S P O T L I G H T

6 die in accident near Arki
SOLAN, Feb 12 (UNI) — Six persons were killed and 20 injured, eleven of them seriously, when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus carrying them rolled down into a gorge near Arki in Solan district this evening. The bus with 26 people was going from Manju to Arki. The seriously injured were taken to the Indira Gandhi Medial College Hospital at Shimla.

Curfew imposed
BALLIA (UP), Feb 12 (PTI) — An indefinite curfew was imposed on the town and Rapid Action Force (RAF) deployed today as tension prevailed following violence after the killing of a student leader allegedly by a police sub-inspector. The Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident even as one of the five students injured when the police allegedly opened fire during yesterday’s clash succumbed to the injuries.

Ravi Shankar
NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar was tonight honoured with highest French civilian award ‘Commandeur De La Legion D’ Honneur’ at an impressive function here.

Gowda passes buck
BELLARY, Feb 12 (PTI) — Former Prime Minister and JD (S) President, H D Deve Gowda today said it was for Union Ministers Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan to take a decision on the dues for using defence aircraft by him for "party purpose" during his tenure as the Prime Minister. He told PTI from Tungabhadra Dam, near here, where he is camping, that Yadav, the then president of the erstwhile Janata Dal and Paswan, the then Chairman of Parliamentary Political Affairs Committee, had drawn up the programmes, while "I have just carried out these programmes".