| Anti-terror operations can be put on hold: Shivraj Patil - Nov 7, 2004 19:4 IST |
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India’s Home Minister Shivraj Patil Sunday indicated that anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir could be put on hold if militants responded to persuasions to give up arms.
This was seen as a first sign that the government is willing to offer the olive branch to the militants.
During a visit to the border with Pakistan, Patil told reporters: If the militants listen to reason and give up arms, there would be no need for intensification of operations against them.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had told Patil Saturday evening in summer capital Srinagar that an internal ceasefire could boost the peace process in Kashmir and complete the circle of normalcy.
Patil, who sat in a bunker of the Border Security Force (BSF) and had a view of activities across the border, acknowledged that infiltration had come down but it was not yet completely over.
It is continuing even today, Patil said.
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| Cross-border terrorism from Pakistan continuing: army - Nov 7, 2004 19:3 IST |
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The Indian Army Sunday said terrorist incursions into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan were rising, with 12 militants killed and four infiltration attempts foiled in the first six days of this month.
The Indian Army’s chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Deepak Summanwar, told reporters here that the figures represented the tempo of the terrorists’ efforts to infiltrate, but it was too early to deduce anything.
What is important is our security apparatus is in place and we have been launching an offensive against infiltrators, he said.
During the whole of November last year, 13 terrorists were gunned down and eight infiltration attempts were foiled.
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| NDFB leaders will not be killed or captured: Tarun Gogoi - Nov 7, 2004 19:2 IST |
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The Assam government Sunday assured an influential tribal separatist group that its leaders willing to come for peace talks with the authorities will not be arrested or killed.
We assure leaders of the NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) of full protection and security cover when they come for talks with the government, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Ggoi told journalists in the state’s main city of Guwahati.
They need not worry about being either killed or captured.
Gogoi was reacting to reports about the NDFB threatening to call off a 20-day-old ceasefire.
The Assam chief minister is asking us to send representatives to formalise the truce. How can we send our leaders out when Indian soldiers are training their guns and killing our men? D.R. Nabla, NDFB president, said in a statement Friday night.
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| Delhi décor exhibition brings best of essential art - Nov 7, 2004 19:1 IST |
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An exhibition here has brought together some of the biggest names in art, design, fashion and décor to give customers a full range of goodies for their dream home.
The three-day Art and Design Show, which began Saturday night at the Oberoi Hotel, has drawn big names like designers David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore, décor companies Lladro, Oikos, Baker furniture and Renaissance Homes, home jewellery from Nirmal Zaveri, silverware from Trendsmith and a host of canvases from top painters.
There’s the abstract work of Jitesh Kallat, photographs of Madhavi Swarup and even a portfolio of oleographs - reproductions using a stone block coloured with oil paints instead of printing ink - from the Ravi Varma Press.
From innovatively styled chairs to lamps shades, liquor cabinets and tumblers, photo frames, rugs, the paintings of Jamini Roy and K.C.S. Paniker, the exhibition is a one-stop-shop for creatively designing a home.
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| Government returning favour to Maoists: Advani - Nov 7, 2004 19:1 IST |
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The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was returning a favour to Maoists for their support during the national elections by adopting a soft policy towards them, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L.K. Advani has alleged.
The former deputy prime minister also charged the UPA with deliberately endangering the nation’s internal security by allowing the Andhra Pradesh government to hold talks with the guerrillas.
Maoists supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls after an assurance that the party will be soft on them and take care of their interests. The point has been vindicated by the policy the UPA has adopted to deal with the guerrillas, Advani, on a daylong visit here to participate in Chhattisgarh’s fourth foundation anniversary celebrations, told reporters.
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| CII lowers India’s GDP growth projection - Nov 7, 2004 18:59 IST |
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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has lowered its projection of India’s economic growth for the 2004-05 fiscal to around 6.5 percent from over seven percent earlier due to lower farm growth expectations.
But the industry lobby is confident that industry and services sectors will record healthy growth this year.
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow down to around 6.5 percent, a CII statement said Sunday.
The growth in agriculture would be around one percent only, primarily due to the delay in monsoon and the high base of the previous year.
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| Export market shuts after businessman’s abduction - Nov 7, 2004 18:57 IST |
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An export market in West Bengal has been shut for three days to protest the abduction of a Bangladeshi businessman.
The Mahidipur import-export zone, on the outskirts of the border town of Malda, about 350 km from here, was closed after 32-year-old Nazrul Islam was abducted from here three days ago.
Islam’s abductors have called up his home in Bangladesh and demanded a ransom of nearly Rs.1 million, Malda district police superintendent Sasikanta Pujari said.
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| Children escape from remand home - Nov 7, 2004 18:56 IST |
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Seven children have escaped from a remand home in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district by scaling its wall.
The children, who face charges ranging from murder to theft, scaled the 20-foot wall of the Bhuda remand home Saturday night, police said.
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| Manmohan prescribes ’social vaccine’ against AIDS - Nov 7, 2004 18:54 IST |
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In the absence of a medical vaccine against AIDS, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday prescribed the social vaccine of education and awareness to prevent the spread of the killer disease.
Addressing a ’youth parliament’ of students from across the country on HIV/AIDS, Manmohan Singh stressed the need for ending the taboos associated with the disease.
We will have to put an end to three ’Ss’ - Silence, Stigma and Shame. Young people can protect themselves only if they have proper information about HIV/AIDS, he noted.
Singh met the young ’parliamentarians’ shortly before his departure for The Hague to attend the India-EU summit.
