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Amitabh Bachchan turns 61

         Mumbai: Excited fans, colleagues and well-wishers got together on Monday for a glittering party to wish Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan a happy 62nd birthday. Carrying bouquets, cards and posters, fans lined up outside his home in Mumbai waiting to catch a glimpse of the superstar who even has many temples devoted prayers for his continued wellbeing across the country. "Amitabh uncle, happy birthday, may God bless bless you," Hansika Motwani, a popular child televison actor, said. "Whether he is 25 or 100, there is nobody like Amitabh Bachchan. He is the greatest. We love him," said famous singer Shankar Mahadevan. "More than improving with age, consistency is the best attribute to have. Bachchan is showing that. From his first film that he acted in to the newest film, he shows consistency in every film. That's what's really fantastic about him," added music director Eshaan Noorani.

        Bachchan has been in cinematic limelight since 1973, when he first essayed the role of the angry young man in the film "Zanjeer". In 2001, he was voted the millennium's greatest star of stage and screen in a BBC online poll, ahead of Hollywood icons such as Lawrence Olivier, Humphrey Bogart and Charlie Chaplin. In 2000, the veteran of over 100 films also became the first Indian actor to grace Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. Even today, the silver-bearded actor still continues to attract audiences of all ages, so much so that the French perfume-maker Lomani has also named a fragrance, "Amitabh B", after him. Son of a Hindi poet Harvans Rai Bachchan, Amitabh quit his job as a Calcutta freight broker to join the movies in the late 1960s. His first film was "Sath Hindustani" in 1969. After acquiring an awesome reputation through his movie career, Amitabh opted for short but failed stint in politics in 1984. A near fatal accident on the sets of the movie "Coolie" (Porter) and huge debts following the collapse of his corporate entity ABCL in the 1980s and 1990s hasn't stopped this icon from exploring himself further through the mediums of television and branded advertising.

Congress storms back to power in Arunachal Pradesh (Go To Top)

        Itanagar: The Congress today stormed back to power in Arunachal Pradesh with a simple majority bagging 32 of the 56 seats declared so far in the 60-member assembly. The BJP for the first time made its presence felt in the state winning seven seats on its own. One of the important winners for the Congress today was Chief Minister Gegong Apang who won from the Tuting-Yingkiong seat beating his BJP rival Ojing Komboh by a margin of 4632 votes. Independents, mostly rebel Congressmen, emerged as the second largest group with 12 of them romping home while BJP, which drew a blank in the previous assembly polls in 1999, opened its account in the house with seven seats. The NCP and Arunachal Congress picked up two seats each as results of four more seats were remaining. The victory by Apang has, however, sparked off a debate in the political circles here on the issue of next chief minister with Mukut Mithi, former Chief Minister and chief of Congress, also emerging as a possible candidate. Mithi, who has been loyal to Congress as against Apang, who had joined BJP briefly and then returned to Congress fold before the election, however, dismissed any dispute over the issue saying the new leader would be chosen unanimously by the newly elected Congress MLAs. Apang is maintaining a studied silence over the issue. CWC member Ramesh Chennithala also rejected the notion that there was any dispute over the leadership issue stating "absolutely there is no problem. I don't understand why the media is engaged in these controversies." The new leader would be elected in the next couple of days with the consent of the high command, Mithi said.

Campaigning in Maharashtra ends (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: Campaigning for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and by-polls to four Lok Sabha and 41 Vidhan Sabha seats spread over 16 states has ended. Polling for the 288 seats will be held on October 13, while the results will be declared on October 16. Opinion polls have predicted a close finish in the state, where the ruling NCP-Congress combine is locked in a fierce battle with the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. By-polls will be held to two Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Bihar and Karnataka. Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed a public rally at Bhiwandi in Thane district this afternoon, and was scheduled to address between 17 to 30 roadside meetings in various parts of Mumbai before 5 p.m. when campaigning concluded. Raking up the Gujarat issue, Gandhi hit out at the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra saying it was trying to "break the society." "Our tradition is to unite people and accept others, but they were trying to break the society," she said at the rally. Gandhi said BJP-Sena alliance supported those elements that had spread enmity in the society. "Every one knows what had transpired in Gujarat," she said.

Jayaprada, Jaya Bachchan in campaign (Go To Top)

        Mumbai: Jayaprada and Jaya Bachchan are both actreses of repute, but these days they both are busy in politics and elections. With Maharashtra assembly elections round the corner, different parties are doing their best to campaign for their respective candidates. The Samajwadi Party has roped in both Jayaprada and Jaya Bachchan to support their North Mumbai candidate. The thrust of the speeches was on neutralising the Shiv Sena's anti-Uttar Pradesh propaganda.

Sonia charges BJP with corruption, anarchy (Go To Top)

        Bhiwandi (Thane District): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday came down heavily on the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP combine in Maharashtra, charging them promoting corruption, anarchy and communalism. Addressing an election rally here after 1 p.m. during her third and final round of campaigning in the state before the October 13 assembly polls, Sonia described as a "blatant lie" former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement that the previous BJP- led NDA regime had considered all states equal when it was in power between 1998 and 2004. She said that whenever and whereever the Congress has been in power, including Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the BJP-led NDA had not cooperated with those governments. The Congress president, who was delayed by over an hour due to the rains, said Bhiwandi with its industrial units was as important as Mumbai and the rest of Thane. RPI leaders R S Gawai and Ramdas Athawale were also present on the dais with Gandhi during the duration of the rally.

