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Delhi cops beat to death youth in police station; mob goes on the rampage

         New Delhi, Oct 21: The police fired teargas and caned hundreds of rioters on Tuesday in west Delhi to quell a violent protest over the death of a youth suspected to have died in police custody on Monday night. The youth, shop-keeper Sushil Kumar, was beaten to death by policemen at the Madipur police station in west Delhi. According to reports, annoyed cops took him into custody for signalling off some gamblers playing in the area about their arrival. It is said that the cops wanted to extort huge sums from the gamblers. The mob was protesting against the police who they claim were responsible for the death of the youth. At least three motorcycles were set on fire and several police vans stoned when thousands of men took to the streets in Rohtak Road.

          One passerby, Vinod Kumar, said that he was beaten by the police for no reason. "I was just going to my place of work. The police beat me without any reason and now my head is bleeding," he said. The deputy commissioner of police, west Delhi, Satish Golcha, said that the policemen responsible for the death of the youth have been suspended and further enquiry is on. "We are enquiring into the matter, the concerned police station in-charge and the four other policemen have been suspended and further enquiry is being made into the matter," he said. Police say the protesters had been dispersed and the area was peaceful after almost four hours of trouble.

          A month ago, a defiant truck driver was shot dead by a policeman infuriated at his denial of extortion money at a traffic check post.

HC reserves order on Mayawati petitions

         Lucknow, Oct 21: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court will pronounce on Wednesday its orders on former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's two writ petitions seeking stay on her arrest and quashing of the FIRs in the Taj heritage corridor and the disproportionate assets cases. A Division Bench comprising Justices G K Gupta and Khemkaran reserved their orders on her petitions until tomorrow after hearing at length the counsel for the defence, state and the CBI. The Bench also reserved its orders on the two writ petitions filed by Mayawati's former principal secretary PL Punia and former secretary (Environment) VK Gupta seeking a stay on their arrest and quashing of the FIR in the same case.

Two militants shot dead, 12 civilians rescued (Go To Top)

          Shopian (J-K), Oct 21: Security forces stormed a house in a remote village in Kashmir on Tuesday, killing two militants holed up in the building hours after they released 12 hostages sent to help negotiate their surrender. Officials said troops used mortar bombs to bring down the house near Shopian, south of Srinagar, where the villagers had been held hostage since Monday morning. V.K Sharma, a senior army official, said: "(After the rescue of civilians) We again warned the militants to give in when they didn't, we shot them and we fired at them and rest is the story in front of you." Police said soldiers also shot dead nine militants in separate gunbattles across the Himalayan region where more than 38,000 people have died in 14 years of rebellion.

Ceiling on poll expenses raised (Go To Top)

         New Delhi, Oct 21: Ceiling on poll expenses has been raised by the Union Cabinet. At its meeting here on Tuesday, the Cabinet raised the ceiling for Lok Sabha elections from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh and for Assembly elections from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The Cabinet decision was taken after consultations with the Election Commission, official sources said.

Goa-Maharashtra boat services to resume soon (Go To Top)

         Panaji, Oct 21: The boat service between Maharashtra and Goa is all set to resume after a gap of five years. Goa government officials on Monday said the services, which would start by month-end, would boost tourism. (See Travel News)

US think-tank urges India to reorient its foreign policy (Go To Top)

         Washington, Oct 21: A Washington-based think-tank has urged India to reorient its foreign policy goals to get a berth in influential regional groupings that could dramatically impact its economy.

          India has been striving hard to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council for the past few years. "I would see the Security Council expanded and India included, I think it's a very good idea, notion. In the absence of that being likely, I also believe that there are a number of other institutions where India should have a relationship or be a member and since we're right in the APEC season, I continue to argue that India should be a member of APEC," Frank Wisner, former U.S.ambassador to India, told a seminar attended by scholars at the politically conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on Monday.

Pakistan asks US to rectify mistake on Dawood (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, Oct 21: Islamabad on Tuesday dismissed a U.S report that India's most wanted man, listed by Washington as a "terrorist", was based in Pakistan. The US Treasury has put Dawood Ibrahim on its global terrorist list linking him to Al-Qaeda and in a move seen as backing India's claim that he was hiding in Pakistan, listed his address as Karachi and said he was holding a Pakistani passport. Pakistan foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said the U.S had been asked to rectify its mistake.