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| Spending on e-governance in India rises rapidly - Nov 7, 2004 18:49 IST |
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With more state governments vying with one other to embrace IT to enhance efficiency and interface with citizens, the investment on e-governance projects has seen a steady rise in the past few years.
Spending on e-governance has gone up by an impressive 25 percent annually from around Rs.15 billion in 2002 to an estimated Rs.22 billion this year, says a survey conducted by IT sector research firm Skoch Consultancy.
Significantly, the survey revealed that e-governance had also helped in reducing corruption in areas like land records and customs clearances for exports and imports.
While the spending on e-governance is posting a 23 percent increase year-on-year, the overall figure is still very low and the number of sites still far and few, said the latest survey report made available to IANS.
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| Jharkhand to frame IT policy to woo investors - Nov 7, 2004 18:47 IST |
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Jharkhand is framing its first IT policy to attract investors and to make the state a hub of IT activities to provide new employment avenues for the youth.
Jharkhand currently has no separate IT policy and IT-related issues are worked out under the state’s industrial policy. We are preparing an exclusive draft for a new IT policy, said R.S Sharma, commissioner of the IT department.
We have consulted different departments while drafting the policy. The draft will appear on the website of the IT department and we will invite suggestions from experts before giving it a final touch.
The draft was prepared with the help of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
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| Arun Nayar throws lavish birthday bash - Nov 7, 2004 18:43 IST |
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Well-known NRI Arun Nayar celebrated his birthday Saturday evening with girlfriend and Hollywood actress Liz Hurley and close friends and relatives in a gala ceremony at the 18th century Devigarh Fort Palace Hotel here.
Some 60 close friends and relatives of Nayar and Hurley attended the party at the heritage hotel, tucked away in the Aravalli hills just outside the Udaipur, also called Rajasthan’s city of lakes.
The couple made a grand entry to the poolside, where the party was being held, sitting on bejewelled elephants. Rajasthani folk music enthralled the guests. Traditional dance troupes were called from Udaipur and Jodhpur to perform colour local dances.
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| Manmohan welcomes strategic partnership with EU - Nov 7, 2004 18:42 IST |
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We warmly welcome this development, he said in a statement before his departure on a three-day visit to the Dutch city.
Manmohan Singh described India and the EU as natural partners.
Our relations are based on shared values - democracy, pluralism, rule of law, free press and independent judiciary.
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| Manmohan Singh leaves for the Netherlands - Nov 7, 2004 18:41 IST |
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External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit and other senior officials are part of the prime minister’s entourage.
The summit will take place Monday. This will be Manmohan Singh’s first interaction with the EU’s top hierarchy since he assumed office in May.
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| Text of prime minister’s departure statement - Nov 7, 2004 18:40 IST |
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I leave today on a visit to The Hague to participate in the 5th India-EU summit hosted by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands.
Europe is an important political and strategic factor on the international scene. Recently the EU increased its membership from 15 to 25 states, erasing the vertical fault-line that divided the European continent for over half a century. EU is emerging as a politically influential, economically powerful and demographically diverse regional entity in the world.
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| Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh)Man ostracised for being bit by snake - Nov 7, 2004 18:39 IST |
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Basant Rao, a farmer from the Raj Gond tribal community of Sudamapuri village here, was bit by a snake a few days ago. He went to the district hospital for treatment, but instead of healing, the wound became gangrenous.
Soon after, the village council met to excommunicate Basant and his family - in accordance with an age-old tradition that calls for ostracising people who are bit by animals or reptiles.
The council told Basant he could escape the punishment if his elder brother, Anik Rao, would pay a fine of Rs.50 ($1) and get his head tonsured.
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| Ambala doctors threaten to stop emergency services - Nov 7, 2004 18:38 IST |
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The main grouse of the doctors here is insecurity following some incidents in the past fortnight.
On the night of Oct 29, a masked man armed with a dagger entered the residence of leading surgeon N.P. Singh. He stood by the side of the bed of the doctor -- who was fast asleep -- and woke him up to demand money.
I was shocked to see this man standing with the dagger. My whole family was awake at that time but were in other rooms, Singh said.
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| Boxing coach gives variety of reasons for Olympic losses - Nov 7, 2004 18:36 IST |
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Four Indian boxers -- Akhil Kumar (51 kg), Diwakar Prasad (51 kg), Vijender (64 kg) and Jitender Kumar (81 kg) -- took part in the Aug 13-29 games, but none could progress beyond the second round.
Writing about the overall performance of the boxers, national coach G.S. Sandhu said the draw was one of the main reasons for the boxers’ flop show.
We were unlucky in the draw as none of our boxers received a bye, Sandhu said in his report, attached to chef-de-mission Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi’s main report submitted to the Indian Olympic Association.
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| ICAR, partners share prestigious King Baudouin Award - Nov 7, 2004 18:34 IST |
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The institutions have won the award, named after a Belgian king and one of the highest scientific honours in the world for over two decades, for promoting environment-friendly practices that have benefited thousands of farmers.
The institutions are part of the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (RWC) set up in 1994 to address sustainability concerns arising from intensive farming of rice and wheat in the four South Asian countries irrigated by the Indo-Gangetic river systems.
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| Bollywood’s bright Diwali bonanza - Nov 7, 2004 18:33 IST |
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Pre-Diwali season being dismal as usual, the industry is hoping to see a big explosion in the coming week.
Naturally, no film can get bigger than Veer-Zaara, Yash Chopra’s first directorial venture in six years. Already, the film’s advance booking queues are longer than those of any other Shah Rukh Khan starrer.
With the successful Kal Ho Na Ho pair of Khan and Preity Zinta, and the late Madan Mohan’s sublime musical score, Veer-Zaara is likely to be the blockbuster of the year.
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