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DMK ministers assume office

          New Delhi: Seven ministers of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) who were miffed over the distribution of portfolios, assumed office on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday agreed to give DMK, a powerful ally of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), ministries of its choice to end the rift within the coalition. Singh has given Shipping Ministry to T.R. Baalu and the post of Minister of State for Finance to S.S. Palanimanikkam as demanded by the DMK. Taking charge of the ministry, Balu, who is also the minister of Transport and Highways, said he would work for the upgradation of all highways in the country to international level. "There is a quantam jump in the economic and industrial growth in the country to which all our highways have to be invariably upgraded to international level," Baalu said.

           Dayanidhi Maran who took charge on Tuesday as Information Technology and Telecommunications Minister, said the new government would take care to protect and expand the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. "Our idea is to make sure that we go amicably that our interests do not take a backseat," Maran told reporters just after he assumed his office. The recent legislation of the U.S. government to stop outsourcing of state-run business groups had sent fears down India's sunrise IT industry.

          While the government was never under threat, the compromise with the DMK could encourage others in the Congress party-led coalition, made up of more 15 parties, to flex muscles. The row with the DMK was the first test for the soft-spoken Singh, who was pitch-forked into the top job after Congress president Sonia Gandhi stepped aside. DMK chief M. Karunanidhi embarrassed the ruling coalition on Monday by releasing a copy of an agreement that he had signed with a Congress official on the portfolios to be allocated. Karunanidhi blamed a "coterie" of advisers around Singh and Gandhi for reneging on the agreement on ministerial berths.

Somnath to be Lok Sabha Speaker (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Left parties on Wednesday accepted the Congress alliance's proposal to have veteran Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee as the Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha, a day after his parent party CPI(M) approved it. "All the Left parties have accepted the proposal of Congress party and the matter is settled," CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet told newsmen after an hour-long meeting of his party, CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP. Asked whether accepting the Speaker's post amounted to joining government, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said "Speakership is not part of the government or the Executive. It is part of the Legislature".

          The communists, who back the Congress party-led coalition, appreciated the gesture of the ruling party that veteran parliamentarian Chatterjee, 74, should take up the speaker's post. The issue of Speaker has been settled and it has been decided that Somnath Chatterjee will be the Speaker," CPI-M General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet told reporters. The Cambridge-educated Chatterjee, who made it to the Lower House for a record 10th term, would be the first communist leader to occupy the coveted post. He was honoured with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1996. The communists emerged as the third largest group in the national election.

           The Left Front bagged 62 seats of the 545-member Parliament, their best ever performance. The CPI-M, the biggest of the leftist parties, itself won 33 seats. "We have promised that Common Minimum Programme should be finalised as soon as possible. That we have dicsussed and today we will give our own suggestions so that it is completed as soon as possible," said Surjeet. The policies, drafted into a document called the Common Minimum Programme and mostly focusing on economic issues, is due to be released late on Thursday. A draft of the policy already publicised has reaffirmed the government's commitment to pro-growth programmes and economic reforms, but it has worried some investors over what they say is the coalition's ambitious wish list and a glaring fiscal deficit. Communist parties, who are not part of the government but form the largest group supporting it from outside, raised fresh objections over economic reforms and said they would seek amendments in the roadmap for governance. The last minute scramble to evolve a consensus over the Common Minimum Programme came a day after Singh gave in to demands from a sulking DMK ally, which was miffed over ministries allotted to it and refused to join the government. The Congress party, headed by Sonia Gandhi, was swept to power this month after the BJP-led alliance was handed a shocking defeat in what is seen as a revenge of the rural poor over being left out of an economic boom. Since winning power, the Congress has said it would continue economic reforms in Asia's third-largest economy, but with a "human face".

MTNL, BSNL not to be privatized (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government on Wednesday announced that the telecom policy would be revamped soon to give more economic service to consumers and said no to privatisation of profit-making MTNL and BSNL even as new Telecom and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran outlined a 10-point agenda to make India a global IT power. Within minutes of assuming office, Maran, flanked by his junior Shakeel Ahmad, committed to more public investment in the sector while promising "increased competition" to counter pressures from industrial houses. "No. MTNL is off, I repeat, off the privatisation list," Maran said adding that even BSNL would not be privatised.

