Punjab to raise more resources
Sukhbir-Kalia team proposes fresh taxes, hike in VAT, bus fares
Chandigarh, January 19
The much-awaited two-member committee report on suggesting ways for additional resource mobilisation for Punjab, which is reeling under severe fund crunch, has finally been made public. The report gives a new nomenclature to farm subsidies besides suggesting reviving abiana and recommending upward revision of VAT, bus fares and collectorate rates.
Punjab page: State takes first step to regulate free power

Tearful  send-off  to Basu
Kolkata, January 19
At 3.30 pm, six Army pallbearers carried Basu’s body into a gun carriage parked outside the Assembly house. And soon the carriage embarked on Basu’s last journey to Moharjunj, near SSKM hospital.
Lakhs throng CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu’s last journey in Kolkata on Tuesday. — PTI

Deemed Varsity Issue
No student will suffer, says Sibal
New Delhi, January 19
Offsetting the panic created by the news that 44 deemed universities would lose their deemed status, Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal today said no varsity had so far been de-recognised and the future course of action in the matter would be decided by the Supreme Court which is hearing a civil writ petition on the issue. The next hearing in the case is January 25.
Edit page: Deemed varsity status
Nation page: 80,000 students to be hit in North

Ellenabad Bypoll
Congress poised for tough fight
Ellenabad, January 19
On the eve of polling for the byelection in this dusty constituency bordering Rajasthan, the main contenders, the INLD and the Congress, are keeping fingers crossed. Posturing apart, the body language of leaders of the two parties betrays their anxiety. They are not sure which way the 1.44 lakh voters of the constituency will go tomorrow.

Jr ministers rue less work, meet PM
New Delhi, January 19
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first meeting with his junior ministers today ran true to form. As predicted, the aggrieved ministers of state complained that they were not being given sufficient work by their seniors and sought greater involvement in discussions on policy matters.

Godhra Riots 
Give all documents to SIT, Gujarat told 
New Delhi, January 19
The Supreme Court today directed the Gujarat government to immediately hand over all documents, including the alleged inflammatory speeches of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the post-Godhra 2002 communal riots. A Bench comprising Justices DK Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam also rejected the SIT’s plea for five-month time to submit its report and asked the team to finish the work by April 30.

Jackpot for Pollard, Bond Pak players score a duck at IPL auction Mumbai, January 19 Even before the first tickets are sold for the third edition of the Indian Premier League matches beginning March, the stars are walking away with the big bucks. — IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, accompanied by Shilpa Shetty and Priety Zinta, addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. — AFP