          "Dawood Ibrahim is not in Pakistan. I would like to point out here that we do not have any India suspects on our soil. Second, India has not provided any evidence or proof of their presence on Pakistani soil. I mean, this story was, or this controversy, reignited by a determination made by the Treasury department of U.S. I can tell you that we cross-checked those facts and the facts given by the U.S government were not correct. The passport that was mentioned could not be traced to Dawood Ibrahim and the telephone number could not be verified. In fact the U.S.authorities have been asked to rectify this unsubstantiated linkage with Pakistani documents and telephone," Khan said.

          Ibrahim is wanted for masterminding a 1993 day-long wave of bombings in Mumbai that killed 260 people and injured 1,000.

Potters working overtime to meet demand for diyas (Go To Top)

         New Delhi, Oct 21: With the festival of lights "Diwali" round the corner, potters in the national capital are busy making designer earthen oil lamps. With people preferring designer lamps to traditional lamps, the potters are working day and night to complete the orders before Diwali, due to be celebrated on Saturday. However, with each passing generation comes changes and innovations. Pottery making has also improved with the introduction of new contemporary designs.

         Mahendra Kumhar, a potter living on the outskirts of the city, has been busy making earthen oil lamps for Diwali season. His family is among the five hundred potter families who make clay lamps, bells and earthen ware. "During Diwali there is lot of demand. We do not have even time to meet the demands. We earn a lot of money and try and complete the order. We have lot of demand this time and within three months we are able to earn 200,000 rupees," he said.

          Though the potters specialise in traditional oil lamps, it is their designer creations which are in greater demand. The traditional lamps cost two to five rupees per dozen, while the fancy lamps such as a plate attached with many lamps or the ones attached with bells, are costlier at 25-30 rupees. These earthen lamps are available in nice gift pack ranging from 120-200 rupees. Customers lap them all up with money no constraint in fulfilling their urge for variety and innovative designs.

         On the Diwali festival, candles and earthen lamps which traditionally mark the festival, are lighted outside houses and people burn firecrackers, bought specially for the occasion. The festival has its origin in Hindu mythology. Legend has it that on this day, Lord Rama returned to his kingdom in Ayodhya after defeating the demon king Ravana. Millions of earthen lamps and candles were said to have been lit to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and victory over Ravana. The festival is also celebrated in honour of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. It is believed that Lakshmi enters only those homes that are clean and well-lit.

Road, rail traffic disrupted by Jharkhand tribals (Go To Top)

          Ranchi, Oct 21: Road and rail traffic in Jharkhand was disrupted on Tuesday as tribals took to the streets protesting against the inclusion of a caste in the tribal list. The state government has recently moved a legislation in the assembly seeking tribal status for low-caste Kurmis after moving an amendment to the Tribal Tenancy Act. "Kurmis cannot be tribals. Our people are on the streets, sticked to our stance. We have blocked the roads all the way to (neighbouring) Chhattisgarh. We will not accept them being included in the tribal list," Jatru Oraon, vice president of the Tribal Students' Organisation, said in Ranchi.

         Kurmis, who constitute 25 percent of the total population of the state, have been demanding tribal status ever since Jharkhand was sliced out of Bihar in 2000. With several tribal groups, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) fighting for tribal status and enhanced reservation in government jobs, the state has become a cauldron of communal and caste politics.

         Last year, tribals had paralysed the administration in protest against the government's move to fill over 10,000 posts of teachers in state-run schools through open recruitment. India guarantees reservation for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in government jobs and education institutions to shake off the upper caste domination in society. A commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes looks into their welfare. Reservation has become a major political and social issue with job opportunities shrinking and the number of educated unemployed swelling.

MS Office 2003 launched by Microsoft India  (Go To Top)

         New Delhi, Oct 21: Microsoft India has unveiled MS Office 2003 system which includes programme servers, solutions and services to enable the users to access, integrate and utilise information from disparate sources. As part of the launch system, the company also introduced three products - MS Information Path, MS Onenote and Office Line Communication Server. In the MS Office 2003, the company has included Information Rights Management capabilities that would obstruct unauthorised access and use of e-mails and documents.

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-ANI

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