RJD wins Bettiah, Siwan seats (Go To Top)

          Patna: RJD leader Raghunath Jha has won the Bettiah Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 35,000 votes defeating his nearest rival Madan Prasad Jaiswal of the BJP. In Siwan Lok Sabha constituency, another RJD leader Mohammad Shahbuddin defeated his nearest JD-U rival Om Prakash Yadav by a margin of 1,03,777 votes. Shahbuddin polled 3,18,353 votes to register his victory from the seat for the fourth time in a row.

JN Dixit is National Security Advisor (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Seasoned diplomat and former Foreign Secretary JN Dixit will be India's next National Security Advisor. Dixit, 68, replaces Brajesh Mishra, who was the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Dixit, who had held several key positions while in the Foreign Service, including High Commissioner to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is expected to take over the new assignment shortly, official sources said. He was instrumental in formulating the Congress agenda on defence, security and foreign policy matters before the Lok Sabha elections. He is currently vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Department of AICC.

UPA to announce CMP on Thursday (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The ruling United Progressive Alliance will announce its Common Minimum Program tomorrow. The program will provide the agenda for the running of the government. Meanwhile, the Left Front is meeting here today to discuss and offer correctives to the CMP draft, CPI (M) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet was quoted by TV reports as saying this.

No decision yet on Karnataka coalition leader (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Who will head the Karnataka coalition government is not yet clear even after three rounds of taLks Janata Dal (Secular) president Deve Gowda had with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi here. Deve Gowda said he would meet the Congress chief ministerial candidate Dharam Singh in the evening to give final touches to their alliance. "I will meet Congress Legislature Party leader Dharam Singh this evening. After that we will hold discussion with the party. There will be some finality on this issue," Deve Gowda later told reporters here on Wednesday. Newly elected members of the Congress party have elected Dharam Singh as their leader. Singh is likely to replace S.M. Krishna, the caretaker chief minister who represents the Congress. The Congress, which had not received majority to return to power in the state in the just concluded assembly election, has been negotiating with the JD(S) for the formation of a coalition government.

Sikhs protest against Jagdish Tytler (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Scores of Sikh activists on Wednesday protested against the appointment of Jagdish Tytler in the Congress-led government saying he was involved in the 1984 riots against their community following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Jagdish Tytler was appointed as minister of state for Non- Resident Indians' (NRI) affairs after the Congress stormed back to power in the parliamentary elections earlier this month. Tytler denied the allegations saying it was a political stunt. "This is all nonsense. I am one person who is not ever involved directly or indirectly and the high court has given its verdict, it's more of a political stunt," Tytler said.

Bush calls up Manmohan Singh (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: US President George Bush on Wednesday telephoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the two leaders pledged to work for strengthening bilateral relations. During the eight-minue conversation, President Bush congratulated Manmohan Singh on his assumption of the high office following the Congress party's victory in the Lok Sabha elections. According to an External Affairs Ministry spokesman, the two leaders decided that their National Security Advisers would remain in touch with each other. Both Bush and Singh agreed that the relations between their two countries were "strong and multi-faceted" and must be strengthened further.

]N Girls outshine boys in CBSE Class XII results (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today announced the Class XII results for Delhi and Allahabad regions covering seven states and Class X results for the Ajmer and Chennai regions. The Senior School Certificate Examination (Class XII) results for students who appeared from schools in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and foreign countries were declared at 6 a.m. Girls once again stole a march over boys in terms of results. Of 387,774 students who appeared in the Senior School Certificate Examination across the country this year, 76 per cent passed, an increase of 2.41 per cent from last year, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Chairman Ashok Ganguly said. The percentage of girls who cleared the examination was much above that of boys - 82.28 per cent as compared to 71.29 per cent.

           In Delhi which covers all CBSE schools in Delhi and foreign countries, the difference was even higher - 82.58 per cent for girls against 69.43 per cent for boys. Chennai region, which includes all southern states, was the most successful region with a pass percentage of 90.51, followed by Ajmer, Chandigarh and Delhi at 75.75 per cent, Ganguly said. The Kendriya Vidyalaya schools emerged the most successful as a group, with 92.62 per cent of students clearing the examination, a record. This was followed by Central Tibetans schools, which registered as a group this year, with a success rate of 86 per cent.

