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Now, Poonam refuses to marry
Violence mars Bengal municipal elections
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PM releases govt’s progress report
Priceless Sai Baba chronicles in neglect
Jaya was alerted on LTTE threat
Convert failures into successes: DMK chief
Medical test of VIP drivers likely
Steps on the cards to clear pending cases
Moon probe project on schedule: ISRO
No tiger in Sariska, says Mishra
Black Taj Project to be completed by year-end
Give Rs 1.23-lakh relief to 1984 riot victims: HC
NE Frontier Railway haven for smugglers
BSF to get modern weapons
Telugu film producer attempts suicide
CBSE
Class XII results today
Aman case hearing likely tomorrow
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Now, Poonam refuses to marry greedy groom
Lucknow, May 22 This courageous resident of Damodar Colony dressed in her bridal finery did not hesitate to reprimand the bridegroom in full public view minutes before the ‘jaimala’ ceremony. She dramatically raised the issue and sought support from guests. Sensing trouble, most of the ‘baraatis’ quietly disappeared. But the bridegroom was not let off so easily. The police was summoned. They took the man and his father to the Krishna Nagar police station. A police team has been dispatched to the bridegroom’s native Shrawasti district to recover the motor cycle and jewellery gifted during the ‘tilak’ ceremony. Legal action would be initiated after their return. Till then, bridegroom Nitish and his father Bhagwati Prasad have been detained at the police station. Trouble started when the bejewelled bride slowly treaded towards the bedecked stage to garland the bridegroom. The bridegroom’s father had chosen that moment to allegedly raise a demand of Rs 20,000 in cash. The bride’s family was taken aback at this sudden demand. The father fell at his feet, begging to be spared this additional burden. Poonam put her foot down and refused to marry such a man. Initially, her mother begged her to reconsider the decision as it would put the “khandaan’s izzat” at stake. But when someone from the bridegroom’s family revealed that the boy was unemployed and not a Railway employee as claimed by him, the bride’s family and guests immediately stood in her support. Heated arguments led to blows. By this time, a huge crowd had collected outside the venue in support of the girl’s stand. The matter subsided when the police arrived and the bridegroom and his father were taken to the police station. |
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Violence mars Bengal municipal elections
Kolkata, May 22 Three persons were killed and about 9,000 arrested during the past 24 hours in connection with the elections. The police fired in three cases to control two warring groups in North 24 Parganas. The Additional IG (Law and order), Mr Chayyan Mukherjee, however, said the elections had been peaceful, barring stray incidents of violence in which bombs were thrown and workers of various political parties attacked. According to him, the average percentage of polling was 65 to 70. The counting of votes will take place on Wednesday. The elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and Salt Lake will be held on June 19. Mr Mukherjee said about 100 persons were arrested today, taking the total number of arrested to 8925 during the past 24 hours. He said two persons were killed late last night by bursting of crackers at Budge Budge in south 24 parganas and one person was killed today during the poll clash between the CPM and Trinamool Congress. The CPM MP, Mr Sujan Chakraborty at Budge Budge alleged that the two persons killed belonged to the Trinamool Congress. He said they had died while making bombs for using them during the poll. But the TMC leader, Mr Sovandeb Chatterjee, categorically denied the charge and alleged these persons belonged to the ruling CPM. The CPM and other Left Front partners claimed that the elections had been free and fair and the leaders expressed the hope that they would capture more seats than the last elections which would enable them to run the municipalities in the districts during the next five years. On the other hand, the TMC leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, and the BJP state president, Mr Tathagata Roy, alleged that the police and state administration had joined hands with the CPM cadres in rigging. Mr Roy further alleged that in many cases, voters at polling booths found that their votes had been already cast. The Congress state secretary, Dr Manash Bhuia, also made similar charges. He alleged that the elections had been a farce since the electorate could not exercise their franchise freely due to intimidation by the CPM even as the police and administration stood silent expectators. According to the police, poll clashes took place at Naihati, Bhatpara, Barrackpopre, Baranagar and Belgharia in North 24 Parganas, Rishra, Chandannagar, Konnagar in Hooghly, several areas in Howrah district and South 24-Parganas. Reports of stray incidents of violence were also received from Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Raiganj in north Bengal. But the elections in Darjeeling were peaceful and a fairly large number of voters in the hill town exercised their franchise in the municipal poll. The GNLF did not oppose their participation in the municipal elections. |
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PM releases govt’s progress report
