Saturday, June 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

61 pc of Kashmiris want to remain with India
Survey says 80% want Pandits back, 86% for end of militancy
London, May 31
About 61 per cent of the Kashmiris want to remain Indian citizens because they feel they will thus be politically and economically more secure, while only 6 per cent want to be Pakistani citizens, according to a recent opinion poll. A large number of them (33 per cent) are indecisive. The poll was conducted by FACTS Worldwide, MORI’s affiliate company in India.
In video (28k, 56k)

Cabinet okays Net for J&K   Gaddis, Gujjars get ST status

In video (28k, 56k)

	Senegal stun France Seoul, May 31 World Cup debutants Senegal stunned world champions France with a 1-0 victory in the opening match of the 2002 finals, one of the greatest shocks in the tournament’s 72-year history. (Details on Sports page)
Performers watch a fireworks display at the opening ceremony programme “From the East.....” at the Football World Cup in Seoul on Friday. Senegal beat the world champions, France, 1-0. — Reuters photo

Missions to send staff home
Alarmed by escalating Indo-Pak tensions, the USA, Britain, Australia and New Zealand today decided to reduce the levels of non-essential diplomatic staff and their families in India and advised their nationals against travelling to the region. Describing the tensions as having reached “serious levels,” a State Department spokesman in Washington appealed to about 60,000 Americans to leave the country because of the rising danger of an Indo-Pak conflict.

Siddiqui likely to head Vigilance Bureau
Chandigarh, May 31
The decks have been cleared for the return of Dr A.A. Siddiqui, an IPS officer of the 1968 batch, to his parent cadre of Punjab amidst speculation on his posting as the head of the Vigilance Bureau. Dr Siddiqui went on inter-state deputation to head the Manipur police last year.

Kant eyes top post, seeks Naidu’s help
New Delhi, May 31
The issue of evolving a consensus on who should be the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan hangs by a slender thread and depends largely on whether incumbent President K.R. Narayanan is willing to throw his hat in the ring for a second term.

      NDA decision decried
      Madhok also in race

4 more farmers die in firing
Chandigarh, May 31
Four more farmers died today in police firing in Gulkani village on the Jind-Hansi road in Jind district where farmers clashed with a large police party which had arrived to clear the barriers set up by the farmers on the road in response to Bharatiya Kisan Union call to block the Haryana roads in protest against incarceration of BKU members by the state government.

PSIDC in debt snarl Standing dues touch Rs 1050 cr Chandigarh, May 31 The Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation is in a debt-trap of its own creation. Once considered as the harbinger of industrial and economic development, today it is finding it difficult to get out of the snarl. This has become obvious from the presentation made by its Managing Director, Mr Viswajeet Khanna, to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, last week.