          In Gulf countries, where 58 schools follow the CBSE pattern, 88.94 per cent of 5,858 students passed, with 29 per cent getting more than 75 per cent marks. While Ganguly declined to give details of the topper as "a matter of policy", he said 166 students got an aggregate of more than 95 per cent marks, 16 of whom were from Delhi. As many as 2,826 students got over 90 per cent marks. Of them, 779 were from Delhi and 22 from government schools in the capital. Ganguly said 3,231 merit certificates would be given to students who secured highest marks in individual subjects. Of them, 850 were from Delhi and 78 from government schools. The CBSE Chairman said 193 students had got cent per cent marks in Mathematics, of whom 46 were from Delhi. Among the government schools in Delhi, the pass percentage was 77.82 per cent, a marginal increase from 77.09 per cent last year. Government-aided schools recorded a success rate of 77.15 per cent and independent schools 89.59 per cent. As many as 578 physically challenged students appeared in the examination, of whom 87.6 per cent passed. The highest aggregate attained by a differently abled student was 93.1 per cent while a blind student got 80.8 per cent. Ganguly attributed the higher success rate among girls to "their ability to concentrate and focus more." Over 3.5 lakh students appeared in the XII board examinations this year.

Four Thakurs shot dead in UP village (Go To Top)

          Bulandshahar (UP): The entire Dibai village seems to have come to a virtual standstill and is shocked after the murder of four locals belonging to Thakur community, last night. The victims were shot dead when they were sleeping outside their houses. Two of them were from the same family and were brothers. Some illegitimate relationship between a local boy named Veda and Nitu, a married woman, seems to have led to the tragedy.

Former Chambal dacoits on fast-unto-death (Go To Top)

          Gwalior (MP): Former dacoits of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh are on a fast-unto-death from Wednesday to highlight their plight. The dacoits, who once roamed over the ravines of Chambal, had surrendered in 1970s and 1980s. Several dacoits, mostly belonging to lower castes, had given up violence, after the state government promised them land to settle down. The former dacoits' demands include financial packages for rehabilitation, education and job avenues for their children, withdrawal of court cases and release of their accomplices in prison. The dacoits said the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh failed to fulfil their promises. "We are sitting for a fast-unto-death because we were promised land by the government but nothing happened. That's why we are protesting," said Lotan Singh, a former dacoit. The arid land, coupled with a deeply divisive social system tipped in favour of the higher castes, makes the backward caste people of Chambal ravines one of the poorest and most oppressed segments of India. Local media reports say, driven by poverty, several former gangsters are taking to guns again. Authorities admit that there are still cases where land has not been allotted. "Due to some technical reasons there have been problems. We are looking into the matter and all problems will be solved," said Vineet Jain, a police official. Social activists say unless peace committees are formed and police harassment is stopped, the situation might get worse.

Karachi blast leaves, one dead, four injured (Go To Top)

          Karachi: One person was killed and four others were injured when a parcel bomb exploded at a container terminal in Karachi port on Tuesday, officials said. Karachi, Pakistan's biggest port and largest city, has been the scene of frequent acts of Islamic militant violence since President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S.-led war on terror. Police deputy superintendent Shahnawaz Khan said the parcel bomb exploded about 100 metres inside an area used for security checks on container trucks. The blast occurred a day after six members of an Islamic militant group that tried to assassinate Musharraf in 2002 were arrested in Karachi after a shootout. Musharraf has stepped up a battle against Islamic militancy since joining the war on terror that U.S. President George W. Bush launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Militants, enraged by the crackdown and Musharraf's backing of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, have responded with repeated attacks. Musharraf survived two more assassination attempts in Rawalpindi near Islamabad in December. Western institutions, government officials and religious minorities have also been targeted by militants in the past three years. Earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed 15 people from Pakistan's minority Shi'ite Muslim community and wounded 125 in a sectarian attack on a mosque in Karachi. In a speech on national television on Monday, Musharraf warned that Pakistan's future was threatened by extremism.