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IAF planes drop food for Gujarat's flood-hit

      Ahmedabad: The Indian Air Force is extending all possible help to the flood-hit people of Gujarat by dropping food packets from its helicopters across the state. Heavy monsoon rains in the region have killed at least 12 people and forced thousands to leave their homes and move to higher ground. According to reports, the deaths were due to drowning, lighting strikes and building collapses. More than 15,000 villagers have been affected since the floods hit southern and central Gujarat on July 28. To add to the woes of the people, the state weather bureau has predicted more showers over the next 48 hours. The state police force has been asked by the government to remain on a state of alert to assist in evacuations if rivers burst their banks. Last year, floods in Gujarat killed at least 56 people and left over 65,000 people homeless. Every year, monsoon rains, which are vital for agriculture and overall economic growth, kill hundreds of people and destroy many houses, besides damaging crops. The army has also been deployed to assist rescue and relief operations. Schools and colleges have been closed in some parts of the state.

Flood situation grim in Orissa (Go To Top)

      Basta (Orissa): Thousands of people have been affected in Orissa due to floods, which continue to be grim in several parts of the state. Several villages along Subarna Rekha River in Balasore district have been submerged, with the river breaching the embankments. The district administration has declared an emergency in the region. Officials said around 250 villages with more than 200,000 people have been affected by floods and relief operations were being carried out to provide food and shelter to the victims. The villagers, meanwhile, alleged they have received no aid till now. Hundreds of hectares of standing paddy crop - the state's staple food - have also been damaged due to heavy downpours. Meanwhile, all 160 children stranded in a school surrounded by flood water in Gujarat's Kheda district for the past four days, were finally rescued today. The children were trapped for the last four days in a big hall on the first floor of boarding school in Bharwada village. The children were rescued with the help of CRPF officers, who took the children to safer places on their shoulders. Meanwhile, fresh spell of heavy rains hit Gujarat after a day's respite while 55,000 people were evacuated from flood-hit areas.

Servant of mudered Delhi couple held (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: A Delhi police team has arrested Sikander, the servant who had gone missing in the wake of the murders of Dev Raj Grover and his wife Vimla Grover at their flat at Faiz Road near Karol Bagh on Monday. Sikander was arrested in Assam on Wednesday. Seventy-four-year-old Grover, a retired income tax inspector, and his wife Vimla Grover, were found dead by their neighbours at their ransacked house on Monday morning. Sikander, who was absconding since that day, had been hired by the Grovers from a placement agency in South Delhi four days before the murders. The Delhi Police had sent special teams to Sikander's hometown in New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The Grovers were staying with their grandson Ashish, who was not in the house when the incident took place. The murdered couple are survived by two daughters and a son, who runs an export house. The Grover murder came six days after Minister of State for Home S. Reghupathy had admitted in Parliament that the law and order situation in Delhi was well under control due to several remedial steps taken.

MCD on demolition spree (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today demolished illegal encroachments in Vishal Market in West Delhi. The demolition, which began at 10:45 a.m., took place in the presence of 50 MCD personnel and 50 policemen. "We are just carrying out the orders of the court. These are illegal encroachments on government's land," Deputy Commissioner of MCD, West Zone, Deepak Hastir, said. However, angry residents and shopkeepers, whose houses were being pulled down, questioned, what the government did for the last 30 years during which time they were residing there. Jitendra Sethi, whose building was razed, alleged that MCD officials had asked him for a bribe. "Whoever has bribed the officials, their buildings have survived. I was asked to pay four lakh. I am a poor man, and because I could not pay, my building is broken. He took the names of four MCD officials who had asked for the money. The names taken were Navin Verma, MP Singh, Ajay Gautam and Deepak Hastir. What is interesting is that the building which was pulled down today, stood just next to the MCD West Zone office. Thus the residents claim that the officials had helped them erect the building and now they were the ones to demolish it. The same building was demolished twice before in less than two year's time. Crying women and frustrated men demonstrated before the MCD office shouting slogans," Sheila Dixit, hai hai." The crowd was well manipulated by the security men, who were expecting violence to erupt any moment.

