Friday, July 20, 2007, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

U-turns but advantage Pratibha New Delhi, July 19 Legislators across the country today voted to elect the 13th President, with UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil all set to become the first woman to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan as the Head of the State. In video (56k)	Pratibha Patil: Set to become 13th President
Nation page: AIADMK springs a surprise Punjab page: 116 MLAs cast vote Haryana page: Game over in 70 minutes Himachal page: All MLAs cast vote J&K page: 2 MPs, 85 MLAs cast votes Editorial: Out of the box

THE FACES TELL THE STORY: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh shows the victory sign to mediapersons after casting his vote for the Presidential election at Parliament House in New Delhi on Thursday. (Right) Senior BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after casting his vote. — Tribune photos by Mukesh Aggarwal

India: The Tasks Ahead
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
125TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS,
INAUGURAL SESSION

Kalam: I will go with two small suitcases...
New Delhi, July 19
“I will go with two small suitcases,” said an emotional President APJ Abdul Kalam on Wednesday as he prepared to leave Rashtrapati Bhawan with a desire to see India as a developed nation by 2020.

His face tells a story too: Outgoing President, Abdul Kalam, at a meeting of the India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi on Friday. — PTI photo

Suicide bombings kill 57 in Pak
Islamabad, July 19
At least 57 persons were killed and scores injured today in three suicide bombings in Pakistan, including one targeting a group of Chinese engineers, in possible fallout of the bloody crackdown against pro-Taliban Lal Masjid here.

SC Status to Dalit Christians
Centre gets 2 months to take a decision
New Delhi, July 19
The Supreme Court today gave two-months’ time to the Centre to take a decision on the Justice Ranganath Mishra commission report, recommending Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians to enable them to take the benefit of reservations.

Don’t stifle right to education, SC to states
New Delhi, July 19
The Supreme Court today rapped state governments for changing the rules and procedures for admission to professional colleges as per their suitability and warned them against ‘stifling’ of the right to education.

Govt not aware of Big B’s land surrender
Lucknow, July 19
The state government has no information that Amitabh Bachchan is surrendering his farmland in Barabanki district and giving up claims of being a farmer, a role he just could not carry.

N-talks go into third day
India and the United States on Wednesday extended nuclear talks by another day after failing to achieve a breakthrough on a deal that seeks to allow civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

Mukesh: Punjab’s Odd Man Out Nice guys don’t finish second Ludhiana, July 19 For Mukesh Kumar, the newly appointed tehsildar of Ludhiana West, it has been a long and arduous journey for being scruplously honest. It is an irony that he was denied his rightful due continuously for the last 11 years for the “crime” of being honest. Mukesh Kumar Sharma, who has been promoted as tehsildar for his outstanding honesty, travels in a bus as he does not own a car. — Tribune photo by Inderjeet Verma