India News

Kendrapada (Orissa): A fresh water turtle is being worshipped in Orissa’s Kendrapada district, as it reportedly has features resembling to Lord Jagannath.

Residents of Khadipal village are chanting hymns, carrying garlands and fruit to offer prayers and seek blessings from the turtle.

According to them, the turtle has some celestial marks on its body, which resemble the eyes, nose and mouth of Lord Jagannath.

It is also said to have images of the Shankha (divine conch shell), lotus flower and wooden sandals.

"We saw a turtle crawling on the lane, so, the villagers suggested that it should be kept in a well for safety reasons. But when we washed the turtle, we found some divine images of eyes, divine conch shell, lotus flower and wooden sandals which attributed to Lord Jagannath; and since then we are worshipping this turtle," a village priest said.

The turtle is protected species in India and anyone found keeping one without permission could be jailed for a year or more.

Adamant villagers, however, have refused to give up turtle saying it bears holy symbols on its back and is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday busted an international racket of wild life traffickers, who obtained tiger and leopard skins from poachers across the country.

These were meant for smuggling to neighbouring countries through traditional routes.

Seven accused in the scam have been arrested from Nagpur and Delhi.

Last week, the CBI team had raided a general coach of Yashwantpur- Hazarat Nizamuddin, Sampark Kranti Express near Nagpur Railway Station and recovered two tiger skins, 38.4 kilograms of tiger bones, and other parts.

The costs of a tiger skin fetches 10 lakh rupees and its bones 80,000 rupees per kilogram in the international market.

Source ANI

Ranchi: Maoists have blown-up a school building in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Tuesday to prevent the security forces from using it as a temporary camp during the upcoming assembly elections due on November 25.

"We heard a blast sound in the night between 1:00 to 1:30 am and when we came here to check, we found that the school had been blown up," said Dilip Kumar, a local.

He added that Maoists were shouting slogans against the police administration while leaving the school premises.

According to sources, a group of Maoists stuffed detonators and explosives in the school building and triggered the blast.

Maoists left behind pamphlets warning the police officials against using schools as camps.

The rebels have ignored repeated calls to renounce violence and negotiate. The have stepped up in recent months, prompting the government to go after them in a concerted strike.

Source ANI

Kerala/ WB/ Shimla/ Rajasthan/ Lucknow: Continuing with its impressive performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress led UDF retained all the three assembly seats in Kerala.

The LDF suffered a blow in politically sensitive Kannur, where Congress candidate and former CPM MP A P Abdullakutty emerged victorious by a margin of 12,000 votes over CPM''s M V Jayarajan.

Congress candidates Dominic Presentation trounced CPM''s P N Sinulal in Ernakulam by over 8000 votes, while his colleague A A Shukur retained the Alappuzha seat by defeating G Krishaparasad of CPI by 4000 votes.

In West Bengal, the CPM- led ruling Left Front appeared heading for another poll debacle after the Lok Sabha elections with the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine winning five of the 10 seats where by-elections were held.

The combine was ahead of their Left rivals in three other constituencies, according to the reports available from the different counting centers.

The Left Front, which had fielded candidates in all the 10 seats, was leading in only Goalpokhar constituency. In Kalchini constituency in Jalpaiguri district, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supported Independent Wilson Champamari wrested the seat from RSP, defeating Binoy Bhushan Karket by over 6,000 votes.
 
BJP won the Rohroo assembly seat and Congress bagged Jawali in Himachal Pradesh as results of the two by-polls were declared on Tuesday. While Congress held the Rohroo seat, Jawali was represented by BJP.

In Rohroo seat Khushiram Balnatah defeated Congress candidate Manjit Singh Thakur by 8,473 votes, while in Jawali former state minister and Congress nominee Sujan Singh Pathania humbled BJP''s Chaudhary Baldev Raj by 5,249 votes. 

In Rajasthan, BJP and the ruling Congress won one seat each respectively. BJP''s Ramesh Chand was declared elected from Todabhim, while Basanti Meena of the Congress bagged the Salumber seat. With these wins, the Congress tally in the state assembly has gone up to 102 and the BJP strength is now 79.

Congress is leading in the two Assam assembly constituencies for which elections were held last week.

In Chhattisgarh, BJP has established an early lead over the Congress in the Vaishali Nagar assembly seat.

In Firozdabad Lok Sabha by poll, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh''s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav lost to Congress candidate Raj Babbar by 85,343 votes, while the ruling BSP was ahead in eight of the 11 assembly seats where by polls were held last week.

BSP candidates were leading in seven assembly seats --Powayan, Isauli, Hainsar Bazar, Padrauna, Rari, Etawah and Lalitpur -- after initial six-seven rounds of counting, said sources from the Election Department. BSP candidate Shiv Prasad Yadav won from Bharthana assembly seat.
 
Congress is trailing in both Jhansi and Padrauna seats it held in 2007 assembly elections. 

In Jhansi, BSP candidate Kailash Sahu is leading over his nearest rival independent candidate Vijendra Vyas by over 1000 votes, whereas in Padrauna, BSP candidate and its state president Swami Prasad Maurya is leading over his nearest Congress rival Mohni Devi.

Source ANI

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said his Government is ready to release the pending salaries of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) employees.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Omar said: “I am ready to release the pending salaries of employees of SRTC. As for the Sixth Pay Commission, they (employees) can only get benefits if the Corporation is made profit earning.”

“How can we give them the Sixth Pay Commission benefits, when corporation is a loss-registering one,” Omar said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of SRTC Workers'' Association, Shakeel Ahmad Kuchay, said the association would accept the offer only if it is given on the pattern awarded to employees of the All India Transport Federation.

Source ANI

Gwalior: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Governor Rameshwar Thakur had a narrow escape on Tuesday when the state government-owned plane they were travelling in aborted landing after two vehicles were spotted on the runaway of Gwalior airport.

“The plane was barely a few feet above the runway when the pilot spotted the vehicles. He immediately aborted landing and took a go-around,” said Manoj Srivastava, Madhya Pradesh Public Relations Commissioner.