Sit-in protest against cow slaughter  (Go To Top)
by Chandrika Jain

       New Delhi: Akhil Bharatiya Sarvadaliya Goraksha Mahabhiyan Samiti workers on Wednesday staged a sit-in protest at the Jantar Mantar demanding ban on cow slaughter. "We are here to raise our voice against cow slaughter. Our demands also include, 4,000 government and 3,000 non-government slaughter houses should be closed, which are mushrooming all over the place and government licenses for cow slaughtering should be cancelled," Madhvashram, National President from Samiti said. Showing placards 'Govansh Bachao'! 'Rashtra Bacaho' (save cow, save nation) another agitator said, "Though, there is a legal ban on cow slaughter, such instances have been on the rise everyday due to the negligence of the government. The government should implement the ban on cow slaughter immediately." They also said that countless cows are reportedly being transported in gruesome conditions and smuggled across the West Bengal border to Bangladesh and Pakistan for slaughtering. A total ban on cow slaughter will not have any real effect unless unlicensed abattoirs are closed and transport is monitored, they added. In Hinduism, the cow is considered sacred and its protection is a recurrent theme in which she is symbolic of abundance, of the sanctity of all life and of the earth. Most Hindus respect the cow as a matriarchal figure for her gentle qualities and providing nurturing milk and its products. Cow slaughter has been already banned in all but a few states, yet it continues rampant and unabated in illegal, unlicensed abattoirs all throughout the country, including in the states where it is banned.

Ladakh village falls victim to cloudburst (Go To Top)

      Saboo (Ladakh): An unexpected cloudburst over Saboo village in Ladakh resulted in the destruction of several crucial bridges, canals and crops. The cloudburst that occurred late on Tuesday evening resulted in canals overflowing and damaging roads and large tracts of farmland. No casualties were reported. Shrichung, a local, said that the cloudburst occurred at around 10 p.m.. " I was not able to understand what had happened. More than 200 canals are damaged and all the standing crops have been destroyed. State and district administration officials have come here to survey the damage. They have assured us that they will be sending a rescue team soon," he said. Showers in the area have been attributed to a westernly disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir and also to a upper air cyclonic circulation over South-West Uttar Pradesh.

Women's march on Parliament for quota  (Go To Top)
by Chandrika Jain

      New Delhi: Women from different parts of the country took to the streets on Wednesday to demand the immediate passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, which provides for 33 percent reservation of seats in Parliament and State Assemblies for women. Women from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and various other states participated in the protest, targetting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government which had in their Common Minimum Programme assured them about providing reservation. "Despite this clear assurance, the government has failed to introduce the Bill in Parliament held in the last two years. We are shocked that the Bill finds no mention in the business listed in the current session," Jaswinder from Punjab said. "To date, the UPA government has failed to introduce the Bill in the Lok Sabha," Pritha from West Bengal said. The Women's Reservation Bill was first introduced on September 4, 1996 by the Deve Gowda Government. It was introduced again by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government on November 22, 1999. "The Bill was brought to the House once in 2002 and twice in 2003, but despite its having a majority in the Lok Sabha, the NDA Government made no effort to have the Bill passed," Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) said. Around 700 women who are representing women across India, demanded that the UPA Government should immediately introduce the

Missiles inducted into armed forces (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday that surface-to-surface missiles, Agni and Prithvi, have been inducted in the armed forces. Mukherjee informed about this in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. He said that the strategic missiles have been completed along with their variants for the armed forces. He further said that the armed forces have also been asked to place orders for surface-to-air missiles Akash and Trishul, and anti-tank missile, Nag. The Defence Minister went on to say that production orders for supersonic cruise missile BrahMos have also been received following its successful tests for the Navy and the Army. The strategic ballistic missile Agni is envisaged to be the mainstay of the Indian missile-based strategic nuclear deterrence. The Agni-I is a short range ballistic missile (SRBM) with a single stage engine. While the Agni-II is an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) with two solid fuel stages and a Post Boost Vehicle (PBV) integrated into the missile's Re-entry Vehicle (RV).

Three arrested in tantri scandal  (Go To Top)
by Juhan Samuel

     Cochin: The police today arrested three persons, including one woman, in connection with the Sabarimala Tantri sex scandal case. After a thorough investigation, police, led by Ernakulam Town Central Circle Inspector G. Venu, filed a case and arrested the three persons under sections 115, 120(B) and 395 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). All three will be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Ernakulam Court on Thursday. Meanwhile, Shobha John, the main accused, has moved the court and sought bail. Her advocate PM Siraj alleged that the police badly tortured her and prevented her from meeting or talking to anyone. Shobha (30), a native of Trivandrum, and the other two, Anil (36), her present driver and Vigil (32) her former driver, also hailing from Trivandrum were the main culprits behind the conspiracy, said police officials. According to the police, Shobha has a bad record and was running a massage parlour in the city. She had been earlier arrested once under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act. She has a child and her husband is working in the Gulf. Police further said her main business apart from the travel agency and massage parlour, was the daily renting of flats.

