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Nation pays homage to Rajiv Gandhi

      New Delhi/Mumbai: People from all walks of life paid homage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 62nd birth anniversary on Sunday. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, his Cabinet colleagues and several Congress party workers held a special prayer at his mausoleum-- Veer Bhumi-this morning in commemoration to the departed soul. Sonia Gandhi, widow of Rajiv Gandhi and UPA chairperson, was among the first to pay floral tribute. Her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi, and son-in-law Rober Vadera were also present at the mausoleum to pay homage. At another function organised at the Central Hall of Parliament, a large number of lawmakers also paid tributes to the former Prime Minister.

    In Mumbai, an award ceremony was held on the Saturday to commemorate Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary. Industrialist Mukesh Ambani and film actor John Abraham were among the recipients of this year's Rajiv Gandhi Awards. The awards were also presented to achievers in various fields like commentator Harsha Bhogle, child prodigy Budhia Singh and singer Palk Muchhal. Rajiv Gandhi was India's youngest ever Prime Minister. He was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by Sri Lankan Tamil separatists LTTE while campaigning for general elections in the state. The assassination was said to have been in revenge for Rajiv Gandhi's decision to send Indian troops to the island nation in 1987 as part of a peacekeeping accord between Colombo and LTTE.

Rajiv Award for Nirmala Deshpande (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Sunday conferred the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award to noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Singh said that through her life and through her work, Nirmalaji has been striving to create a new value system for establishing a good society. "All of us were impressed by the peace march Nirmalaji organised in Orissa after the terrible murder of Graham Steins. It symbolized her commitment to human life and secular values," said Dr. Singh. Commending Deshpande's work, Dr, Singh said that she went beyond Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Yatra and offered Satyagraha for securing the rights of landless labourers who were allotted land. "Nirmalaji has gone beyond our frontiers to spread Sadbhavna and has striven hard to establish goodwill and peace among our neigbours. She has been involved in organizing many meets and conferences to establish people to people contact between India and Pakistan. Such a crusader of peace, amity and understanding richly deserves the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award", Dr. Singh said. Nirmala Deshpande has recently been conferred with the India's second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan award, and her latest social initiative includes development of Gandhi Global Peace Centre at Gandhi Ashram Kingsway Camp in Delhi. The award, which carries a citation and rupees 2.5 lakh in cash, includes Mother Teresa, Former President K R Narayanan, Shehnai maestero Ustaad Bismillah Khan, singer Lata Mangeshkar and actor- turned politician Sunil Dutt as its previous recipient.

Hospitals ready for 'sweet sea water' cases

     Mumbai: Two days after people in Mumbai rushed to Mahim creek for drinking the 'miraculous' sweet water, the hospitals here are prepared to treat patients, anticipating water-borne epidemic from the sea water. While a full report on the tests carried by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is slated to be released tomorrow, various hospital authorities have already alerted their staffs and have made special provision for some beds for the anticipated patients. "We have set aside 20 beds only for these patients. Besides, we have made extra arrangements in the emergency medical unit and have put extra doctors on duty," said Dr M E Yeolekar, Dean of Sion Hospital. Sion Hospital is very close to the Mahim creek where on Friday night people rushed to drink the water after some children reported that the water had turned 'sweet'. In spite of BMC and the State Government made an appeal desisting them from drinking the water as it could have been 'contaminated', people in large numbers continued to flock in the area to drink or take some water back home till Saturday afternoon. BMC is anticipating water related cases like diarrhoea, amoebic dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever and have urged hospitals to keep a stock of medicines against these diseases. Government hospitals too have been made ready. Though the numbers of water-borne related cases have increased in recent days owing to monsoon and temporary flooding in the city, yet there has been no single case of the Mahim-related case so far. But the BMC and city hospitals are closely monitoring the situation and have decided to keep their fingers crossed.

Four Hizbul men arrested in Punjab (Go To Top)

     Gurdaspur (Punjab): The Punjab police on Sunday arrested four Hizbul Mujahideen militants from Pathankot town of Gurdaspur district near the Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir border. Police officials said that following a tip-off they raided the militant hideouts in Madhopur village in Pathankot. Police also recovered two AK 47 rifles, one pistol, one revolver and five kilogram of RDX from the militants. The four arrested have been identified as Javed, Tahir, Jahan Mir and Irshad, who revealed during the interrogation that they belonged to Hizbul outfit, police said. The Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit is one of the 32 outfits proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. Pakistan- occupied Kashmir based Syed Salahuddin is the "supreme commander" of the outfit. The outfit reportedly has a substantial support base in the Kashmir Valley and in the Doda, Rajouri, Poonch districts and parts of Udhampur district in the Jammu region.

Sexual harassment charge in Doon school (Go To Top)
by Ashish Goel

      Dehradun: Known for their quality of education, Doon schools have always been a student's dream. But recently one of its well-known schools was the talk of the town after a girl student alleged sexual harassment by senior students. The allegations were levelled by one of the students in a press conference called to inform media about the ongoing sexual abuse by senior students on junior students in the Shigally Hill International Academy, a well-known residential school of Dehradun. Dalef Singh, a student, has alleged that some of the senior girls of the school not only abused her and even sexually harassed her for a long time. Accompanied by her mother, the victim girl attended the press conference. Vicitm's mother levelled many serious charges against the school authorities. "The senior girls used to abuse us by using foul languages. They even used to sexually abuse us at times. We complained about the matter to the school authorities but nothing was done in this regard," said Dalef Singh, one of the students of the school and victim of sexual abuse. "When my daughter told me about this I talked to the Principal but she seems to be reluctant to take notice of the complaint. It started affecting my daughter's mental health. So, I decided to bring this issue in the open," said Sonia Singh, mother of Dalef Singh.