Chouhan and Thakur had gone to Gwalior to welcome President Pratibha Patil who was scheduled to present colours to the 47th Squadron and Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment Wing of the Indian Air Force.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday referred the Mullaperiyar dam issue between Kerala and Tamil Nadu to a Constitution Bench.

A three-judge Bench of Justices D K Jain, Mukundakam Sharma and R M Lodha felt that it would be appropriate if the matter is heard by a five judge Bench as it involved “substantive questions of Constitutional law.”

The century-old Mullaperiyar dam, located in Kerala''s Iddukki district, has been a contentious issue between the two states, with Kerala wanting it to be demolished while Tamil Nadu fiercely opposing any such move.

In 2007, the apex court had passed a judgement in favour of Tamil Nadu by allowing it to raise the water level from 136 feet to 142 feet.

Subsequently, Kerala brought a legislation to overcome the Supreme Court judgement and restrained Tamil Nadu from raising the water level beyond 136 feet.

Kerala further obtained an environmental clearance from Ministry of Environment for constructing a new dam by demolishing the existing one.

Following that, Tamil Nadu moved a fresh writ petition challenging the legislation enacted by Kerala.

Source ANI

Patna (Bihar): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the ruling Congress party of being the political beneficiary of the misdeeds of regional radical Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party.

"The beneficiary of the politics that is going on is Congress party. The party escapes whenever something like this which damages the social fabric of the society. Sometime people from Bihar are beaten and now the way a legislator was beaten up for taking oath in Hindi, all these are unacceptable. The federal government should intervene otherwise people will think that Congress party is the one behind it," said the State Chief Minister.

The legislators of the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) assaulted Abu Azmi, a legislator of the newly elected Maharashtra state assembly on November 9 for taking oath in Hindi, and not in the regional language Marathi.

Raj Thackeray, the chief of MNS had asked all his newly elected legislators (MLAs) to take the oath only in Marathi.

The legislators snatched the microphone placed for taking oath at the podium and when Azmi tried to save himself, MNS member Ram Kadam slapped him.

Members of the MNS party were earlier involved in thrashing people of north Indian community living in western Maharashtra state.

MNS has a powerful influence over Mumbai, much like its larger political rival Shiv Sena, drawing sustenance from the politics of resisting immigration into Mumbai by Indians from states other than Maharashtra, and championing the cause of regional language Marathi.

Source ANI

Tripura: In retaliation to the surrender of seven of their underground members, banned militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) gunned down eight of their relatives at Pusparampara in North Tripura district here today.

Militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) raided the village, about 70 km from Kanchanpur police station, and kidnapped the eight persons including four women and killed them in a nearby jungle.
 
The seven NLFT insurgents had surrendered with arms and ammunition to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Amiya Chowdhury yesterday.
 
A strong contingent of Tripura State Rifles, led by the Superintendent of Police (SP) of North district, has launched a combing operation there.
 
Ten more insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have surrendered before troops in Tripura, said the police today.
 
Seven ultras surrendered yesterday before DSP Amiya Chowdhury at Kanchanpur in North Tripura district and deposited a rifle, 168 live cartridges and two magazines.

The other three surrendered before the commandant of the 15 Battalion of Assam Rifles at Hrankhawlpara camp in Teliamura on the same day and deposited a hand grenade and 20 live cartridges.

Earlier on November 8, six insurgents of the same outfit had given themselves up to the security forces.

The surrender was triggered by frequent raids by the Bangladesh security forces on the militant hideouts in the neighbouring country, specially in the Chittagong hill tracks, and also a food crisis in the camps, police said.

Around 346 insurgents of NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force have surrendered before the security forces this year.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Indian carmaker Bajaj Auto has signed an agreement with Renault-Nissan Alliance to manufacture and market an infra low-cost car that would hit the market in 2012.

“We''ve been working for a long time on infra low cost car that should come to India but could also be exported from India. I have the pleasure to say that yesterday we made an agreement, the infra low cost car will come to the market in 2012,” Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced on Tuesday.

“We have now a very clear definition not only of the product in term of cost, in term of geometry, but even in term of fuel efficiency and I think it is going to be a very innovative product and a very competitive product, compared to what exists today in the market,” he added.

The design, manufacturing and sourcing for the car would be done by Bajaj, while the Renault-Nissan will look after marketing in India and overseas.

"The design, the engineering, the manufacturing, resourcing of the product will be made by Bajaj with the support of Renault-Nissan alliance. When it comes to marketing and selling the product, this will be done by Renault-Nissan under a brand which will be selected by Renault-Nissan," Ghosn said.

Bajaj and Renault-Nissan had announced the formation of a joint venture in May 2008 to develop, produce and market a car code-named ULC.

Renault in partnership with India''s Mahindra and Mahindra had launched the low-cost Logan car in 2007 in the country that started off well, but healthy sales soon began to dwindle, with high taxation making the car expensive for its target market.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Columbian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez met his Indian counterpart S. M Krishna in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Bermudez is on a three-day visit to India.

His visit marks the 50 years of international relations between the two countries.

The visit is taking place in the wake of a significant increase in Indian investment in Colombia.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are expected to resolve their price row with farmers, and are likely to begin cane crushing this week.

Cane growers in India''s northern Uttar Pradesh state, which accounts for half of the country''s cane output, have intensified their stir to demand higher state-set cane price, delaying cane crushing and forcing the state government to ban supplies of imported raws.

"Mill owners feel that this week they will be able to resolve and they will be able to start. And if they (farmers) hold talks with mill owners about the good prices, then they should succeed. We have told mill owners as well that today you are getting good prices of sugar so you should not upset farmers in such a situation," Pawar told reporters after a meeting with sugar mill owners.

Any delay in crushing threatens to aggravate sugar shortage in the country.

Lower cane output clipped sugar output by 43 percent to 15 million tonnes this year, prompting the government to abolish import tax on sugar in early 2009.

Since then mills have sealed, deals to import five million tonnes of raws and more than 300,000 tonnes of whites, leading to a massive rise in benchmark prices in New York and London.

