said: "Yes...yes". On Tuesday she left Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal by train and is scheduled to reach Hubli Wednesday. Bharti has been accused of leading Hindu fanatics in an attempt to hoist the Indian national flag at a disputed Muslim prayer ground in defiance of police orders. A lower court in Hubli had issued arrest warrants against Uma in a case of rioting ten years ago. The incident sparked violence and six people were killed when police fired to disperse clashing mobs. Bharti is the main accused in the case. Bharti had resigned on Monday, less than 10 months after she led the BJP to victory in the state polls.

BJP MPs trade charges over corruption, disrupt LS (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The BJP lawmakers on Tuesday freely traded corruption charges in parliament bringing down both houses. A day after MP chief minister Uma Bharti quit following warrants against her by a court, the Opposition lawmakers mounted pressure on the coalition government to drop "tainted" ministers. A court in Hubli town issued the warrants against Bharti in a case of rioting in 1994. She is charged with defying prohibitory orders to hoist national flag at an Idgah thereby provoking clashes in which ten people died in police firing. Besides BJP, its ally Shiv Sena also disrupted the Upper House demanding an apology from Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer for denigrating freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, a Hindu nationalist leader. "We will continue to take up the issue of tainted ministers in the parliament. Then the Uma Bharti issue and Veer Savarkar issue are very serious issues," BJP spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra later said. On the other hand, he treasury benches demanded an investigation into a newspaper report alleging swindling of millions of rupees by BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu during his term as a minister in the previous government. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav launched a scathing attack on his detractors. "They are fascists and have always cheated the country. They always make noise about the tainted issue but forget that during elections, every candidate gives a detail of charges against him to the election commission. There is a law in the country which says that a person cannot hold office if he is convicted. I think they have no other work," Yadav told reporters.

EC announces poll dates for Maharashtra and Arunachal (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra will be held on October 7 and October 13, respectively, Chief Election Commissioner T.S.Krishnamurthy announced here on Tuesday. Along with this, bye-elections to four Lok Sabha seats and 41 assembly seats in 14 states will also be held, he added. He said that counting of votes in Arunachal Pradesh would be held on October 10 and in Maharashtra on October 16.

Manmohan Singh offers 'chadar' at Ajmer Sharif (Go To Top)

          Ajmer: A chadar on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was offered today at Ajmer Sharif on the occasion of annual Urs of Khawaja Moinuddeen Chisti. Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Prithvi Raj Chauhan offered the chadar this morning.

Heavy rains lash Delhi and MP (Go To Top)

          New Delhi/Bhopal: Heavy rains lashed parts of the Indian capital and Madhya Pradesh today, throwing normal life completely out of gear. Weather bureau officials said that more rains could be expected over the next 24 hours, even as the army was called out in several villages in Kannod tehsil in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh for rescue and relief efforts. Water released from the Bargi dam in Jabalpur reached Hoshangabad raising water level in Narmada to around 960 ft, four feet below the danger level. The administration had also requisitioned services of a helicopter. Six of the state's 48 districts have recorded 779 mm of rainfall so far.

SC dismisses Punjab's SYL petition (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by the Punjab government to seek a review of the Apex Court's earlier order directing the Centre to take up the construction of the Punjab portion of the controversial Sutlej Yamuna Canal(SYL). Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P V Reddy, dismissed the review petition on the grounds that it lacked merit. The order was issued in response to the Punjab government's termination of its river water sharing agreements with Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh on July 12.

$ 233 m US military equipment for India (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Decks have been cleared for India to receive 233 million dollars worth of military equipment from the United States. US Charge d'Affaires to India Robert O Blake Jr. disclosed that New Delhi could expect to get two more radars, which were part of a 12 unit 190 million dollar agreement that would be concluded shortly. The second major deal being negotiated was the acquisition of a P-3 Orion naval reconnaissance plane, he said, adding that the version that would be sold to India would be equipped with the latest avionics, including sensors and computerized command and control and weapons systems. India also wants to buy a deep submersible rescue vessel system, Blake told participants at the Army War College in Indore on Monday. India will also buy 29 million dollars worth of Special Forces - specific equipment to enhance the counter-terrorism capabilities of its special forces and has made a request for chemical and biological protection equipment, Blake revealed.

Nirupam Sen is UN permanent rep (Go To Top)

          New York: Career diplomat Nirupam Sen took over as the country's permanent representative to the UN succeeding Vijay K Nambiar. A 1969-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Sen had headed the Indian mission in Colombo before being appointed India's Permanent Representative at the UN. Sen has held several major assignments in Britain, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Sofia among others.

3 Indian suspects killed by Bangladesh police (Go To Top)
by Nazrul Islam

         Dhaka: Three Indian pirates were reportedly killed and four others, including two policemen, were injured in a shoot-out in southern Satkhira district over the weekend. Delayed reports reaching here quoted the district police as saying that the suspected pirates were the first to open fire, as the law enforcement squads were out on a search of five missing fishermen, who were abducted four days ago. The firing lasted for over an hour, the Daily Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. Their associates reportedly took the unidentified bodies to the Indian side, while the injured are undergoing treatment at a local hospital, the police said.

19 killed in Maoists attack in Nepal (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: At least four soldiers were killed on Tuesday, when Maoist rebels attacked an Army truck in Nepal, setting off a gun battle, an official said. The violence came on the seventh day of a blockade around the capital Katmandu by the Maoists, who are fighting to overthrow the monarchy and control much of the countryside. The Maoists set off a landmine at Chhahare, about 80 kilometers northeast of Katmandu, killing four soldiers and injuring two who were flown to Katmandu for treatment, an army official said. He said Army reinforcements fought a gun battle with the Maoists after which the rebels took away 15 bodies. He further said that it was unclear if the Maoist casualties were killed or injured.

AirTel slashes cash card tariffs (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Airtel has slashed pre-paid tariffs on local Airtel-to-Airtel calls by more than half to Re one per minute and for STD calls on its own network by more than 30 per cent to Rs two per minute. Further, local calls to fixed line and to any other mobile phone have been reduced by up to 25 per cent. Airtel has also introduced a simplified uniform rate for STD calls to any fixed line phone in the country. A call made to any fixed line phone would now be charged at Rs 3.25 per minute, irrespective of the distance. The new tariffs would be rolled out between August 25 and 26 across all circles, the phone company said in a statement here.

Sunil Dutt suspends weightlifting coaches (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Union Sports Minister Sunit Dutt on Tuesday suspended national weightlifting coaches Pal Singh Sandhu and Leonid Taranenko of Belarus in the wake of the doping scandal involving top women lifters Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu at the Athens Olympics. After returning to India from Athens, Pratima Kumari had alleged that the coaches had misguided her. The move was seen as the first reaction after the doping scandal at Athens. Two Indian weightlifters Pratima and Chanu had tested positive at the Games for banned substances and were suspended by the International Olympics Committee (IOC).