S P O T L I G H T

‘Power’ of powerful cut
Lucknow, July 29
Uttar Pradesh power engineers today switched off electricity supply to the homes of several defaulting former Chief Ministers and top officials in a rare protest against the suspension of two of their colleagues. Among those who faced the engineers’ wrath were several former Chief Ministers, Mr Ram Prakash Gupta, Mr Kalyan Singh, Mr Ramnaresh Yadav and Narayan Dutt Tiwari. According to official sources, Mr Gupta owes Rs 2.2 lakh to the Electricity Department, Mr Singh Rs 2.18 lakh, Mr Tiwari Rs 5.70 lakh and Mr Yadav Rs 8.01 lakh. UNI

Mehmood ‘stable’
Bangalore, July 29
The condition of veteran Hindi cinema comedian Mehmood is stable and he is expected to be discharged from the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital in a day or two. Hospital sources said here today that Mehmood was stable and a two-member team of doctors — P. Ranganath Nayak and K.S. Sathish — were monitoring his health condition. PTI

Magsaysay for Sandeep Pandey
Manila, July 29
Indian activist Sandeep Pandey has won this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for his work towards the uplift of the poor and underprivileged in India, it was announced here today. Mr Pandey won the award in the emergent leadership category for helping found Asha, a group which supports education and livelihood projects for poor children in India, particularly the Dalits. AFP