Thiruvananthapuram, January 29: The number of uneconomic schools in Kerala has gone up from over 2500 to 3661 in a span of two years, according to a recent study.
These comprise 1839 government schools and 1822 aided schools, the study conducted by the office of the state’s Director of Public Administration (DPI) said.
Speaking to IANS, DPI A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish said the last time a similar exercise was done was two year back.
New Delhi, January 29: The health ministry’s plan to start a Rural MBBS course of three-and-a-half years to provide treatment in far-flung areas will create half baked professionals and will be discriminatory in nature, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said Friday.
‘This step would be discriminatory to both the people who get treatment from such half baked professionals and also to the medical students who take eight to 10 years to become specialist doctors,’ NHRC member P.C. Sharma said at a conference of state health secretaries.
Tirumala, January 29: The trial run of the state-of-the art machinery installed in the newly constructed temple kitchen for the open sale of Srivari Laddu Prasadam began this morning. For the first time in the history of Venkateswara temple, Laddu Prasadam is being prepared outside the complex.
As part of the mechanisation process, `boondi’, the main ingredient of laddu, is prepared outside. Later, it is sent into the temple through a conveyor belt.
New Delhi, January 29: Actor and social activist Rahul Bose will run in a marathon in the capital Sunday to raise funds for cancer research in India.
The event — ‘Terry Fox – Marathon of Hope’ — has been organised by the Indo-Canadian Cancer Research Foundation. The marathon will begin from Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram at 8:30 a.m.
‘Around 1,500-2,000 runners are awaited for the 2010 edition (of the annual event), among which is actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player Rahul Bose,’ the organisers said in a statement.
Bangalore, January 29: India has developed a new generation multi-sensor, multi-weapon defence system against enemy targets on board naval ships.
The state-of-the-art “Gun Fire Control System” (GFCS) developed by Bharat Electronics Limited will be installed on board the P-28 class of ships.
“The GFCS is a quick reaction, multi-sensor, multi-weapon, short/medium/long range defence system against air, surface or shore targets on board naval ships”, a senior official of the Bangalore-based Navratna defence PSU told PTI.
Karachi, January 29: In an apparent retaliation to the snub at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday revoked all the ‘No Objection Certificates’ (NOCs) issued to its players for participation in the third edition of Twenty20 event.
The decision effectively means that no Pakistani cricketer can now take part in this season’s IPL even if the franchises want to rope them in as substitutes. A statement from the board said all the NOC’s issued to players for IPL-III stand revoked.
Mumbai, January 29: The growing proximity between Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan just got thicker. The latter requested for a print of ‘Rann’ to kick-start his newly-constructed home theatre at his residence here.
“Shah Rukh specifically wanted to inaugurate his home theatre with a Bachchan starrer. Luckily, ‘Rann’ was on release this week. So he asked Karan Johar to quickly dial Mr. Bachchan who put him on to the producers of ‘Rann’. The producers gladly arranged for a print of ‘Rann’ to be delivered to SRK’s place on Thursday evening,” said a source close to the actor.
Mumbai, January 29: The Reserve Bank today said its asking the lenders to park more cash with itself would not harden interest rates immediately or impact the credit flow to the private sector.
In its quarterly monetary policy review today, RBI hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR)– the amount banks have to park with the central bank– by 0.75 per cent to 5.75 per cent.
“(Despite the CRR hike), there will be sufficient liquidity in the system to meet the potential demand from the private sector,” RBI Governor Subbarao told reporters here today.
London, January 29: Expressing “distress” over the spate of attacks on Indians in Australia, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said he hoped that a high-level committee set up by Canberra to comprehensively study the issue would take a “serious view” of such incidents.
“I would like to condemn unequivocally the attacks on Indian students being repeated over and over again. This has distressed me because just yesterday we had a long talk with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
New Delhi, January 29: Samajwadi Party, locked in a clash with Amar Singh, today ruled out his expulsion from the party and is preparing for a battle of wits so that he does not enjoy the privileges of an “unattached” member in Rajya Sabha.
“We are just watching Amar Singh. We don’t want to fall into his trap. He is not a 24-hour political worker and wants the ladder of the Rajya Sabha seat till alternative arrangements are made,” party general secretary Mohan Singh told PTI.
New Delhi, January 29: A Delhi court today acquitted a man, accused of setting ablaze his tenant in 2004 after the victim refused to give him a bottle of liquor, saying the dying declaration was not reliable.
Additional Sessions Judge J R Aryan doubted the veracity of the statement given by the victim to the doctor and the investigating officer before his death.
New Delhi, January 29: Congress today attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati over the state government’s reported decision to raise a security force to protect monuments and memorials of Dalit leaders saying a private militia is being raised at the expense of tax payers.
“The UP Chief Minister is raising a security force not to protect human beings but statues….the action of the UP government makes it appear as if a private militia is being raised at the expense of tax payers,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
New Delhi, January 29: The Delhi High Court today said public land grabbers should be dealt with iron hands by the government.
