Wednesday, July 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Parleys on to rope in Mamata
New Delhi, July 2
Hectic parleys are on with a defiant Mamata Banerjee to hammer out a face-saving compromise whereby the NDA buys valuable time on the bifurcation of Eastern Railway thus paving the way for the Trinamool Congress chief’s reinduction into Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Cabinet.

    Nation page: Mamata’s insistence angers partymen

 No shift in MEA’s Pak policy
New Delhi, July 2
The change of guard in the Ministry of External Affairs is purely an administrative exercise and does not connote any shift, subtle or otherwise, in India’s foreign policy, particularly vis-a-vis Pakistan.

71 die as planes collide
Ueberlingen, Germany, July 2
A Russian passenger jet taking more than 50 children on a dream vacation collided with a cargo plane over Germany, killing 71 persons, officials said today.

7 HC Judges sworn in
Chandigarh, July 2
Five members of the Bar and two of the superior judiciary were today administered oath as Punjab and Haryana High Court Judges by Chief Justice Mr Arun B. Saharya. Following their elevation, the number of judges has increased to 33 against the sanctioned strength of 40.

Vice-President’s election on Aug 12
New Delhi, July 2
The election for the next Vice-President of the country will be held on August 12 with the process for the election being set into motion on July 10 with the issuance of a notification.

Cong MLAs rush to Delhi
To meet Vajpayee today
Chandigarh, July 2
Most of the Congress MLAs from Punjab rushed to Delhi today. There are two reasons for their visit to the national capital. The first task is to lobby for a berth in the Punjab Council of Ministers which, according to Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, will be expanded soon.

Badal faction routed in DSGMC poll
New Delhi, July 2
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) faction was today routed in the elections to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. The pro-Tohra Akali Dal won 27 seats whereas the Badal faction could manage to win only 14 seats. Five seats were won by Independents.

    NCR page: Tohra group vows to review all contracts

Job scam in FCI unearthed
Senior FCI officials’ involvement suspected
Barnala, July 2
Even as the dust raised by the diversion of export quality of rice to local markets worth crores of rupees detected in the Food Corporation of India is yet to settle down, the Barnala police has unearthed a multi-crore job recruitment scam involving 14 persons.

A TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE Royalty evasion of Rs 25 cr Plundering of minerals Chandigarh, July 2 To offset part of the loss caused to the state exchequer by the closure of mining activities within a radius of 5 km of Delhi under a Supreme Court order, the Haryana Mining and Geology Department has begun to tighten the noose around habitual evaders of royalty payable on precious minerals.