New Delhi, July 30: The government has initiated a study to assess the demand for steel in rural markets, Minister of State for Steel A. Sai Prathap said Friday in the Rajya Sabha.
According to him, consumption for steel has not been picking up in the rural areas because of low level of awareness about the varied benefits of using steel and the perception of steel as an expensive item among the villagers.
New Delhi, July 30: Private sector Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) Friday announced that its subsidiary, Lavasa Corporation, will be entering the capital markets with an initial public offering (IPO) of Rs.2,000 crore.
‘Lavasa IPO will unlock its true value, thereby enabling HCC to be one step closer in realizing its vision. This bonus is the show of gratitude to our shareholders who have shared this journey with HCC,’ said Ajit Gulabchand, chief executive, HCC.
Mumbai, July 30: Late selling pressured a benchmark index for Indian equities Friday to close 123 points lower on a lacklustre day of trade. Global markets too exhibited a negative tendency.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,981.06 points, closed at 17,868.29 points, 123.71 points or 0.69 percent down from its previous close at 17,992 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 5,367.6 points, down 0.76 percent from its previous close at 5,408.9 points.
New Delhi, July 30: As many as 11 more people tested positive for swine flu in Delhi, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 74 in the capital, an official said Friday.
‘Eleven people have tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) in Delhi. There have been no deaths Friday,’ nodal officer for swine flu Debashish Bhattacharya told IANS.
Delhi has so far reported seven swine flu deaths.
–IANS
New Delhi, July 30: Five new cases of dengue in the capital have taken the number of people affected by the mosquito-borne disease to 46, an official said Friday.
‘Five people have tested positive for dengue in Delhi. But no deaths were reported Friday,’ N.K. Yadav, chief medical officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), told IANS.
Delhi has so far reported one dengue death this year.
–IANS
New Delhi, July 30: Malnutrition is not a major cause of death among infants as a report shows that only two percent kids die of it in India, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here Friday.
‘As per the latest available data with the Registrar General of India (RGI) for 2001-03, two percent of the total infant deaths were due to malnutrition,’ Azad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
However, he said malnutrition may ‘increase morbidity and mortality’ by reducing resistance to infections.
Mumbai, July 30: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will undergo cardiac surgeries next week in the Asian Heart Institute (AHI) in Bandra here, a hospital spokesperson said Friday.
Gogoi, who was admitted to the hospital Friday afternoon, has been recommended two emergency heart surgeries following blockages in the blood vessel detected by his doctors.
AHI head Ramakanta Panda examined the 74-year-old in New Delhi Wednesday and advised surgeries.
New Delhi, July 30: Radical Islamic outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI) Friday asked Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to apologise for his statement that the outfit is aiming to convert the state to a Muslim dominated one using ‘money and marriages’.
The outfit, whose activists have been accused of chopping off a hand of a college professor for allegedly making derogatory references to Prophet Mohammed, warned that such a statement by the chief minister would ‘only endanger communal harmony existing in the state’.
Colombo, July 30: Lambasting the lifeless pitch that produced a dull high-scoring draw against Sri Lanka, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said the track made it seem that the bowlers were there just to get smashed all over the park.
Sri Lanka piled up 642 declared before India replied in similar fashion to post 707 on the board in a rather disappointing track which offered nothing to the bowlers.
New Delhi, July 30: Controversial Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, facing impeachment in Parliament following allegations of corruption, was today shifted to Sikkim.
A Law Ministry notification said the decision was taken by President Pratibha Patil after consultation with Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia. Justice Dinakaran has been directed to assume charge as Sikkim High Court Chief Justice on or before August 13.
Baghdad, July 29:Al-Qaida briefly planted its flag in Baghdad today as militants killed 23 members of Iraq’s security forces across the country in a combination of shootings and roadside bombs demonstrating the dangers the country still faces.
The worst attack came in Baghdad’s Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiyah when 16 Iraqi security forces were killed by what appeared to have been coordinated strikes by al-Qaida militants, who then planted their flag close to the blood-soaked site.
Colombo, July 30: The second cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka meandered to a tame high-scoring draw here today with a staggering 1478 runs being scored over five days on a track which proved to be graveyard for bowlers.
With little interest left on a dreary last day, the Indians scored a mammoth 707 all out in the first innings, recording their second-highest total ever largely due to a dogged resistance by the last wicket pair of Ishant Sharma (27) and Pragyan Ojha (17).
Mumbai, July 31: A decision on the television broadcasting rights and the request of the Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG) organisers for financial help are likely to be taken up for discussion when the Cricket Board’s Working Committee meets here tomorrow.
The letter to the Board for financial assistance to the tune of Rs 100 crore had come from Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi who is also the chairman of the CWG Organising Committee.