“If this trend of land-grabbing is not reversed, the impression in society that only fools are law abiding and that the unruly are never brought to book will be cemented. It is imperative that violators of law must be compelled to honour the law and respect the rights of law-abiding citizens,” a bench headed by Justice Vikramajit Sen said.
Hyderabad, January 29: British Deputy High Commissioner to Southern India Mike Nithavrianakis on Thursday stated that institutions in the United Kingdom were interested in tying up with world-class institutions in India, particularly in the south.
Education sector was most important in the growing India-UK ties as about 57 per cent of over one billion population of India was below 25 years of age.
Though a sizeable chunk of people India were still denied access to quality healthcare facilities, the country had been making rapid strides in all spheres.
Patna, January 29: Four members of proscribed CPI (Maoist) were today sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court for killing an RJD leader and former village head two years ago.
Additional district and sessions judge Kishori Ram found the three guilty of killing RJD leader Mithilesh Kumar on March 7, 2008 at Kharaunj village of the district and sentenced them.
He also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of them.
–Agencies
Bangalore, January 29: Unmanned aerial vehicle Nishant today created a flutter when it landed at a location other than its designated landing place at the testing range of Defence Research and Development Organisation near Kolar in Karnataka.
The landing was mistaken for an accident by locals who saw the machine coming down, DRDO sources said.
DRDO personnel switched off the engine and enabled it to land softly with the help of on-board parachute, in a area filled with sand. It was landed at a different place “deliberately”, a DRDO official said.
–Agencies
Ahmedabad, January 29: Reacting to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s diatribe against Sonia Gandhi over price rise, the Congress party on Friday said the remarks against its president were ‘preposterous’.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters he could not dignify the remarks of Modi and that he had lost it.
Modi on Thursday had a dig at Gandhi on price rise saying he would now write a letter in Italian to draw Centre’s attention towards the issue.
New Delhi, January 29: A court today sentenced a former Delhi police constable to three years imprisonment for seeking bribe from a woman after threatening to implicate her son in a criminal case.
Special Judge A S Yadav refused to show any leniency to Amang Pal, the then Delhi police constable, after holding him guilty of various offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Kolkata, January 29: The owner of popular confectionery chain Haldiram, Prabhu Shankar Agarwal, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted by a city court in an attempt-to-murder case.
Four others were also convicted in the case.
Agarwal, who has an outlet at Burrabazar, and four others, including Gopal Tiwari, the hired killer, Raja Sonkar, Monoj Thakur and Arun Khandelwal were charged with attempt to murder of a tea stall owner which was in front of the outlet.
New Delhi, January 29: The disclosure of attendance roll of a government official does not mean invasion of privacy and should be given to an RTI applicant, the Central Information Commission has held.
“The disclosure of the photocopy of the attendance register cannot be considered an invasion of the privacy of an individual and hence does not fall under the exemption of the RTI Act,” Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi held.
Srinagar, January 29: As part of its platinum jubilee celebrations, the Reserve Bank of India today organised an outreach programme at village Karhama in Baramulla district in order to adopt it as a model village and provide all banking facilities to the villagers through Information Communication Technology.
J and K Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is local MLA, appreciated the efforts of RBI in reaching out to such a remote village in Kashmir to celebrate its Platinum Jubilee.
New Delhi, January 29: Two Bangladeshi nationals, including a woman, were arrested here for allegedly robbing cash and jewellery worth over Rs 2.5 lakh from a residence in posh south-east Delhi locality last week, police said today.
The arrested persons have been identified as Sikander and Sulekha, who were among four robbers allegedly involved in the robbery of cash and jewellery at the house of one Amarjeet Singh in East of Kailash on January 23.
New Delhi, January 29: A Delhi court today remanded in 14-day judicial custody a septuagenarian woman, who was arrested after scanning of a video footage allegedly showing her stealing jewelleries from a shop here.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jitender Mishra sent Vimla Nath, 73, to jail till February 14 after she was produced on the conclusion of her day-long custodial interrogation at lock up at Chanakyapuri police station.
The investigators did not seek her further custodial interrogation.
Hyderabad, January 29: The proposed marriage of popular Telugu film actor Junior NTR with a relative of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu has created a row with claims that the girl is minor.
Shanti Prasad, a lawyer, Friday approached Machilipatnam Legal Services Authority claiming that Narne Lakshmi Pranati was a minor and thus her marriage would be illegal.
The authority issued notices to Junior NTR, Naidu and the girl’s father Narne Srinivas Rao, who owns Telugu news channel Studio N. The hearing was adjourned to Feb 24.
Muzaffarpur (Bihar), January 29: A complaint was filed in a Bihar court seeking to prosecute RJD President Lalu Prasad, his wife and leader of the Opposition in state assembly Rabri Devi, LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan and others charging them with “instigating” their supporters to resort to “vandalism and arson” to enforce a shutdown here.
Senior advocate Sudhir Ojha today filed the complaint in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate R C Malviya, who fixed February 22 as next date for hearing the witnesses after admitting the petition.