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21 more rocket shells found abandoned in Ghaziabad

         Ghaziabad: Twenty-one rocket shells were found abandoned near residential areas of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh this morning, the police said. Ghaziabad Superintendent of Police Umesh Srivastava said that 15 shells were found near the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Park, while six were recovered from the Kavi Nagar area. The shells would be handed over to the army and National Security Guards Bomb Disposal Squad, said Srivastava adding that some of the shells were likely to be live. According to the police, the shells, which were of different kinds, had probably been abandoned by steel factories in Ghaziabad fearing that the district administration would search their premises in the wake of last week's explosion at Bhushan steel factory, in which 10 labourers were killed.

Planning Commission ropes in Sam Pitroda for mid-term appraisal (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: Sam Pitroda, the one-time technology advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and currently a member of the National Advisory Council on Telecom and IT, is back in the reckoning. He addressed the members of the Planning Commission on various issues including e-governance in New Delhi today. In Pitroda's view E-governance is one area where the government should focus on. Pitroda is a firm advocate of taking the Internet technology to rural areas. According to him, time has come for standardisation of e-governance in India. "We are going to review this collectively. I think there is lot of good work going on e-governance. I have been given some documents. So I need to read little more and come back. We have decided to spend a day together on E-governance," he said. "We discussed a large number of issues and I wanted Mr. Pitroda to address the members of the Commission and on what does he think the mid-term appraisal should focus on," said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. Pitroda, a techno-geek himself has been closely associated with Congress since Rajiv's days.

Violation of code of conduct offence registered against Lalu (Go To Top)

        Aurangabad: A case of violation of model code of conduct has been registered against Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Maharashtra Power Minister Rajendra Singh Darda and others. The Jinsi police station registered offences against the two ministers as they continued their public meeting at Roshan Gate Area of old city beyond the permissible time limit last night. Offences have also been registered against the NCP and Congress workers sharing the dais with the ministers. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has sought a report from the district officials about the incident, Commission sources said in Mumbai.

Congress campaign in Jammu (Go To Top)

         Jammu: The Congress party has intensified its campaign for the by-election for the Basoli seat which will be held on the 13th of this month. Senior leaders are addressing public rallies and party cadre are campaigning from door to door. Though there are twenty candidates in the fray in the Basoli constituency, however, the main contest is among the BJP candidate Jagdish Sapolia, Congress nominee Kanta Andhotra and NC nominee Raj Singh. Various of Congress ministers including Mangat Ram Sharma, Ghulam Hasan Mir are campaigning for Kanta Audhorta, wife of senior leader Choudhary Lal Singh The difference of opinion between the PDP and Congress became obvious during the discussion on women related bill in the assembly, but the two parties are not likely to jeopardise each other's electoral fortunes.

No differences with mom, says Varun; Maneka targets Congress (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

         New Delhi: Varun Gandhi, a BJP member and the son of party MP Maneka Gandhi, today said that he was not under any kind of pressure from anybody as far as campaigning for his party in Maharashtra is concerned. He reiterated over phone from Mumbai that he had no plans of joining the Congress or quitting the BJP. On the other hand, in New Delhi Maneka exclusively told ANI that it was the Congress that was floating such untrue reports. "It's all mischievous on the part of the Congress who is behind creating all these kinds of reports. I know their ulterior motives of creating confusion............and I know this saga will go on till the Maharashtra polls are over." She added that the media should take care before flashing such reports. Varun was reacting to an agency report that had earlier in the day suggested that he was defying his mother's wishes and shifting his allegiance to the Congress, to which his forefathers belonged, after the Maharashtra polls. On being pertinently asked if there were differences between his mother and him (over his plans of joining the Congress), he shot back, "it's so stupid a question that I don't want to comment on it." He once again categorically ruled out the very idea of his changing his political loyalties.

        After Sanjay Gandhi's death in June 1980, Maneka had to leave the Nehru-Gandhi family after having differences with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, who is now the president of the Congress. Almost a decade ago, she floated her own party and successfully contested parliamentary polls from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. All these years, Maneka has enjoyed the backroom support of the BJP and formally joined the saffron party in February this year. Reports have suggested that Sonia welcomed the idea of Varun joining the Congress, but is said to have categorically told him that "his mother" was not welcome.

SC stays proceedings against Vaiko in POTA case (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: The Supreme Court today issued stay orders on the trial court proceedings in a POTA case against MDMK leader Vaiko and eight other partymen. The court, however, admitted their petition challenging the POTA court`s decision not to accept the Tamil Nadu public prosecutor's application seeking withdrawal of the cases.

IAF puts up a grand display on its 72nd anniversary (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest air force, celebrated its 72nd anniversary with an impressive parade and a breathtaking air show in New Delhi today. The show started with an acrobatic display by the Russian made MI-35 attack helicopters bearing white colours denoting the force's UN peacekeeping mission in Congo. "Our support to the UN peacekeeping machine has been significant. Our mission in Congo has performed extremely well and the duration of the mission has been extended by another year. We have also expanded our interaction with the foreign air forces," said Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy. Air advisers of various foreign missions in the capital also attended the show. On display were the Sukhoi 30K jets and the country's indigenously built Advanced Light Helicopters named "Dhruv", which displayed its acrobatic skills under the aegis of the recently formed acrobatics team "Sarang." The indigenously built "Surya Kiran" fighter aircraft acrobatics team also put up a dazzling display in a configuration of nine aircraft.

Hunger forces Midnapore villagers to eat snakes and lizards (Go To Top)

        Moyna (West Bengal): Despite the tall claims made by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's government, people in several villages in the state's Midnapore District are reportedly starving to death, and is some cases are being forced to eat snakes and lizards to survive. Moyna village in Midnapore is one of the many such villages where abject poverty and the non-availability of food has forced its residents to kill and eat lizards and snakes. Despite knowing that the slaughter of these animals is an offence, the villagers say they are helpless.

         "This is our food. We are very poor and do not have either rice or dal or any other food. We are unemployed and do not have land for cultivation either. So we are forced to eat these lizards, which are readily available. We just boil them with salt turmeric powder and chilly," said Santosh Pramanik, a villager. Villagers in this district have remained poor for generations. There is no such thing as public distribution or rationing, although officially the village has a rationing distribution system. "We do not get any rations like rice or dal etc, we are unemployed and left with no means but to eat them," said Pushpa Pramanik, another villager.

          Geographically, the district of Midnapore is drought prone, making cultivation without irrigation facilities practically impossible. Though the government has time and again sanctioned funds for the development of the tribals inhabiting the region, the villagers are clueless as to how the funds have never been utilised.