SC cautions colleges
Stop grants, if not ragging
New Delhi, March 16
Time has come to stop financial grants to institutions, which fail to curb the menace of ragging, observed a Supreme Court bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly on Monday.

Safety in number
HP ragging shows official apathy, ASG tells SC
Editorial: Aman Kachroo’s death
Real implementation, real prevention. My agenda at the moment is prevention. I want to make sure students and administration understand that this crime will not be tolerated any more — Rajendra Kachroo, father of Aman Kachroo

People force CJ’s reinstatement
Zardari stoops to defuse crisis
A pre-dawn telecast to the nation in the wee hours of Monday defused the simmering political crisis in Pakistan. And the announcement by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani that the government had agreed to reinstate the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, forced people out on the street to celebrate the victory of Pakistan’s civil society and the civil disobedience movement.

Editorial: Restoration of Chief Justice

SCREAMS OF SUCCESS: Protesters raising slogans during a celebration rally after the restoration of Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in Islamabad on Monday. — AFP

CPM vows to rework on 123
New Delhi, March 16
Assuming credit for the insulation of India’s economy in the face of global financial crisis, the CPM today sounded the poll bugle by slamming the five-year UPA rule as “nakedly pro-rich” in policy and pursuit.

PM candidate only after polls: Jaya
Chennai, March 16
A day after skipping the dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today declined to comment about her candidature for the post of Prime Minister and said the Third Front's candidate should be decided only after the general election.

Modi kicks off acerbic campaign in M’rashtra
Mumbai, March 16
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is overseeing the BJP in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha polls, kicked off his campaign in the state by launching a vitriolic attack on the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.

After BJD, Marandi jolt for BJP
New Delhi, March 16
BJP’s season of losses continued today, with its former national vice-president Babulal Marandi professing support to the Third Front. Keeping his options open, Marandi, who quit the BJP in May 2006, following differences on the issue of state’s chief ministership, assured the yet-to-be-formalised Third Front of his support post-elections.

‘No rift’ but Jaitley drifts; RSS steps in
New Delhi, March 16
A Monday evening meeting between BJP President Rajnath Singh and the party’s prime ministerial nominee Lal Krishna Advani failed to resolve the differences between the former and party general secretary Arun Jaitley. Although Jaitley boycotted the last meeting of the party’s central election committee and has indicated that he will not attend a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, BJP leaders downplayed the infighting.

IPL Sony TV drags BCCI to court Mumbai, March 16 A fresh row broke out over the issue of telecast rights of the IPL with Sony Entertainment dragging BCCI to the Bombay High Court which restrained the Cricket Board from entering into any further agreement related to the T-20 tournament.