India News

NEW DELHI: Suresh Kalmadi has stuck to his decision to quit as the President of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

The AFI Executive Committee met here on Tuesday and was unanimous in asking Mr. Kalmadi to withdraw in resignation letter.

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Mumbai seems to have a quota as far as Indian hockey team is concerned.

While midfielder Viren Rasquinha made a comeback into the team, goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza made his way out from the squad leaving on March 4 for Melbourne, to participate in the Commonwealth Games scheduled to start on March 15.

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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly returned to form with a timely knock of 81 for the East Zone against West Zone in a Deodhar Trophy match at Gwalior on Tuesday. But Sourav's knock could not prevent East Zone from hurtling to a four-wicket defeat.

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 There was an increased allocation of Rs 162.01 crore for sports in the budget for the next financial year with a major chunk being directed towards the development of infrastructure for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi.
 
Out of this allocation, Rs 150 crore has been earmarked for the infrastructure expenditure.

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In the worst ever attack by Maoists, at least 50 people were feared killed and over a hundred others injured in a landmine blast detonated by the Left extremists near Darbhagura village on Sukma Konta road of Dantewada district on Tuesday morning.
 
The attack took place more than 500 km from Chhattisgarh's capital, Raipur, on the State's border with Andhra Pradesh.

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The boy from Lucknow, who was expected to be the voice of India, doesn't know what hit him.

Vinit, who was defeated by Debojit at the photo-finish fight at the Sa Re G Ma grand finale on Friday evening, is stunned by the defeat.

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The sudden decision was meant to be a major damage controller.

Following the furore over the accidental or not-so-accidental blackening out of Abhishek Bachchan's performance during the live telecast of the Filmfare awards on Saturday, Sony Entertainment has decided to re-telecast the event this Saturday March 4 from 8.p.m.

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The Jessica Lall case fell apart because all the witnesses had turned hostile.

In another high-profile case, the Salman Khan hit-and run of 2002, the one and only eyewitness is on the run leaving little hope for the poor family of Nuru, who was crushed under Salman's wheels.

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Six years ago, hours before former US President Bill Clinton landed in India, 35 Sikhs were massacred in Chitisingpora.

With concerns that militants may again try and target innocent civilians during President George W Bush's visit, the village has been converted into a virtual fortress.

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In Chennai, Monday night's violent protests on the campus of the SRM engineering college and the assault on the NDTV crew have made headlines in almost all local newspapers.

There was mayhem in the SRM college on the outskirts of Chennai after students heard reports that the college had been de-recognised.

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Pujari Shailaja has tested positive for a banned drug, casting doubts on India's gold medal hopes in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

This is the second time the 22-year-old weightlifter has come under the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) scanner.

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Mumbai, March 1 (PTI): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday finalised guidelines on intra-day short selling in government securties by banks and primary dealers (PDs).

Banks and PDs may undertake outright sale of Central Government dated security that they do not own, subject to the same being covered by outright purchase from the secondary market within the same trading day, RBI said in a release here.

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MUMBAI: A confused stock market, in a volatile trading on Tuesday, greeted the Union Budget 2006-07 with a gain of 88.15 points at the close of trading. The market participants, toeing the line of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the latter part of trading, acknowledged that the markets' strength was determined by macro economic growth, which the Union Finance Minister underlined in his budget presentation.

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PATNA: Provoked by accusations from the Treasury benches on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi brandished her slipper at her detractors. This sparked an uproar in the Bihar Assembly.

Ms. Rabri Devi expressed indignation at Janata Dal (United) member Renu Devi for the charges she levelled during her speech on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address. But she could not control herself when Bharatiya Janata Party member Ramadhar Singh gestured that the Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders were destined to land in jail.

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Day two of the doctors’ strike, organised by Mumbai Associa-tion of Resident Doctors (MARD), saw thousands of patients being rejected by civic hospitals for lack of staff.

Hospitals treated only emergency cases. “These include accident victims, pregnant mothers and vital organ operations,” said P Shingare, dean of JJ Hospitals. “Those coming in with fever, fractures and aches were sent away,” said a doctor at KEM Hospital.

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Kolkata, March 1 (PTI): Twenty Election Commission observers today began a seven-day tour of all 19 districts of poll-bound West Bengal, the third since January, to supervise updating of electoral rolls in the state.

The two earlier visits in mid-January and end of January by the EC observers led to the detection of a huge number of false, dead and shifted voters.

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If P Chidambaram was politically correct inside Parliament, he didn't sing a different tune outside. In his post-budget press conference, Chidambaram chose to remain faithful to the Common Minimum Programme saying: "It is not sufficient to work merely on proposals to help the corporate sector and the markets.

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Emerging from the visitors' gallery, Karthi Chidambaram denied there was a political subtext to his father's decision to fully exempt pasta from excise duty. "Pasta is Indian food," he said. He could be correct. But Chidambaram Sr certainly knows which side of his political bread is buttered.