Pawar said that there is a shortfall of sugar and when crushing starts soon in Uttar Pradesh, supplies will improve.

"It''s a very simple thing that when production will increase then consumer''s interest will also be served and we are trying our best that as soon as possible mills start crushing… then domestic sugar production plus imported processed sugar production, both of them together will increase the availability in the market," Pawar pointed out.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Prior to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh''s visit to Washington later this month, Indra K. Nooyi, chairperson of Pepsico today said that the leaders of both India and US will use the visit to set a new course to fully capture the growth potential of the two economies.

Nooyi, who is also the chairperson of United States-India Business Council (USIBC) met industry leaders from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi today to discuss plans to advance the India-US relationship ahead of Singh''s visit to US.

The Prime Minister''s historic trip to Washington will be the second such visit by Singh and the first official state visit hosted by the Obama Administration - representing the highest honour extended to any foreign dignitary.

The focus of both the countries in the coming years must remain closely tied to three broad areas - job creation, infrastructure development and inclusive growth where collaboration is very much needed, she added.

"Although we have made some great progress in recent years, a great deal more remains to be done. But the vibrancy of our newly elected governments, we are tremendously optimistic that our nation two leaders will use the state visit to set a new course to fully capture the growth potential of our two economies. After a discussion this morning, I am convinced that our focus in the coming years must remain closely tied to three broad areas where collaboration is very much needed - job creation, infrastructure development and inclusive growth,'' said Nooyi.

She further said that the first state visit, which President Obama is going to host after he became the President is with Singh, which shows his tremendous warmth towards India and any speculation must be kept aside.

"For President Obama, the first state visit he is hosting after he became the President is with the Prime Minister of India and that shows his tremendous warmth towards India. I think it shows his interest in India and I think this is a historic moment. So any perception that you might have that he is not as warm towards India, I think you should just forget it," said Nooyi.

The Prime Minister will address the US Industry at the US-India Business Council when he visits United States on November 23.

Source ANI

Gwalior: The President of India and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, today conferred the Presidential Standards to two premiere combat units of the IAF - No. 47 Squadron and Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) at an impressive presentation parade held at the Gwalior airbase.

"It gives me immense pleasure to be with you at Air Force Station Gwalior, a premier Indian Air Force Base, to award Standards to 47 Squdron Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment. Both have a rich history of valour and courage and have rendered distinguished service to the nation since their inception. These two units have put in tremendous effort as well as followed rigorous discipline in pursuit of excellence and set an example for others to emulate. For their selfless devotion, professionalism and courage in the face of their adversity, the nation honours them today with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation," said President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on this ocassion.

The Standards were received in the presence of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik by Commanding Officer of No. 47 Squadron (Black Archers) Wing Commander Vikas Sharma and Commodore Commandant Air Vice Marshal Arup Raha, and subsequently by the Commandant of TACDE Group, Captain Surat Singh and Commodore Commandant Air Marshal S Mukerji.

An impressive parade comprising air warriors from both units as well those from the Gwalior airbase followed the Standard presentation. The President also released a First Day cover and a Brochure on the occasion.

A fly-past comprising AWACS flanked by two Su-30 MKI, a single Mig-21 (T-77), a Vic of each of the three Mig-21s(T-96), Mig-27s, Mig-29s and Su-30 MKIs enthralled the onlookers. The IAF''s helicopter display team - Sarang undertook a captivating display, while a single Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft, the mainstay of the Gwalior airbase, displayed low-level aerobatics.

The President later interacted with the air warriors of the two Units and others from the airbase. Among the senior dignitaries present included Madhya Pradesh Governor Rameshwar Thakur, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh. Several other senior serving and retired officers of the two units were also present at the ceremony.

Later, addressing media persons on the sidelines of the Standards presentation, Air Chief formally announced the proposed flight of the President on a Su-30 MKI at Pune airbase on November 25.

Source ANI

Mumbai: The 15-man Indian squad for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka starting November 16 was announced in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The selection panel, headed by K Srikkanth recalled fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and S. Sreesanth to share the bowling responsibilities, while Ashish Nehra has again sidelined despite his consistent performance in the ongoing seven game ODI series against Australia.

Khan, who played his last Test match against New Zealand in Wellington in April, has recovered from his shoulder injury and proved his match fitness in a Ranji Trophy match last week.

Meanwhile, the batting order has been retained with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni.

The selectors have also recalled Tamil Nadu batsmen M Vijay and S Badrinath, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and leg spinner Amit Mishra.

The first Test will be played at Ahmedabad from November 16-20, the second at Kanpur from November 24-28 and the third at Mumbai from December 2-6.

Team:
MS Dhoni (Captain/wicket keeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, M Vijay, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra.

Source ANI

Kochi (Kerala): The newly constructed IT park in Thrissur district of Kerala has started functioning and many tech giants are already lined up to have a space for their smooth functioning.

The first one to acquire its space is an Australian based IT service provider BlueLabs Technology Solutions at Gulmohar building, Koratty, is a 150-seater facility set in an eco-friendly environment.

Other major ones waiting to be allotted are Braddock Infotech, Cent Technologies, Infoprism Solutions, Advaya Infotech, Scienetic Technologies and Mulberry Technologies.

Thirteen companies have been allotted space (40,000 sft) at the park, which was inagurated in October this year. These companies would employ about 500 professionals apart from over 5000 more jobs to be created in the park alone as expected by the authorities.

Developed on 30 acres, the park will have IT buildings of approximately 70,000 sq.ft. area with plug and play facilities, uninterrupted power and water supply. The major attraction of this whole infopark is the single window clearance facility.

It has state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities, which include high bandwidth Internet connectivity, multiple backbone links, clientspecific secure VPN connections and the latest tele/video conferencing equipment.

The centre was inaugurated by P H Kurian, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Government of India.

 "We aim to bridge the gap in the employability skills of IT graduates and develop their skills to make them more compatible to meet the demands of IT industry,'''' said Mobin Koshy Varghese, COO.

