News

New Delhi, August 07: Orange-robed men on the streets, roadside camps for them to rest, high decibel cries of ‘Har Har Mahadev’… Delhi is witnessing an intoxicating fervour in one of the biggest annual religious events of northern India.

Carrying richly decorated poles on their shoulders, the kanwariyas fetch Ganga water from Haridwar. And they walk home, some barefoot, covering hundreds of kilometres to various villages and towns in northern India to worship Lord Shiva during the month of Shravan (monsoon).

Thiruvananthapuram, August 07: President Pratibha Patil will Friday inaugurate what is believed to be the costliest prayer hall in Kerala and probably one of the fanciest in the country that was built at a cost of Rs 30 crore. It is shaped like a white lotus and will be unveiled at the Santhigiri Ashram near here.

Swami Jana Nanma Jnana Thapaswi Saturday told reporters here that the 91-foot-high lotus-shaped hall named as ‘Parnasala’ is dedicated to Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru, the Ashram’s late founder.

Chennai, August 07: Have a penchant to jump signals when the traffic cop is not around? Are you a car-lifter on the run? Have you sped away after knocking someone down with your vehicle? Watch out! For, your days of joyrides on wheels are numbered.

An ‘invisible’ eye will be able read your vehicle’s number plate at traffic signals and transmit the images to the control room instantly, enabling the personnel before the computer to alert the police before you reach the next signal.

Uttar Pradesh, August 07: A senior official of Punjab National Bank (PNB) was found dead in a hotel room in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district.

Kulbhushan Sharma (48), chief auditor of PNB, was found dead late Friday inside the Tea Rose hotel in Bareilly. The police found the body after hotel staff called them up as Sharma was not responding to the doorbell.

Sharma, who had a touring job and primarily looked after the work of two branches of the PNB in Bareilly, was a resident of Delhi. During his stay in Bareilly, he used to reside in hotels.

Haryana, August 07: After 22 years Sindoliya khap panchayat of Haryana have lifted social boycott of a family charged with marriage in the same gotra.

Chandram, a resident of Barwas village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, had married his two sons Sajjan Singh and Umed Singh with two sisters of Beran village in Churu district of Rajasthan.

New Delhi, August 07: Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said that financial aid of nearly Rs.14, 000 crore would be approved for Maoist-affected districts for integrated development.

The home minister also hinted at a change in the manner in which the central government released money for development programmes to the states affected by Maoist insurgency.

Srinagar, August 07: The Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday rejected the dialogue offer by the government, saying that the group will not enter into any talks with the Centre unless the Kashmir is recognised as dispute and withdraws army from the state.

However, he said, “If this is done, then a dialogue could be held to discuss the technicalities of implementing UN resolutions”.

Geelani called the talks offer as conspiracy to discredit him.

Darbhanga, August 07: A Bihar court on Saturday summoned MNS chief Raj Thackeray for clarifying his position in connection with a complaint against the latter’s alleged provocative statement against migrants from northern India in Mumbai in 2008.

Darbhanga district Judge Sushil Kumar ordered the issue of summon to Thackeray asking him to present his side in the court by September 3. “Thackeray can appear in the court in person or through his lawyer to explain the position,” Kumar ordered.

New Delhi, August 07: Admitting that the government’s developmental plans were not delivering desired results in impoverished tribal regions of east and central India, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday said financial aid of nearly Rs.14,000 crore would be approved soon for Maoist-affected districts.

The home minister also hinted at a change in the manner in which the central government released money for development programmes to the states affected by Maoist insurgency.

Mumbai, August 07: A major security breach – the second in the past nine months – was foiled at the high-security Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) when security personnel and police nabbed seven people who attempted to secure class IV jobs there using forged documents and the man who arranged their “recruitment”.

Police inspector S.G. Mullemwar of Tarapur Police Station Saturday said that there was “no security threat of any kind to the BARC,” and there was no involvement of any officials from within the country’s premier atomic complex.

Srinagar, August 07: Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who recently came out against violence in Kashmir, today rejected the Centre’s dialogue offer.

“I strongly reject the talks offer…. We will not enter into a dialogue with New Delhi, quiet or open, unless India recognises Kashmir as dispute and agrees to complete withdrawal of army from the state,” the separatist leader told reporters here.

However, he said, “If this is done, then a dialogue could be held to discuss the technicalities of implementing UN resolutions”.

Goalpara, August 07: Unidentified extremists Friday exploded a bomb in a market close to the SP office here, officials said.

However, no one was injured as the market was closed at 8.00 pm, they said.

The blast took place at 10.50 pm at Bapuji Nagar market and about 50 mts away from the office of the Superintendent of Police.

Though there is no specific information about the outfit behind the blast, both ULFA and NDFB are active in the area, police said.

New Delhi, August 07: The government will soon approve an integrated action plan, including a financial aid of Rs 13,742 crore, for infrastructural development in Naxal-hit districts in the country.

The plan spread over a period of three years will aim at development of infrastructure and facilities like drinking water, electricity, roads, sanitation and health services.

Besides, it will envisage continuous efforts to improve governance like implementation of Panchayats Extension (to Schedule Areas) Act of 1996 (PESA) so as to give the tribals the right to use minor forest produce.

Srinagar, August 07: The offer of “quiet dialogue” by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has not gone down too well with separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir with hardline leader Syed Ali Geelani rejecting it, saying it was an attempt to “discredit him” as he had not softened his stand.