FM hints at rollback of tax on cash withdrawal
New Delhi, March 17
Finance Minister P Chidambaram today dropped enough hints that the controversial proposal to impose tax on cash withdrawal from banks would be rolled back and was unlikely to be applicable to savings bank account holders. “Let me make it clear that there is no tax imposed but a tax proposed.

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CM returns with 21 prisoners
Wagah, March 17
It was the most poignant moment in the life of Mr Satpal when he met his son, Narinder Pal, who entered India through the Wagah joint check post along with 20 other Indian prisoners on being repatriated by the Pakistan government today. Like other parents, he swiftly moved to embrace his son who had been languishing in a Pakistani jail since long. In video (28k, 56k)

Bus service: PM sees no threat
World page: Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service approved
Nation page: Musharraf’s mother walks down memory lane
Ludhiana page: 30 years on, she waits for husband’s return
from Pak

Verdict stuns Kanishka victims’ kin
Vancouver (Canada), March 17
Terming it a “betrayal”, distraught relatives of some of the 329 passengers killed in the 1985 Air-India Kanishka bombing said they would be demanding a federal inquiry into the acquittal of the two accused Indo-Canadians by a court here. In video (28k, 56k)

Celebration in Bagri’s village
India expresses outrage
Editorial: Justice in Canada
More on Nation, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh pages

Ajaib Singh Bagri’s mother offers sweets to her husband, after her son was acquitted by a Canadian court, in Chak Kalan village in Jalandhar district on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

SC clears air on attempted influence
New Delhi, March 17
A Bench of the Supreme Court today clarified that there was no pressure on its presiding Judge, Mr Justice S. N. Variava, for changing the Special Judge at Patna holding trial in the fodder scam and disproportionate assets cases against Union Minister of Railways Laloo Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, respectively.

Centre unveils scheme for unemployed
New Delhi, March 17
In an apparent attempt to please the Left parties, the government today unveiled the country’s first unemployment allowance scheme which would cover eight million employees insured with the Employees State Insurance Corporation.

Arms to Pak may affect talks, says Pranab
New Delhi, March 17
Even as India and the USA move towards increasing their military-to-military contacts and sale of defence equipment, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today sent out a cautious signal to Washington that the supply of weapons including F-16 fighter planes, by the USA to Pakistan could impact the composite dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.

India may buy defence hardware from US

In video :Shyam Saran says India's emergence as a global power does not clash with US interests. (28k, 56k)

SC allows Pappu Yadav to take oath New Delhi, March 17 The Supreme Court today permitted the jailed RJD MP, Mr Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, to be taken to Parliament on March 21 from Tihar Jail to take oath as Lok Sabha member. Last year, he could not take the oath after his election from Madhepura in Bihar because of the cancellation of his bail in a murder case.