He also added "the company aims to double its growth and recruit at least 100 more employees through this facility,"

The IT department has conceived a ''hub and spoke'' model for the development of IT in the state. While Technopark -Thiruvananthapuram, Infopark-Kochi and Cyberpark-Kozhikode will act as the hubs, satellite centres are being developed at its adjecent cities like Kollam, Ambalapuzha, Cherthala, Thrissur, Kannur and Kasaragod.

These IT parks will have an association with the Kerala State Information Technology Mission and Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The Indian economy has been able to fare well in spite of the adverse impact of the global economic crisis, due to the strength of its domestic demand, said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.

Addressing a session titled “Post-Crisis Economic Order: How can Free Market and Control be Balanced?” at the 25th India Economic Summit, jointly organized by World Economic Forum and Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi, Mukherjee said the  stimulus packages provided by the government have been aimed at increasing domestic demand in the face of a global recession.

This stimulus needs to be maintained for some more time till a robust recovery in developed nations takes place, he said, pointing to the continuous decline in exports that has been experienced by the country since September 2008.

Developed markets constitute 60 per cent of our export market and it is not easy to diversify in the short-term, he added.

He said that GDP growth will return to the nine to ten percent growth trajectory by 2012. In the short-term, the lack of external demand and the poor performance of agriculture may be a constraint to achieving a higher growth rate.

He outlined three areas as his priority for keeping domestic demand strong in the near-term: innovation in agriculture, investment in infrastructure and maintaining an appropriate fiscal and monetary policy. He said that while he had significantly increased allocations to all flagship schemes for rural areas, infrastructure growth would be funded through the PPP route.

He said that fiscal consolidation is imperative for India in the medium term and that he had set a target of reducing the fiscal deficit from 6.8% of GDP in the current year to 4.0% by 2011-12. While the RBI has successfully been able to raise resources for the government without crowding out private sector credit, such tight-rope walking cannot continue.

He expressed optimism that the collective determination of global leaders will address the problems faced by the international community so that the multilateral negotiations on trade and climate change can be successfully concluded. Meanwhile, the issues of stimulus and exit strategy as well as the new international financial architecture were being worked on by the G-20.

Venu Srinivasan, President, CII, and Chairman and Managing Dierctor, TVS Motor Company, India,  applauded the visionary measures taken by the Minister against the challenging backdrop of the global meltdown. He pointed out important measures that are being implemented, such as the Goods and Service Tax (GST) and Direct Tax Code, which will go a long way in simplification of tax regime.

Talking about regulations, Srinivasan said that both an overly regulated market and one without regulations can stifle growth, and therefore CII believes in maintaining a balance between the two.

Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank, India; and Co-Chairman of the India Economic Summit, highlighted factors that contributed to economic stability in India amidst the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

She said that stable and timely government policies, self regulation by Indian banks and the fact that Indian consumers were not overly leveraged, contributed to stability of the economy.

Kochhar pointed out that, going forward, India’s growth story will be driven both by domestic consumption and investment, as long standing investment projects, which were held in abeyance, are again becoming operational. She concluded by commending the Finance Minister on his message that protectionism cannot be the answer to the problems being faced by the global economy today.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Climate change is a global problem and its solution should come through collaboration between developed and developing countries, according to Shyam Saran, Prime Minister of India’s Special envoy on climate change.

To arrive at a deal, there is a need to create a global platform through which clean technology can be shared between developed and developing countries, he said.

Saran was speaking at the session on “Trade and Climate Change: Economic Imperative or Green Imperialism?” at the closing day of the 25th India Economic Summit being jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Economic Forum, here today.

He further added that a global deal must lead to successful transfer of technology from developed to developing countries. India has a great stake in the global pact on climate change and as a responsible country it has been unilaterally taking measures to reduce its carbon foot print, he said.

Programmes such as the National Action Plan on Climate Change and the National Solar Mission reflect India’s commitment in the direction. He however added that, India is still a developing country with severe constraints on resources, which must be recognized by developed countries. The outcome of the recent meetings, held in Barcelona, on climate change has not been very encouraging, he added.

Saran said though there is anecdotal evidence of melting of Himalayan glaciers because of climate change, additional information and clarity may be needed to understand the impact in greater detail.

William A Reinsch, President, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), USA, said the world is in the middle of a paradigm shift and added that major developing countries like India and China would be the source of innovation in green technology in future. He further added that a global deal on climate change must encompass all the issues such as protection of intellectual property and carbon emission targets.

Lord Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, India; Observatory, London School of Economics, United Kingdom said, a deal in Copenhagen would be fundamental to the global fight against Climate Change.

He said contrary to popular perception, there is no competition between high growth and climate responsibility. He said using green technology increases costs by only one to two percent. He further added that a sound national policy on climate change must create the right kind of incentives for greater investment in clean technology.

Ben J Verwaayen, Chief Executive Officer, Alcatel-Lucent, France called upon the international negotiators on Climate Change negotiations to show a sense of urgency towards a successful conclusion of negotiations on the issue. He said, it is very important not to loose momentum in the negotiations, at this stage.

Suresh Vaswani, Joint Chief Executive Officer, IT Business and Member of the Board, Wipro said, the private sector must show lot more aggression in reducing their carbon emissions, which would also help in reducing their costs.

Deepak Puri, Chairman. Chairman and Managing Director, Moser Baer, India said, investment in clean technology provides a great business opportunity for the private sector and added that the sector has potential to grow to 250 billion dollars by 2020 and to one trillion dollars by 2050.

Source ANI

Kochi (Kerala): The Congress won all three-assembly seats namely Ernakulam, Alleppey and Kannur in the recent concluded Assembly by election.

MP A P Abdullakutty, an expelled candidate from CPI-M later joining Congress Party, emerged as the hero winning over a margin of over 12,000 votes over CPI-M''s M V Jayarajan.

In Ernakulam constituency, Congress candidates Dominic Presentation defeated CPI-M''s P N Sinulal in by over 8000 votes.

Meanwhile, A A Shukur of Congress in Alappuzha or Alleppey seat defeated G Krishaparasad of CPI by 4000 votes.