    However, the management of Shigally Hill International Academy has denied any knowledge of such an activity within the school premises. While condemning the allegations, Tanu Nayal, the Principal of the school, said no such thing has ever been brought to the notice of the school authorities. "No one ever contacted me or any concerned person from the staff. I strongly refute these charges", said Nayal. But the Police have registered a case against the school on the basis of the complaint lodged by the girl and her mother. The police have commenced probing into the matter. "We have registered a case against the school and investigations are on. At present, we cannot comment on anything. Let us investigate the whole issue and verify all aspects related to the case," said Rajkumar Verma, Station House Officer, Rajpur Police station.

Narcotics worth $1 m seized in Delhi (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Sunday seized 100 kilograms of banned drugs from the Delhi Cantonment area and arrested four persons in this connection. The drugs are estimated to be worth one million dollars in the international market. According to reports, the banned drugs were recovered while being transported to Ontario, Canada by hiding them in paintings through courier. Among the four arrested, one is a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from Canada, Amit Aggarwal form Delhi, Paramjit from Ludhiana and Lokesh from Indore. The seizure is being seen as a major breakthrough in the drug cartel that operates between Canada, USA and India. The police are conducting more raids across the country and more arrests are expected in the case later. In its last big haul of narcotics, the Delhi Police had on July 6 seized heroin worth Rs 41 crore and arrested the alleged kingpin of an inter-state drug trafficking chain and his associate. Gurnam Singh, wanted by police in Delhi and Punjab and by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police from Mahipalpur near the Delhi-Haryana border. On June 28, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested two Afghan nationals, Naqibullah Ali and his brother Ahmed Farad, from Munirka in South Delhi with 60 grams of cocaine and 35 tablets of ecstacy.

Pak to get F-16s but with wings clipped (Go To Top)

      Washington: Pakistan will be getting its quota of F-16s from the US, but with a tag attached, which is expected to reduce Pakistan's ability to use advanced air defence and air systems under certain conditions. A senior US official said Pakistan has agreed to an "unprecedented" security plan, including an "enhanced and end-use monitoring programme", which obliges Islamabad to "comply" with conditions laid down by Washington for F-16-related bases and facilities before the equipment is supplied. John Hillen, assistant secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department said according to the plan, US will have presence to monitor compliance with security plan requirements and end use monitoring programmes. Not only will F-16 flights outside Pakistan have to be approved in advance by the US government, access to F-16 aircraft equipment and munitions will be limited only to Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel pre-approved for such use, he said. "Routine access to F-16 aircraft equipment and munitions is in restricted areas and limited to Pakistan air force personnel that are pre-approved for such. There is a two-man rule, so to speak, for access to this equipment and restricted areas, and F-16 flights outside of Pakistan ... must be approved in advance by the United States government," the Daily Times quoted Hillen as saying. "We have had a US government security survey of their bases and facilities. We've put into the deal that they must comply with the approved security plans for their F-16-related bases and facilities before we'll release any systems in the sale. We will have a US presence to monitor compliance with the security plan requirements, a very enhanced and end-use monitoring programme," he said. He said that plan had been devised to ensure control of any "combat unauthorised proliferation". "We place all sorts of conditionality onto getting arms sales from the United States that protects American security interests and that protects exactly the sort of proliferation problem you alluded to. So I think this (F-16) sale works to exactly the opposite," he said. "I think it will give us access and influence in a country and in which we'll be able to see if there are any dynamics of that sort and be able to be involved in a leadership position, rather than just standing by if this happens," he added.

Narayana Murthy retires from Infosys (Go To Top)

      Bangalore: One of the founders of India's Fortune 500 company- Infosys and a software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Sunday formally bid adieu to the company's executive chairman post as he turned 60 years. Though he would not be holding any executive position in the company, Murthy would continue to remain as the mentor and guide for the company in the future. He had earlier said that the retirement would be making him busier as he would be travelling to different corners of the world and would try to learn more new things. Having guided Infosys all these years to make it one of the most admired IT companies in the world, Murthy's stepping down as its executive chairman would be seen as his sticking to his words as he had decided to retire at the age of 60 years, when the first foundations of the company was laid. There was no official farewell today for him, keeping in mind the 'humble' approach of the Infosys culture. "I will be spending time with my children and my wife," Murthy had said earlier.

India-Lanka series off due to rain (Go To Top)

      Colombo: The three-match series between India and Sri Lanka has been called off after the second match also got washed away in rains. However, the earlier cancelled tri-nation series (India, Sri Lanka, South Africa) may be held at a later mutually agreed date in 2007 after the World Cup. Samantha Alagama, the media manager of Sri Lanka cricket announcing the decision said: "After consultations with the Indian board, and bearing in mind the weather conditions, it has been decided to cancel the series and stage it at a later date". The series, which witnessed only 22 balls played, was marred from the beginning when South Africa announced to pull off citing "inadequate security arrangements", leading the earlier decided tri-nation series being transformed into a bilateral series. But the weather god decided to act as impediment later and finally led to the calling off the entire series today.

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