Dissatisfied Armed Forces
PM for better pay packet
New Delhi, April 21
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has put his seal of approval on the armed forces and civil services’ demand for better pay packet. “I would like our civil and defence services personnel to be properly rewarded,” the Prime Minister said here today while addressing officers on the occasion of the third Civil Services Day. In video (56k)

Munde set to resign as MLA
Mumbai, April 21
Dissident BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who resigned from all party posts yesterday, is all set to resign as party MLA in the state legislature on Thursday, according to sources close to him. Munde is expected to hit out at the BJP leadership for not allowing him to speak in the House, sources said.

Meets Bal Thackeray
Editorial: Revolt by Munde

Bengal bandh peaceful
Kolkata, April 21
The 12-hour Bangla Bandh called by the Trinamool Congress and SUCI today to protest against the price rise and the CPI(M)’s misuse of power and police in the state, passed off peacefully. The bandh was total in Kolkata but partial in other districts in the state. Keeping in mind the convenience of the people, Mamata Banerjee decided to withdraw the bandh two hours before the stipulated time of 6 p.m. In video (56k)

Taxi drivers rest on their vehicles during a strike in Kokata on Monday. Railway services were disrupted and normal life was hit due to the bandh called by the TMC and its new ally, the Socialist Unity Centre of India, in protest against the failure of the government to check spiralling prices of essential commodities. — Reuters photo

Burney files plea for clemency to Sarabjit
Islamabad, April 21
Making a last ditch effort to save Sarabjit Singh, former Pakistani human rights minister Ansar Burney today petitioned President Pervez Musharraf seeking clemency for the death row prisoner, saying his “biggest crime may have been his Indian nationality”.

Six-decade-long struggle ends
WW-II veteran gets pension arrears
Chandigarh, April 21
A six-decade struggle by a wounded war veteran to get disability pension has finally yielded dividends. After having restored pension benefits to him, the government has now sanctioned him arrears for the past 59 years.

Amarinder, Bhattal asked to ‘keep shut’
New Delhi, April 21
The Congress high command today met Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal while Pranab Mukherjee, a Congress veteran and a senior minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet was asked to mediate between the two-squabbling former chief ministers of Punjab.

Cops give chase, rescue woman Rape bid in bus; driver absconding Ludhiana, April 21 A local woman would have never thought that her night bus journey from Katra to Ludhiana would turn into a terrifying one. The driver allegedly attempted to rape her in the bus after giving control of the vehicle to the conductor. The suffering of the woman and her 12-year-old son could have been more but for four PCR policemen and some persons waiting for night buses near the Clock Tower chowk.