According to data from the State Electoral Office, Abdullakutty won 53,987 votes against 41,944 won by Jayarajan in Kannur constituency. BJP''s Ranjith won 5,665 votes.

Presentation bagged 46,119 votes against 37,499 votes polled by Seenulal. Sobha Surendran of the BJP improved the party''s tally in Ernakulam constituency over that of the 2006 Assembly elections by polling about 7,200 votes.

Shukoor won 42,774 votes against 38,029 votes polled by Krishnaprasad in Alappuzha. The BJP candidate K. Babu got 2,247 votes.

The candidate in Ernakulam assembly, Dominic Presentation thanked all the workers and supporters of UDF who worked his victory and promised that he would be to solve the issues related to the region.

Source ANI

Mumbai: The oath taking ceremony of all newly elected members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was completed today, a day after four Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) members were suspended for four years on charges of assaulting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Asim Azmi.

There was pandemonium on the first day of the new Maharashtra assembly yesterday, when Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) legislators roughed up Samajwadi Party MLA, Abu Azmi for taking oath of office in Hindi.

As Azmi began to take oath in Hindi in the assembly yesterday, several MNS members swooped on him and pushed him aside. Azmi was even slapped by MNS member Ram Kadam inside the assembly.

Prominent among those who took oath on the second day of the three-day Legislative Assembly session included newly elected Congress MLAs Amit Deshmukh, Prashant Thakur and Rajiv Satav.
 
All the members took oath in Marathi ,while BJP member Jaikumar Rawal took oath in Ahirani, the local dialect of North Maharashtra.
 
The House assembled at 1100 hours and was adjourned for Wednesday within 18 minutes.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Around 100 school students participated in a walkathon here today to sensitise the people on issues related to health and education of underprivileged children.

Organised by the Smile foundation, a non-profit organisation, the walkathon was held under its nationwide campaign ''Be the Change'', which is being held from November 7 to 13.

Holding banners and placards, students from various schools across Delhi, took to streets to do their bit for the cause.

The children were joined by social activist Nafisa Ali, who laid emphasis on the importance of working collectively by people at all levels to root out such disparities and take the country forward.

"For the progress of our country, it is important that we work together. Where there is NGO participation, private-public partnership, people''s participation, then of course government is there, until we all work together, there will be hindrances in our country''s progress," Nafisa said.

Beside Delhi, the walkathon is being organised in Kolkata, Bangalore, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vadodara and Nagpur.

Smile foundation is working for the upliftment of more than 100, 000 underprivileged children and youth across 21 states through more than 120 welfare projects on issues like education, healthcare and livelihood.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Manu Sharma, the man serving a life sentence for the murder of model Jessica Lal, returned to the Tihar Jail here on Tuesday, almost two months after being out on parole. Sharma re-entered the jail after generating public ire and controversy for violating his parole terms.

His return to jail came hours after actor Arjun Rampal confirmed that Sharma was partying at Rampal''s nightclub. The Delhi government has reportedly asked for CCTV footage of the actor''s restaurant - the Lap Bar - and deputed some policemen to verify if Sharma, who was out on parole, was indeed present at the bar. Sharma had stated his mother''s illness and late grandfather''s last rites as reasons for asking for parole.

Sharma''s antics have caused a furor, especially after Sharma''s supposedly ill mother was seen attending a function in Chandigarh.

The last two times Jessica Lall''s killer was caught on camera were on February 2, 2007 when he had moved the Supreme Court challenging his conviction by the High Court, and earlier on December 20, 2006 when he had walked into court to hear his fate.

Sharma had cited: ''Family affairs'' as a reason to avail the first 30 days of parole from September 22 this year. He said he wanted to perform ''Pind dan'' or ancestral rites of his deceased grandmother, "maintaining social ties with friends and relatives, to attend an aging mother and to maintain his supervision of neglected business."

Sharma was granted a further thirty-day extension to attend to his business, where he is the MD and currently a major shareholder.

Sharma had clearly used loopholes in the judicial system to his advantage.

Sabrina Lal, Jessica Lal''s sister has questioned Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit''s reasoning for giving parole to Sharma.

Source ANI

Mumbai: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is of the view that the injection of young players into the Australian squad for the current tour of India, can provide an early boost to the team''s bid for a fourth successive World Cup victory in 15 months.

Ponting said that with the one-day series sealed in favour of Australia, the last encounter in Mumbai could be used to blood uncapped players Jon Holland and Burt Cockley.

''''Every game that we''ve been able to give to some of these younger guys, not just through this series but through England and through the Champions Trophy, is obviously going to hold the Australian cricket team in good stead,'''' The Age quoted Ponting, as saying.

''''We know we''re coming back to India to play some World Cup games and whatever exposure these younger guys can get is obviously a real positive for them. Out of every negative that we''ve had with all the injuries we''ve gained a lot of positives from this tour - not just winning, but the exposure that the younger guys have got,'''' he added.

It was ''''satisfying to know that when you have these so-called younger guys, or less-experienced guys, coming into the side that they can really puff their chests out and do what they need to do to be part of a successful team. The guys … couldn''t have done anything more than they''ve done,'''' he said.

Source ANI

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): Security forces gunned down a top Naxal commander in Uttar Pradesh''s Sonebhadra District on Monday. He was wanted in connection with thirty-two criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, police said.
 
Self-styled Maoist zonal commander Kamlesh Chowdhary, was trying to reactivate Naxalites in the Sonebhadra-Mirzapur region. He was gunned down during a three hour-long fierce encounter in the forests of Kanach, 80 kms from Varanasi on November 9, Inspector General (IG) of Police Gurudarshan Singh said today.

Describing  it as a big success, Singh said joint team of  the SOG and local police started a combing operation.
 
Spotting  Naxal activity in the area. They challenged the Naxals hiding there, but were greeted by gun fire.
 
Police retaliated and Chowdhary was killed. Some of his associates were also injured.
 
 Uttar Pradesh Police had declared a reward of Rs one lakh on his head, while the Jharkhand and Bihar Police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each.
 
