Monday, July 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Interest rate on farm loans cut
New Delhi, July 27
Making an important announcement, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said his government had asked banks not to charge more than the prime lending rate for agriculture loans up to Rs 2 lakh. Commenting on Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh’s description of the Centre’s “unprecedented” step to reduce interest rates on agriculture loans, Mr Vajpayee said his government would continue to take “many more such ‘unprecedented' steps”.

Nation page: Crop maintenance concerns PM Haryana page: Cane growers disappointed Farmers come out of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s residence in New Delhi with a huge drum after a rally on Sunday. — PTI

Bid on Manipur CM, 2 guards killed
Imphal, July 27
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today escaped an attempt on his life, even as two of his security guards were killed and four others seriously wounded at Wangjing, about 35 km from here, official sources said.

T-90 tanks develop snags
New Delhi, July 27
Just months after their induction into the Indian Army, the world class T-90 tanks have developed technical snags with armoured core personnel reporting difficulty in target-sighting during desert deployment.

Talhan clash: panel’s terms for Dalit nominee
Talhan (Jalandhar), July 27
The much-publicised June 14 peace pact, is virtually lying defunct due to the non-inclusion of one of the two Dalit nominees by the Jat Sikh-dominated Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh Gurdwara Management Committee as a regular member at its weekly meetings.

Punjab page: Rich Dalits’ desire for equality led to clash, says report

Tohra returns as SGPC chief
Amritsar, July 27
Even as Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was elected as 26th President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee at an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee here today, Bibi Jagir Kaur and Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar — both former President, and a number of pro-Badal SGPC members were absent.
In video (28k, 56k)

Punjab page: What is expected of Tohra

The President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, escorts Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra to the SGPC office in Amritsar before his formal appointment as 26th president of the committee on Sunday. — Photo Rajiv Sharma

Manila standoff over after 19 hrs
Manila, July 27
Renegade Philippine soldiers barricaded in a Manila shopping centre ended a nearly 19-hour standoff with the government today without a shot being fired, a negotiator said. “It was agreed they would end the siege and they would march back to barracks,” Colonel Danilo Lim, a member of the government panel that met the rogue troops, told reporters.

Bonded labourer freed after 40 yrs from Chandigarh Kathmandu, July 27 A Nepalese person, who was allegedly forced to work as a bonded labourer in a motor garage in Chandigarh for 40 years, has returned home after being “freed” by NGOs and the Indian police, Nepal’s official news agency RSS reported today.