Friday, October 12, 2007, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

New rehabilitation policy
Displaced to be made stakeholders
New Delhi, October 11
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to the new rehabilitation policy that defines the role of states in the acquisition of plots for industrial activities and provides for land-for-land compensation and preference to displaced families for jobs in projects coming up on their acquired land. The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also decided to bring a legislation on the lines of the new Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, and to suitably amend the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Ajmer dargah blast kills 2
Ajmer, October 11
At least two pilgrims were killed and nine others, including a child, injured in a terror attack when a crude bomb went off at the sufi shrine of Khawaja Moinuddhin Chishti where thousands of devotees gathered to break the day-long Ramzan fast today.

Security personnel and bystanders gather around scattered debris at the entrance to The Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah (shrine) in Ajmer, on Thursday, after the blast. — AFP photo

Nobel for Lessing
Stockholm, October 11
British novelist Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature today for a body of work that delved into human relations and inspired a generation of feminist writers.

‘ROYAL FLUSH’: British writer Doris Lessing holds her head in her hands outside her home in north London, on Thursday, as she is told by photographers that she has won the Nobel Literature Prize, after returning from a shopping trip. Lessing welcomed the announcement, saying it completed a “royal flush” of literary awards. — AFP photo

42 Badrinath pilgrims die in mishap
Dehra Dun, October 11
Forty two persons, mostly pilgrims from Orissa returning from Badrinath, were killed when the bus, they were travelling in, fell into a gorge in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand today. Rescue teams have fished out 40 bodies so far. Two rescued persons are in critical condition.

Rs 1 lakh for info on kidnapped boy
Patna, October 11
The government today announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information about Akash Pandey (12), who was abducted from here on August 10. Even though Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to sensitise the police time and again in the past for results-oriented performance, the police is yet to recover the boy.

Kabootarbaazi
Mohali singer, 28 others detained
New Delhi/Mohali, October 11
Dolly Malkit Singh, a Punjabi singer, and her group of 28 folk artists, were detained by the Chanakyapuri police in New Delhi today for using fake papers to obtain visas for US. Dolly is a resident of Sector 67 in Mohali. She has acted in a number of Punjabi films and have given a number of stage performances abroad.