He was also involved in the Hinaut landmine blast at Naughar in Chandauli district in 2004.
 
Two rifles, including one belonging to the police, and a revolver were recovered from the body of the slain Naxal.
 
Uttar Pradesh''s Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Law and Order, Brijlal, said the team engaged in the encounter would be rewarded.
 
An alert has also been sounded in the region in the wake of the encounter.

Source ANI

Mumbai: After years of slipping in and out of the Australian team due to injuries, all rounder Shane Watson is finally content with his fitness which has allowed him to survive the grueling schedule of international cricket.

About nine players have broken down in the past three months, but Watson has been able to maintain his fitness and perform well as an opening batsman and as a second change bowler.

He has been the most consistent player in the India-Australia ODI series, which Australia has sealed with an unassailable 4-2 margin, with a game to play.

“Normally I''d be one of the first ones sent home in the previous couple of years. It''s obviously very disappointing for everyone who does get injured because I know exactly what they''re going through, but it is good to be one of the last men standing as well,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Watson, as saying.

“I''m really confident the way things are going. This year of international cricket so far has been something I only ever really dreamt of - especially a couple of years ago, when it seemed playing such a long period of cricket seemed a long, long way away,” he added.

In the calendar year, Watson has scored 1013 ODI runs at an average of 50.65, which ranks him behind teammates Ricky Ponting (1198 runs at 42.78) and Michael Hussey (1166 runs at 48.58) and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (1019 runs at 67.93).

The 28-year-old further said he had been recently working on his batting with Greg Chappell, which has helped to improve his approach.

“It was probably a real big breakthrough, technically, to be able to score the runs I did there in Melbourne. From there, it''s just been a progression. My batting has continued to develop, even better than I thought it would,” Watson said.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Police have arrested three British Council employees among 16 people for their alleged involvement in an English language qualifications test racket.

The racket was busted after the British Council co-ordinator in Patiala complained of fake candidates sitting in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examinations.

The arrested people also includes four ‘imposters’ who were paid to take the examination on behalf of British visa applicants. They were also arrested.

Police also said that British Council staff and the imposters who took the exams were part of an organized gang, which may have included officials from training institutes in Haryana.

According to reports, the applicants, who wanted to work or study in Britain paid more than Rs. 4-5 lakhs for an imposter do the test on their behalf.

“We have arrested seven people including, three employees of the British Council. In total 16 people have been accused in the case, and these include two from the Karnal-based Cambridge English institute,”

“During interrogation the accused imposters confessed that they had taken the IELTS exams five times earlier. They used to charge Rs 4-5 lakh for appearing in the exams. They have been charged with impersonation, criminal conspiracy and forgery,” The Telegraph quoted Ashish Kapoor, an investigating officer, as saying.

Kapoor further said that they are looking into the possibility of involvement of more employees of British Council in this racket.

“The kingpin is a woman who is operating from a Haryana town, where she runs an IELTS coaching institute,” he added.

Source ANI

Imphal: Shankar Sahu, a migrant labourer working in Manipur was shot by unidentified people here on Monday.

This is the third attack on migrants in the state since October 31.

Sahu (23) from Bihar was working here for the last many years. He was shot at by some unidentified miscreants while he was on his way to the market to sell grains.

" We got information that a non-Manipuri was shot by some unidentified miscreants. So we rushed to the spot. At that time ... Shankar Sahu was lying unconscious. So our police party brought him to JN hospital for medical treatment," said H. Darwin Singh, sub-inspector, Imphal.

However, he succumbed to his injuries on Monday. His body was taken to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for post mortem.

Jagdish Sahu, a relative of the victim, said that the government should take stern measures to protect the migrants, working in Manipur.

"This is all wrong because we can earn our bread by working in any corner of India. But who killed him, why did they kill him, what is their aim behind it? We do not know, but this is all wrong. The government must take stern action so that such incidents do not occur again," said Sahu.

In a similar incident, unknown gunmen shot dead Joysankar Prasad, a butcher in Thoubal district on October 31. In another incident, unidentified gunmen had shot dead Mohammad Kalam Sheikh, a scrap iron collector in Imphal on November 2.

At least 24 migrants were killed in Manipur since February this year.

Source ANI

Gwalior: In recognition of the distinguished service rendered to the nation, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will present the Presidential Standards to two premier combat units of the IAF, at Air Force Station here today.

Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) a hallowed portal where IAF''s finest and sharpest air warriors train - forever to lead, to fight and to win; and No. 47 Squadron - christened ''Black Archers'' of the IAF, a premiere Mig-29 fighter squadron based at Adampur, Punjab will be conferred the coveted military honour.

Tactics and Combat Development and Training Squadron (T&CD&TS) when it first formed at Adampur, Punjab on February 1, 1971 the squadron was tasked to study and evolve tactical procedures for various aircraft, implementation of standard operating procedures and training of pilots in operational doctrines and tactics.

The establishment also conducted seminars for senior officers of the IAF who were to be involved in tactical planning of air operations.

TACDE has the onerous task of sharpening the cutting edge of the Air Force. The trainees here undergo a comprehensive and rigorous course of training that caters for the Fighter, Transport, Helicopter, Fighter Controller and guided weapons streams thus encompassing the entire spectrum of operations.

Nearly fifty years ago, on December 18, 1959, an amalgamation of the best officers and men, hand-picked from various units of the IAF saw the formation of a new combat squadron - No. 47 Squadron (Black Archers), under the Command of Squadron Leader DA La Fontaine, who later rose to be the Chief of the Air Staff.

Now into its golden jubilee year, the squadron that adopted a kneeling Black Archer as its insignia has remained steadfast and unwavering with its archetypal bow stretched, ever-ready to accomplish any task with utmost efficiency.

The squadron took part in both the Indo-Pak conflicts since its formation. During the 1965 war, the squadron showed its mettle in the eastern sector. Pilots from the Black Archers squadron led the operation for the air defence of Tezpur and Gauhati (now Guwahati) with Toofani aircraft. Soon after the war, the squadron changed over to the new Mig-21 FL supersonic jets.

