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Bharati concludes Tiranga Yatra

          Amritsar: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister today concluded her sixteen days Tiranga Yatra in Jalyawala Bagh, in Amritsar today. Bharti was released from the prison earlier this month after the case was withdrawn by central and state ruling Congress-led Karnataka government. Since her release Bharti has been criss crossing the country in a chariot rally aimed apparently at highlighting nationalism and the shortcomings of the Congress-led federal government. The rally ended at the historic Jalianwalla Bagh, a freedom memorial. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who spoke at the rally asked people to put aside differences and work for national pride. "During election we fight for elections, we only ask for votes but when the question is of nation and its pride, we put aside small differences and come together," Vajpayee said. Bharti began the flag march on September 10, four days after the Hubli court discharged her in the 1994 case.

100 students taken ill of food poison  (Go To Top)

          Ghaziabad: At least 100 students of an engineering college on the outskirts of New Delhi were hospitlised after eating contaminated food at their school mess on Saturday. The students, all hostlers, at the Ajay Kumar Garg college in Ghaziabad, say they fell ill after Friday's breakfast itself but things got worse after the dinner. Ambulances and teachers in their own vehicles rushed to the hostel as the students, many vomitting profusely, called for help on their cellular phones. "Yesterday morning after I had eaten breakfast, I felt something different. After lunch I had severe stomach ache. Though I did not have dinner but still I fell sick. All those who ate dinner have been vomitting even more," Ajay Gupta, a sick student, said. "Many students are coming. We had kept 16 patients in one ward. The hospital is filled woth these students. Last night there was so much scarcity of space, we had kept three patients on one bed. Basically what we can gather is that there is some problem with the food," Vandana Vadera, physican, added. Police have sealed the hostel kitchen and are interrogating the cooks and school authorities.

No 'foreigners' in Plan panel, says Chidambarm (Go To Top)

          Nagercoil (TN): Asserting that it was incorrect to say foreign consultants were in the Planning Commission, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said only experts of Indian origin have been nominated to its consultative committees. "It is incorrect to say that 14 foreign consultants have been included in the Planning Commission. They are of Indian origin and have been nominated as representatives of organisations, including World Bank," he said at a face-to-face programme at a college here last night. Chidambaram, however, said the matter regarding inclusion of the consultants was under reconsideration. The Left parties, extending crucial support to the UPA Government from outside, have opposed the inclusion of 'outsiders' in the Commission's consultative committee meetings.

Manmohan-Musharraf joint statement a disappointment: BJP  (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Former External Affairs Minister and BJP spokesman Yashwant Sinha said it was disappointed over the joint statement issued by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after their meeting in New York last night, saying it had diluted India's position on vital issues, like cross border terrorism. "In this statement while reference to issues of vital concern to India have been omitted, the consistent position of India on various issues with Pakistan, specially of Jammu and Kashmir, has also been considerably diluted," Yashwant Sinha said. He said it was unfortunate that the Prime Minister had allowed the dialogue between India and Pakistan to become Jammu and Kashmir centric.

          Talking to newspersons here, he said the joint statement only talked about the spirit of the January 6, joint press statement of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Musharraf after the summit meeting in Islamabad. What about its letter?"', he asked. He said it would have been better if it had gone by the "letter and spirit" of the Islamabad statement. Sinha, who had also participated in the Indo-Pak talks in Islamabad, said that they had very carefully negotiated and drafted the statement in which ''President MUsharraf reassured Prime Minister Vajpayee that he will not permit any territory under Pakistan's control to be used to support terrorism in any manner." India was able to get this reassurance from Pakistan when Vajpayee had made it clear that ''in order to take forward and sustain the dialogue process, violence, hostility and terrorism must be prevented," Sinha said.

Laloo bids to woo people (Go To Top)

          Patna: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to be attracting attention as he today acted in a Bollywood film named after him called "Padamshree Laloo Prasad Yadav". Some scenes of film 'Padamshree Laloo Prasad Yadav' were today shot at his residence here. According to the film's director, Manjekar, Lalu Prasad is the most popular leader in Indian politics today and he expected a movie named after him to yield commercial benefits. "This will create curiosity among the people and Laloo's role in the film will definitely attract public into theatres," said Manjrekar. Comedian Johny Lever and actress Masoumi were also present during the shooting. The film will be ready for release in the first week of October.

'Chalo Ram Mandir Banao,' says Advani again (Go To Top)

          Bhuj (Gujarat): Leader of Opposition L.K.Advani has once again voiced his and the Bharatiya Janata Party's desire to build the controversial Ram Temple at Ayodhya. On a two-day visit to his home constituency of Gujarat, which ended today, Advani said: "The building of the Ram Temple is the people's desire and that has to done. I feel that both communities should sit and decide about its future. But if the court gives its ruling, we are ready to follow their ruling," said Advani. Offering prayers to Lord Shiva on the 15th anniversary of his Somnath Yatra, Advani said that India prospered under the NDA's rule at the Centre. "India prospered during the 6 year's rule of BJP. Though the government was not re-elected, but its an example of good governance. India saw development in all sectors including economy and was also recognised as a Nuclear power. I name this as cultural nationalism," said Advani.

UPA constitutes Group of Ministers to probe NDA scams (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The UPA government has formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to probe the alleged scams under the NDA regime. The GoM, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, will also probe several other issues including privatisation of public sector units. It will submit its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as soon as he returns from his foreign trip to US. Union Minister Kapil Sibal has been assigned the responsibility to look into the legal aspects of the probe. It is believed that the exercise has been reportedly carried out in view of the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls, so that the Congress can give a suitable reply to the BJP, which has been cornering it on the issue of tainted ministers for long.

Scientist arrested for selling satellite pictures (Go To Top)

         Lucknow: A senior scientist of the Uttar Pradesh Remote Sensing Application Centre (RSAC) has been sacked and arrested on charges of selling satellite pictures and other important data to a private firm, senior officials informed here today. Alok Saini has allegedly sold the data to a city-based firm for Rs 2.5 lakh. The firm was engaged by the Lucknow Electricity Supply Agency for collecting details to identify cases of power theft in the Trans-Gomti areas of the city, said UP Science and Technology Department Secretary, Navneet Sehgal. According to the police, Saini's wife acted as a mediator in the deal and has also been arrested.

Asteroid's brush with the earth won't be apocalyptic next week (Go To Top)

          London: A three-mile long asteroid that was being regarded as 'potentially hazardous' by NASA scientists, is expected to cruise past the earth harmlessly next week. According to The Sun, a chain email had warned that the asteroid Toutatis, had a 63 per cent chance of hitting the planet, and accused authorities of "covering up" danger from the peanut- shaped space rock. It was being speculated that if the asteroid hit London it would obliterate the city creating a huge crater, and wipe out life across much of Europe. Scientists have now established that the closest it will get will be 960,000 miles away, four times the distance of the moon. It will be close enough however, to be seen by small telescopes.

India exports salt to China for the first time (Go To Top)

         Jaipur: After having exported salt to countries like the US, Japan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malayasia, India has further strengthened its position in the global salt market by exporting the product to China for the first time. Salt Commissioner S Sundaresan confirmed that salt exports to China had commenced from this month with an initial shipment of 25,000 metric tonnes of industrial salt. With an annual average salt production of 157 lakh tonnes, India is ranked third in the world. Its present domestic requirement for both edible and industrial salt is pegged at 125-130 lakh tonnes annually.