Nepalese Maoists need 'donations' (Go To Top)

      Kathmandu: Accusing the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) government of not giving much attention to their battalions, the Maoists here have decided to launch a "donation campaign" to meet their expenses. The rebels have announced that they would collect donations from industrialists, businessmen, employees, teachers and others. "The government did not allocate budget for the PLA (People's Liberation Army). That is why we are compelled to collect donations," news portal eKantipur quoted Maoist leader Bala Ram Kafle as saying. The donation campaign would be carried out in Bardiya district, Gulariya, the district headquarters, Rajapur, Bhurigaon, Mainapokhar, Basgadhi, Sanoshri and other commercial areas. "At least 300,000 rupees is the monthly expenses just for a battalion of the 'People's Liberation Army' of Bardiya. Therefore, we are planning to launch a donation campaign which is voluntary and not forced donation," the website quoted "Sandiv" district secretary of the party as saying. The announcement comes within a week of being criticised by Minister for Local Development and CPN-UML leader Rajendra Pandey for continuing the "donations campaign". "The Maoists collect donations at pistol point and describe them as voluntary contributions... People have suffered a lot from such contradictions in their policy and practice," Pandey had said. He had said that if the rebels were finding it difficult to meet their expenses then they should come up with a concrete proposal at formal meetings with the Seven-Party Alliance.

Another Sikh killed in US (Go To Top)

      San Jose: He was supposed to be at a gurudwara to pay obeisance, but 65-year-old Iqbal Singh ended up in hospital, stabbed in the neck by a black man. In his bed at Santa Clara's Velly Medical Centre where he is recovering from his injuries, Singh said: " I was shoked and failed to understand why he had done this to me." "I started shouting and running to the appartment though he tailed me for a few yards, but I managed to reach the apprtment and locked the door," he added. He said that his family had reported the matter to the police as a hate crime. "I did nothing to provoke him. So, the only reason I can see for what happened, is that I was wearing a turban, and had a beard," Singh said. Singh said that at the time of the attack he was waiting for the rest of the family to come down to the carport from their apartment on Agate Drive. They were to go to the San Jose Gurudwara Sahib. Iqbal Singh said that belonged to the village of Khushalpur in Amritsar District and had been living in the United States with his son Satinder Singh for the last one year. Talking to ANI, Dr. Pritpal Singh, the coordinator of the American Gurudwara Parbhadhak Committee, said that this incident would not only distrub the family of the victim, but also spread panic in the region, the drop in hate crimes notwithstanding. "We are in touch with the concerned department and would provide help to the government for an awarness campaign whenever needed," said Dr. Singh after visiting Iqbal Singh in hospital. There are more than half-a-million Sikh living in the United States, and some of them have achieved a reputation in American society. Jaswant Singh Hoti, the secretary of the San Jose Gurudwara, said that since 9 /11, there had been many instances of Sikhs ending up as hate crime victims in the United States. Meanwhile, sources have informed that Everett Thompson, 20, of Santa Clara, was arrested by the Santa Clara police in connection with the hate crime attack. He is presently lodged in the Santa Clara County Jail on charges of attempted murder and a hate crime.

BCCI on Ganguly's comeback (Go To Top)

      Rajkot: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that Saurav Ganguly can make a comeback into the national squad only if he performs well. "If Saurav Ganguly performs well, and if there arises a requirement for him to play, the selectors will definitely select him. If the selectors feel that he should play in the team, then they would definitely take him. He is still our contract player and he is still playing," said Niranjan Shah, the Secretary of the BCCI, in Rajkot. The selectors are scheduled to meet on August 9 to finalise the initial list of players for the Champions Trophy, which is to be played in India from October 7 to November 5. Vice-Captain Virender Sehwag has also said that Ganguly can make a come back if he performs well. Ganguly is currently playing for Northamptonshire in England. Although he may find it tough to break into the national side for the event, cricket officials feel Ganguly's experience could be used during a busy season that includes a proposed tri-series against Australia and West Indies ahead of the Champions Trophy. One of only four players to aggregate over 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, Ganguly has maintained that he wants to play in next year's World Cup in the Caribbean. India next play in a one-day tri-series in Colombo involving hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa from August 14. The 34-year-old Ganguly was sacked following a prolonged batting slump, fitness woes and a row with Coach Greg Chappell.

Govt plans new sports training centres (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: In a bid to give a boost to games and sports in the country, the Sports Authority of India plans to establish two special area games centres (SAG) and four sports training centres (STCs). The proposed SAGs would be established at Shimoga and Mayiladuthurai in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu respectively, while sports training centres would be set up in Mangalore's Mangala Stadium, Mumbai University, Magadh University and Raipur. Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Mani Shankar Aiyar on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that in addition, a decision had been taken to set up a Sub-Centre at Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, action on which has been held up on account of certain issues relating to land use regulations. The Minister said that the time schedule to make the infrastructure operational will depend mainly on availability of land and signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). After receiving possession of the required physical infrastructure, it will take about 12 -18 months to operationalise the centre, Aiyer said.

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