Source ANI

Mumbai: A major tragedy was averted on Tuesday evening when a Mumbai-bound Kingfisher aircraft IT-4124 carrying 42 passengers from Bhavnagar,Gujarat, skid off the runway while landing here at the airport.

 

Only half of the runway was being used due to repair. The plane landed on shortened runway. It landed nose deep in mud.

 

Though none of the onboard 42 passengers was hurt in the incident, the pilot was reportedly slightly hurt, said a Star News report. 

 

The aircraft made the landing at the Mumbai airport reportedly despite DGCA warning.

 

The incident is stated to have happened due to poor visibility and wet conditions.

 

The DGCA had earlier warned all airlines not to operate in adverse conditions.

 

Kingfisher, as per reports, has de-rosterd both the pilots of the aircraft, pending investigation.

Source ANI

Ranchi: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda will be questioned by the Income Tax (IT) officials here today over an alleged Rs 2,000 hawala transaction case.

Koda was discharged from hospital on Sunday, where he was admitted after complained of a pain in his abdomen, giddiness and vomiting on November 3. 

According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate has been told about the I-T department''s move to question Koda and they have said they would be closely following the questioning.

The department has also asked its officers in Ranchi to bring a list of the seizures and records of statements of his associates, which will be put across to Koda during the questioning.

On October 9, the ED had charged Koda and his former Cabinet colleagues under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly amassing assets worth several hundred crores.

Koda, an independent member of Lok Sabha and a UPA supporter, has been charged with having business interests of diverse kinds including in cement, steel, auto, power, agro and tourism.

Source ANI

Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh): Tibetans’ Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama on Tuesday said that his Tawang visit has been unnecessarily politicised.

 

“My Tawang visit has been unnecessarily politicised. I am here to repay my debt to the people of Tawang,” said Dalai Lama said on Tuesday.

 

Beijing sees the visit as encouraging the Tibetan struggle by undermining Chinese territorial integrity and has slammed it as the Dalai Lama’s “scheme to wreck China’s relations” with India.

 

But the Tibetan leader says it is merely a spiritual tour. Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a dangerous “splittist” plotting Tibetan independence, a charge he denies.

 

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh state is the birthplace of Dalai Lama and part of territory Beijing considers as “southern” Tibet. It is at the heart of the border dispute.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Home Minister P.Chidambaram on Tuesday confirmed that the key Lashkar-e-Toiba militant David C Headley visited India many a times before the Mumbai terror attack occurred on 26/11 last year. 

 

“He visited India many a times before 26/11. We are investigating probable link between 26/11 and Headley, ” Chidambaram told reporters on Tuesday.

 

Last week, Chidambaram had said that the arrest of two terrorists in Pakistan at the instance of FBI had established Islamabad’s link to a fresh terror plot against India. the arrest of the accomplices of

 

US-based LeT operatives David C Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana had been arrested by the FBI last month and discovered during an investigation a new Lashkar conspiracy to target India.

Source ANI

Chennai: A major landslide, triggered by seasonal torrential rains, has killed at least 42 people in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri district.

"In this heavy rain and flash flood nine people got trapped in the debris and five people of one family died due to this landslide. We have not witnessed such heavy rain so far and this is first time such landslide took place," said Pradeep, a local resident.

According to official sources, about 14 bodies were recovered from debris on Monday and rest were found on Tuesday.

Injured people have been hospitalised.

“Due to heavy rain for the past two days, we are engaged in the rescue operation in Keti village. In this flash flood, over five people had been washed away in this Keti area alone and we have rescued two people where as the search and rescue operation is on in other areas of Nilgiri district as well,” said Subramaniam, a fire officer.

The death toll might rise further as the rescue operation is still going on.

Transportation in the state has also been affected severely due to landslides.

Tourists have been advised not to travel to Ooty, a famous tourist destination.

The Regional Metereological Department has warned of continuing heavy rains in the next 24 hours.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dinesh Trivedi, on Tuesday called for the need to have better water management, as it could help in keeping many water borne diseases like Dengue at bay.

“If you don''t do water management then if it''s drought or its floods or it''s malaria or it''s dengue or it''s Diarrhea everything stops at water. Had I been the prime minister, I would have spent 30 percent of my budgetary allocation on water because water is the most important thing and water is the beginning of everything,” Trivedi said, while speaking at a Tobacco Control Meet in New Delhi on Tuesday.

BJP leader Harsh Vardhan said that an effective Dengue control movement is very important.

“Any government figure is never the real figure because there is no perfect report mechanism about the cases appearing in various hospitals, various nursing homes, various clinics. What is important is the strategy and ensuring that we have a very effective Dengue control moment in the capital," he said.

The WHO blames rapid transportation, industrialization and the changing ecology for facilitating Dengue.

There is no vaccine as yet for the dengue fever characterised by severe muscle and joint pains, high fever and acute headaches.

Its most virulent form can cause internal bleeding and even death.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Highlighting the hypocrisy of the Raj Thackray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Asim Azmi on Tuesday accused the MNS of having resorted to the Hindi language while seeking votes during elections.

On Monday, Azmi was manhandled by MNS legislators for taking oath of office in Hindi in the State Assembly.

“The very same MNS people who are spreading hatred, resort to Hindi during elections as they go about asking for votes in Maharashtra. Their CD''s, pamphlets, all are in Hindi. For asking votes, Hindi is good, but they raise objection if some official work like oath taking is held in Hindi language,” he said.

“Yesterday it was proved that they have nothing against English. If somebody takes oath in English in Maharashtra assembly, they will have no objection, but if anybody takes oath in Hindi, which is the official language, they will be manhandled," Azmi added.

Azmi was also criticised by senior Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray for taking oath in Hindi.

"Balasaheb Thackeray is very unhappy. He is almost on the last stage of his life. He is very angry with the Marathi people and he says he does not even want to die in Maharashtra, as Marathi people did not vote for him. When a person grows old, he starts speaking like a child, I respect him and I do not want to stoop low, by speaking anything against him," Azmi said.

