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To Badal’s complaint, CEC retorts: We know our limits
Chandigarh/New Delhi, Jan 3
After Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said election officials observing the model code of election conduct were overstepping their constitutional mandate, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi reminded him that the EC had a vested interest in the maintenance of law and order in the state.

Editorial: An unseemly row

Differences persist, Cong still undecided on 30 seats
Party’s central poll panel to meet again today
New Delhi, January 3
The Congress today held back the list of its candidates for the Punjab Assembly election, with differences persisting over 30 of the 117 seats. But the Congress high command is learnt to have cleared the names for 87 seats and asked the candidates to return to their constituencies and prepare for the campaign.

China has overtaken India in science: PM
Pitches for doubling R&D spending to 2% of GDP
Bhubaneswar, January 3

In a candid talk on the status of science and technology in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country was being overtaken by competitors like China and called for substantial increase in the investment in research and development, creation of new innovation eco-system and greater public-private partnerships.

PM Manmohan Singh and Orissa CM Navin Patnaik felicitate a tribal for biodiversity conservation during the 99th Indian Science Congress in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. — PTI

Citing EC code, govt postpones budget session
New Delhi, January 3
The UPA government has cited the Election Commission’s model code of conduct as the ostensible reason to postpone the presentation of the Union Budget for 2012-13.

Total disregard for SC norms led to Ambala tragedy
The ill-fated van had no fog lights, no grills on windows, no attendant, all made mandatory by the SC
Chandigarh, January 3
The avarice of the school management, the absence of a regulatory mechanism and total disregard for the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for school vehicles are some of the main causes behind yesterday’s tragic accident in which 11 children lost their lives in Ambala district.

Editorial: Innocent lives lost
Haryana page: Relatives of victims reject CM’s relief

Now book your train ticket over cell phone
New Delhi, January 3
Booking train ticket was never so easy as you can now get it done through your mobile phone. After initial registration and downloading of suitable software on the mobile handset with Internet facility, it will be possible for the mobile users to book a ticket through their own mobile phone.

Rajasthan deploys spies to curb sex-determination tests
Jaipur, January 3
Alarmed over the dismal sex ratio in the state, the Rajasthan Government is creating a network of professional informers to keep an eye on ultrasound clinics that conduct sex-determination tests. For each lead, the respective informer will be paid Rs 25,000.