New Delhi, July 30: US President Barack Obama, who will undertake his first State visit to India in November, is expected to address a joint session of Parliament, an honour that his predecessor George W Bush could not have.
Obama is expected to address the joint session on November nine, government sources said here today.
In view of this plan, the Winter Session of Parliament, that usually starts in the second week of November, will be advanced, they said.
New Delhi, July 30: Signs of an end to the impasse in Parliament appeared to have brightened today with the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.
A formula is reportedly being worked out which could be acceptable to both the sides that have pushed themselves to their corner with a demand for a vote on the issue of prices and strongly opposing it respectively.
A breakthrough may be achieved on Monday when both the Houses of Parliament could transact after the whole of this week was a ‘no show’ this week, political sources said.
Dubai, July 30: The UAE has decided to set up organized professional and academic educational and awareness programs to fight sexual exploitation and abuse of children, the official WAM news agency reported Thursday.
Educational and awareness programs targeting children will be infused into school curriculums. The syllabi will be made suitable for the nature of each school level the children are at.
Kolkata, July 30: Swine flu has claimed yet another life in West Bengal raising the toll to three, while two fresh cases were reported here today.
The latest casualty from the disease was a resident of Ariadaha in North 24-parganas district who died yesterday, health department sources said.
Two fresh cases were reported during the day, while the condition of three was stated to be critical in state-run hospitals, they said.
The total number of affected was 93.
Ahmedabad, July 30: An IPS officer is among seven policemen who were charged with criminal conspiracy, murder and kidnapping today in the encounter killing case involving Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter.
Vipul Agarwal, who was the Superintendent of Police of Banaskantha district when the encounter took place in 2006, was named in the 1,000-page chargesheet filed by Gujarat CID in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate S S Joshi in Banaskantha, about 160 km from here.
New Delhi, July 30: The TRS sweep in the Assembly by-elections in the Telangana region have brought fresh worries to the Congress, which is already a divided lot on the issue of a separate state.
The election result and the trends have not come as a surprise to the party, a section of which was against even contesting the polls being held in a surcharged atmosphere.
The Chandrashekhar Rao-led party used the by-polls virtually as a referendum on the issue of separate statehood for Telangana at a time when the Centre has constituted the Sri Krishna Commission to look into the matter.
Kochi, July 30: A car, suspected to have been used by some of the accused to escape after the July 4 attack on college lecturer T J Joseph, has been seized by police from the house of an activist of the radical Muslim outfit Popular Front of India in nearby Aluva.
Joseph’s right hand was chopped off allegedly by activists of PFI for preparing a question paper which allegedly had certain derogatory references to Prophet Mohammed.
The seizure was made from the house of a PFI activist at Kunjunnikkara yesterday. The car belonged to one Niyaz of Kalady, police said.
New Delhi, July 30: BJP today hailed its victory in the Assembly by-polls in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh as a verdict in favour of its vociferous demand for carving out a separate state for the locals in the southern state.
“This is the people’s verdict for Telangana. Now Congress should not delay formation of a separate state as both states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will co-exist peacefully and prosper rapidly,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He is also BJP in-charge of Andhra Pradesh and has often raised his voice in support of formation of Telangana.
Shillong, July 30: Over 900 infiltrators were apprehended along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya this year till June, against over 2,000 last year.
“Till June, about 939 infiltrators were apprehended on the Indo-Bangladesh border while the figure for 2009 was 2,460,” an official statement said here today.
It said the declining figures followed the Centre adopting a multi-pronged approach to contain cross-border infiltration which included surveillance and patrol of the borders.
Guwahati, July 30: Four NDFB militants have been arrested in Assam today following intelligence reports of possible subversive activities by the outfit, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, three NDFB militants, including a woman, were nabbed by the police during stepped up search operations in various parts of the city.
The arrested militants have been identified as Sushmita Brahma, trained in Bangladesh, Bipul Brahma and Janak Brahma.
In another incident, an NDFB militant, Rajkumar Khaklary, was nabbed from Dudhnoi in Goalpara district, the police added.
–Agencies
Agartala, July 30: People turned out in large numbers to welcome the 2010 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton which arrived here today.
The baton was received at the Agartala airport by the president of the Tripura Olympic Association, Gopal Roy, who is also an MLA.
A cultural function will be held tomorrow at the Umakanta stadium here and the baton would be handed over to the state government formally.
The baton will be taken to Kolkata on August 1 from here, officials said.
–Agencies
New Delhi, July 30: Probe into the Samjhauta Express blast by the National Investigation Agency will look into the entire conspiracy behind the attack including links of the accused in terror cases in Rajasthan and Maharashtra also.
Replying to questions after presenting his ministry’s report card for July, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the decision to handover the probe to NIA was taken as the Harayana Police was not able to make any headway in its probe.