On Monday, as Azmi started to take his oath in Hindi, several MNS members swooped on him and pushed him aside. Legislator Ramesh Banjle uprooted the microphone from the podium.

As Azmi attempted to save himself, MNS member Ram Kadam slapped him and hit him on the face and chest, shocking the 288-member house that had converged for the oath-taking ceremony.

The house was adjourned for 30 minutes. Action followed soon, with four MNS legislators -- Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale -- were suspended for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Despite being at loggerheads with Beijing on the Arunachal Pradesh issue, India is anxious to move on with China on all fronts, particularly trade, Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, said on Tuesday.

"We have made our view very clear that Arunachal Pradesh is a sovereign territory of India. India''s territorial integrity is not negotiable. But let me stress we are anxious to move on from this and we hope as the visit is coming to a close so too will the conversation on the rhetoric converse subject,” Tharoor said.

Tharoor also termed Chinese provocations referring to the 1962 war as a "bit silly", saying that India is no longer "under-prepared."

Recently, a report published in China’s state-run newspaper Global times had said that “India seems to have forgotten the lessons of 1962 war.”

“Broadly speaking, to invoke "lessons of 1962" so on is a bit silly, there is no question in our minds that we are far from 1962 and that in any case history doesn''t repeat itself quite that easily,” Tharoor said in his address to the India Economic Forum conference.

“We are no longer a woefully under-prepared military for one thing and we are a country which in many ways moved on in the world since 1962," he added.

The Dalai Lama''s Arunachal visit, as well as reports of border incursions in recent months, have affected relations between India and China.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Russia stands with India in combating terrorism and backs India''s

proposal of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), said Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation S.S. Sobyanin here on Tuesday.

 

Convention on International Terrorism or, the CCIT is an Indian document, which outlines the definition of terrorism and proposal of anti-terror law submitted to United Nations in the late 90s, which is under discussion for many years.

 

In 2001, India in fact submitted its revised version and has been pitching for its implementation.

 

Sobyanin also said that Russia and India would work together against terrorism through its joint working group on terrorism.

 

In what can be a major boon for India after cooperation in Sakhalin, Russia has expressed its readiness to offer India an exploration block in Yamal.

 

“Russia is ready to offer India another exploration block at its site in Yamal in cooperation with gasprom,” Sobyanin informed mediapersons and added: “Russia is willing to give India access to Russian satellite Glonass for civilian purpose.”

 

Expressing happiness over lifting of sanctions on India for doing nuclear trade, S.S. Sobyanin who co- chairs the Russian-Indian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation said: “Russia would follow a "new approach" in

conducting nuclear trade with India, which will be more competitive. For this purpose, more cooperation will be sought from the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rosatom.”

 

Russia is assisting in building Light Water Reactors in Kudankulam 1 and 2 and has recently been allotted two more sites in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and Haripur in West Bengal to build nuclear reactors.

 

Russia is in direct competition with the United States and France, which are bidding for India''s nuclear pie, expected to touch 150 billion dollars in the next 20 years, and includes supply fuel and technology.

 

Glonass or, the Global Navigation Satellite System is a radio-based satellite navigation system. It has been developed by the former Soviet Union and now operated for the Russian government by the Russian Space Forces.

 

It is an alternative and complementary to the United States'' Global Positioning System (GPS), the Chinese Compass navigation system, and the planned Galileo positioning system of the European Union (EU).

 

Glonass was developed to provide real-time position and velocity determination, initially for use by the Soviet military for navigation and ballistic missile targeting.

Source ANI

Chennai: The heavy rains continued in Tamil Nadu for the sixth day consistently, with the regional meteorological department predicting that the heavy rains will not stop even for the next 24 hours.

The low-pressure formed in Arabian Sea has intensified, thus leading to more rainfall in the next 24 hours.

"Yesterday''s deep depression over Arabian sea moved northwards and intensified into deep depression and less tread over west of Mangalore. This system may intensify further and move towards north-east direction and may cross Konkan and the south Gujarat coast by the 12th morning,” said K Kulandaivelu, Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.

Several low-lying parts of Tamil Nadu have drowned in water owing to continuous rainfall since Wednesday.

Keti in Nilagiri district in Tamil Nadu has recorded a maximum of 82 cm rainfall.

According to Kulandaivelu, the monsoon over Tamil Nadu may be widespread and chances are that some places might face heavy rainfall.

He also warned that Chennai might face one or two spells of thunder showers in the coming 24 hours.

Waterlogging on roads in Chennai has led to disruption in vehicular movement, causing great inconvenience to commuters.

"For the four last days heavy rain is pouring, roads are blocked with water and the traffic is heavy, our essential work is disrupted. If rain stops only then it will be useful for us," said Mathuraj, a local resident.

Source ANI

Varanasi: Hundreds of college students in Varanasi participated in a cleaning drive aimed to keep the holy Ganges river pollution-free.

Many volunteers cleaned the Ghats of the river with brooms, and also distributed pamphlets among public to spread awareness about keeping the river pollution free.

"Ganga is our natural river on one side we say that the banks of the river should be clean but the questions is what are we doing from our own side to clean the river. We throw Puja material on the banks of the river. We have organised this mass moment to make the people aware of cleaning the Ganga,” said Deepak, a volunteer of save Ganga Campaign.

"From time immemorial Ganga has been considered the sacred river and some time back we also used to drink it''s water. Today, the pollution level of the river has increased so much that if we don''t protect it the river, it won''t be in a condition to serve us any longer,” said Shikha Gupta, another student.

Revered as goddess by Hindus, the Ganga River is believed to absolve people off their sins.

The Ganga runs its course of over 2,500 kilometres from Gangotri in the Himalayas to Ganga Sagar in the Bay of Bengal through 29 cities.

In 1996, the apex court banned the discharge of effluents from various tanneries located on its banks in Kanpur.

However, with one billion tonnes of waste being dumped into it everyday, the River Ganga, unfortunately, remains one of the most polluted rivers in the world.

Source ANI