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An LPG cylinder could have burnt a smaller hole in your pocket. It won't. Because the oil companies are keeping what the FM gave. The 'declared goods' status for cooking gas entitles it to uniform sales tax of 4% instead of the present 8-12.5%.

In Delhi, a cylinder should now cost Rs 9.81 less than the present Rs 294.75. In Mumbai, it should cost Rs 9.93 less than Rs 297.95, in Kolkata Rs 10.02 less than the Rs 300.50 and in Chennai Rs 10.05 lower than Rs 288.15.

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Cancer and HIV treatment will now become less crippling for the common man. The budget proposes to slash customs duty on 10 anti-HIV and 14 anti-cancer drugs and kits from 15% to 5%.

These life savers will now be exempt from excise duty and countervailing duty, greatly helping the afflicted middle and lower classes.

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Top-end international travel has been hit in the air pocket. A 12% service tax has been slapped on first and business class air fares.

So, a return ticket to a European destination will now cost around Rs 12,000-15,000 more in business class, and around Rs 25,000-40,000 more in first class.

For the US, business class travellers will have to pay around Rs 33,000 more and first class ones an additional Rs 60,000.

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CFL bulbs could increasingly light up your homes as excise is halved to 8% to make them more affordable. Tax break till 2010 and dedicated coal blocks will generate a spark or two.

But reforms are unlikely to get energised in the electricity sector, expected to trundle through the countryside on higher allocation for rural electrification.

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If P Chidambaram has been lenient with income-tax, he has more than made up for it by not just raising the service tax levy from 10.2% to 12.24% but also making it less prudent to use plastic money.

Government has decided to levy service tax on a host of ATM-related services ranging from site selection to cash replenishment.

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While there has been no dramatic changes to the existing rules governing mutual fund investments, minor alterations to them essentially aimed at streamlining the industry will change a part of the mutual fund investing landscape.

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NEW DELHI: As naxalites increase their attacks on innocent tribals, CRPF Director General JK Sinha said the so-called naxal movement had been overtaken by criminal elements and had become a new way of making quick money for a majority of such groups.

Naxalites operating in several eastern states have taken to land-grabbing and extortion and there is evidence of such activities by them, Sinha said.

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NEW DELHI: Education gave girls the highest marks. Primary schools got an allocation hike of 36.7%, and secondary, higher and technical education together went up by 44.1%. But we’re still way short of spending 6% of GDP on education.

The real star is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Not only did the FM mention how it had brought down out-of-school children by a crore, he gave this all-women department the challenge of adding five lakh classrooms and 1.5 lakh teachers in the next fiscal. It has also received the bulk of Prathmik Shiksha Kosh, taking the overall allocation to the programme to Rs 11,000 crore.

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Three townships for the IT sector: This is the Centre's gift to Karnataka to ensure that Brand Bangalore continues to fly high.

Karnataka's proposal that the IT sector should get three exclusive townships got the Centre's nod on Tuesday.

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I’m happy there’s enhanced focus on infrastructure spending and the National Urban Renewal Mission. India’s growth will come from its cities, and this requires massive infrastructure investments.

The policy changes made in terms of the focus on large infrastructure projects in Mumbai and Bangalore is a compelling one and must be carried forward.

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MOSCOW: India's Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal has inaugurated the corporate office of ICICI Bank Eurasia LLC, the Russian subsidiary of second largest Indian Bank.

"The opening of ICICI Bank and its retail branch in Moscow is a strong signal to the Indian business community to seriously start looking at Russia," Sibal said after the inauguration yesterday.

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NEW DELHI: CBSE's annual board examinations got underway on Wednesday with more than four lakh students appearing for their Class 12 exams in over 2,400 centres across the country and abroad.

A total of 4, 54,045 students--2, 63,286 boys and 1, 90,759 girls--including 6,495 foreign students, appeared for their English paper, kickstarting the month-long examination season with certain new features.

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LUCKNOW: A BJP delegation on Wednesday called on Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar and demanded dismissal of Mulayam Singh Yadav government following the Allahabad High Court decision on 40 rebel BSP MLAs.

Led by leader of opposition Lalji Tandon, the members demanded dismissal of the government, saying it has been reduced to minority as the 40 MLAs have been reverted to BSP.

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As the law exists today, no person should be tried twice in any case. Supreme Court has ordered reinvestigation in some cases and it has become a kind of law also for us. It can be followed…whatever is possible as per law to see that justice be done will be done. Let there be no doubt."

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Terming the Allahabad High Court verdict in the case of 40 BSP MLAs as "historic", party President Mayawati today expressed confidence that the Union Government and Uttar Pradesh Governor TV Rajeswar would take "appropriate action" against the state government.

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With key elections round the corner, the finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday presented a political Budget, re-asserting the UPA government's social commitments. However, the Left -allies at the Centre.

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