SC suggests scrapping 'tainted' petrol pumps (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Making public the findings of the high- level committee scrutinising 409 "tainted" petrol pump allotments made during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, the Supreme Court today said it has suggested cancellation of 297 of them. Immediately after the petrol pump allotment scandal came to light in 2002 with opposition taking up a huge controversy, the Vajpayee Government had cancelled all 3158 allocation made between 2000 and 2002. However, the apex court had on December 20 set aside the government order cancelling the allotments and handed over scrutiny of the allotments to the Committee comprising retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice S C Agrawal, and retired High Court Judge, Justice P K Bahri. A Bench comprising Justices Y K Sabharwal and D M Dharmadhikari, before whom the detailed 21 volume report was placed, said the Committee has found irregularities in the allotment of 297 petrol pumps out of the "409 tainted allotments referred for scrutiny." "Almost 73 per cent of the allotments were found to be improperly made," the Bench observed while allowing inspection of the Committee report by the counsel for those whose clients' name figured in the list of tainted allotments. However, the SC made it clear that it would not entertain any argument from the counsel of the affected parties on the question of facts which has been thoroughly examined by the Committee.

Pak Rangers start blame game against Indian security agencies  (Go To Top)
by Ravinder Singh Robin

          Wagah Border (Amritsar): Proposed talks between officers of India's Boader Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistani Rangers scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, got off to an inauspicious start on Monday with senior Pakistani officer categorically blaming Indian security agencies for reported instances of border-related smuggling. Major General Javed Zia, the Director-General of the Pakistani Rangers (Sindh Range), told the media on his arrival here this morning that blaming Pakistan for encouraging such activities was baseless and unfounded. Rather it was the BSF and other security agencies that needed to be hauled over the coals for not preventing such activity in the past, he added. The Indian side predictably denied the charges. Zia who is visiting India at the head of a 15 member Pak Rangers delegation lead by Major General Javed Zia, director General Pakistan Rangers that includes Major General Hussein Mehdi, the Director General of the Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), will hold talks with his BSF counterparts. Hemant Purohit, DIG BSF (Chandigarh Range) and S.S.Chatrath, Additional DIG BSF received the Pakistani team at the Wagah border check post. This is the first time in three years that the BSF and the Pakistani Rangers are holding a Director Generals-level meeting. In March, a BSF team led by Inspector General (Punjab Frontier) G.S. Gill visited Lahore for talks with his Pakistani counterpart.

Uttaranchal sleuths seize explosive chemicals meant for Maoists

         Sonali (Uttaranchal): Sleuths in Sonali in Uttaranchal have reportedly seized a huge quantity of chemicals that was going to be used by Nepal's Maoists for making explosives. Officials said that they had seized gunnybags of nitro glycerine, sulphur and ammonium nitrate that was about to be transported across the Indo-Nepal border. A.K.Dey, the commander of paramilitary Special Service Bureau (SSB) said the material was kept hidden before its onward transmisson to Nepal. "After a lot of investigation, we dug this place. We have recovered huge amounts of sulphur and ammonium nitrate. The sulphur normally comes here for the sugar mills, but can be used for low explosives. As per the infomation, these goods were going to Nepal and they had intentions of triggering an explosion there," said Dey. Transporters said that they did not generally know the end user of the goods in Nepal. "When the goods become old, the inspector comes after 3-4 years and destroys those which do not have takers. This time, they have destroyed it themselves. We do not know what are the uses and who uses them," said Shatrughan Singh, a transport manager.

Chandrashekhar, Sangma not to join Fernandes' tea party (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

         New Delhi: Former prime minister Chandrashekhar and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma will not attend the tea party being organised at NDA convener George Fernandes' residence this evening. The tea party began at 5 p.m., is reportedly being attended a number of Sonia-baiters. While Sangma was found to be out of the town, a source at Chandrashekhar's residence confirmed that the former premier would not be attending the meet since "he is not keeping well". Earlier, reports had suggested that besides the two leaders, leaders from JD-U, Shiv Sena and the BJP would be attending the party to devise an anti-Sonia campaign that would culminate in a rally planned for October 25 in the capital. All those invited for the tea party have been strong critics of Sonia and have waged verbal battles against her at one point or another. The prominent among the invitees are Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who had recently sought to build a case against Sonia for allegedly making a false declaration before the Election Commission while contesting the polls and misleading Parliament about her educational qualification. Uma Bharati, who is also likely to attend the tea party, was among the most vociferous opponents against Sonia becoming prime minister after the stunning Congress victory in May. Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam is also expected to grace the tete-a-tete.

SC directs Ansals to deposit Rs 3.01 crore as compensation  (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed the Ansal Group's theatre arm to deposit Rs.3.01 crore with the Delhi High Court within 30 days as compensation for victims of the 1997 Uphaar Cinema hall fire tragedy. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice RC Lahoti, Justices GP Mathur and PP Naolekar also directed that 50 percent of the amount be disbursed among the victims immediately thereafter. To help the Ansal Group meet this compensation, the apex court has permitted it to raise the amount by selling its securities. The direction was issued during the resumed hearing of appeals against a Delhi High Court judgement directing payment of Rs.16.20 crores as compensation to the victims of the tragedy which occurred on June 13, 1997, killing 59 people and injuring 104. At that time, Ansals were directed to pay 50 per cent of the total compensation, while the remaining amount was to be paid by the Delhi Vidyut Board, the Delhi police and the Delhi Municipal Corporation in the ratio of 15 per cent each. The Delhi Vidyut Board had already deposited Rs. 2.46 crore of its share and it has been disbursed to some of the victims. The Municipal Corporation had also deposited Rs 2.15 crore and the amount is yet to be disbursed. Ansal Theatres which was directed to deposit Rs. 9.33 crore is yet to deposit the amount.