New Delhi, May 22 The document titled, ‘A Caring Government,’ was presented by the Prime Minister to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. In an oblique attack on the erstwhile NDA government’s ‘India Shining’ campaign, the report has in the beginning a quote from the Prime Minister where he says, “We want India to shine, but India must shine for all.” Giving a glowing account of the UPA government’s performance, the report details the steps taken to revive economic growth, create infrastructure in rural areas, empower weaker sections and improve relations with neighbouring countries. “Few governments in the past have ever maintained such a close watch on the pace and implementation of the promises made in a manifesto as the UPA government,” it says. Referring to the national Common Minimum Programme, the glossy booklet says the UPA government has pursued policies that will improve the quality of life of mass of people of India, increase employment opportunities, step up the rate of economic growth, ensure communal harmony,
ensure balanced development of all regions and offer a new deal to rural India. “The UPA will move beyond these commitments to lay the foundation for sustained long-term economic growth and development, based on commitment to equity and efficiency and to the welfare of all sections of society,” it says. The document deals at length on the initiatives for rural India and lists 21 steps the government had undertaken for the rural sector. These include an increase in agricultural credit and launch of schemes to provide drinking water and electricity in rural areas. Referring to Bharat
Nirman, it says the initiative was a business plan for developing rural infrastructure in the areas of irrigation, rural roads, rural water supply, rural housing, rural electrification and rural telephone connectivity. Apart from listing initiatives taken to tackle unemployment, the report speaks of building a knowledge society and the measures taken to improve governance, including the Right to Information Bill. The report mentions the steps taken by the government to improve the situation in troubled regions like Jammu and Kashmir and North-East and modernise defence forces. On the economic front, it emphasises creating an environment that rewards creativity, risk-taking and the spirit of enterprise and adventure. It stresses the need to increase the rate of capital formation in the economy which will generate employment and help reduce poverty. It says the government was committed to stepping up rate of growth further from the seven per cent expected now. On the foreign policy front, it says the main challenge lies in creating and maintaining a regional and international environment “which would enable us to sustain a high rate of economic growth, create more opportunities for Indian entrepreneurship and enable India to realise its full potential as a major economic power.” It mentions the recent peace initiatives with Pakistan, including the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and steps taken to boost the relations with the USA and European Union. |
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Priceless Sai Baba chronicles in neglect
Shirdi (Maharashtra), May 22 More than 200 pages of handwritten manuscripts written by Haji Abdul Baba, between 1895 and 1918 — the year Sai Baba passed away, are lying at his former cottage, which has been turned into a shrine by his descendants. “Abdul Baba used to write down the utterances of Sai Baba, which dealt with the unity of the Hindu and Muslim faiths,” says his grandson Hameed, who manages the shrine. The text of Abdul Baba’s manuscripts draws parallels between the teachings of Prophet Mohammad and the Hindu legends associated with Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. Sai Baba’s discourses as chronicled by Abdul Baba also dealt with the prevalent Sufi traditions of his time in parts of Deccan, Maharashtra and northern India. According to Hameed, his ancestor’s notes are a blend of Deccani Urdu and the now extinct Modi script, which was widely used in Maharashtra till the mid-1950s. With little assistance from the Shirdi Sansthan, Maharashtra’s richest shrine with annual revenues touching Rs 100 crore, Hameed is forced to dump the precious notes in a cupboard. “It would help if the authorities helped preserve these documents,” says Hameed handing out the papers encased in ordinary polythene bags. Only a small fraction of Sai Baba’s devotees who throng the magnificent shrine next door make their way to the still-humble cottage of Abdul Baba. But Hameed dutifully allows everyone to handle the parchments of his ancestor regardless of the wear and tear caused to them. The managers of the Shirdi Sansthan are, however, disinterested in Sai Baba’s chronicles. “It is the private property of his descendants,” says Bhausaheb Watchure, the government-appointed administrator of the shrine. Hameed himself is reluctant to hand over the manuscripts to the Trust, saying that he is worried about their safety. “It would help if private bodies come forward to preserve these papers,” says Hameed. Delhi-based researcher Yoginder Sikand, who has studied the evolving worship of Sai Baba, warns that politicians of Maharashtra who control the shrine are uncomfortable with the saint’s Muslim origins as depicted in the chronicles. “The Sai Baba shrine is completely Brahminised and all traces of Islam are being erased from here,” Sikand said. For instance, says Sikand, the practice of celebrating Moharram along with Ram Navami started by Sai Baba has been abandoned by the Trust. Now, only Ram Navami is celebrated in Shirdi though the Trust’s museum clearly documents the two festivals being celebrated here. (Part of a series on ‘Communal Polarisation and Threat to Shared Traditions in India’ supported by the National Foundation for India). |
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Jaya was alerted on LTTE threat
Chennai, May 22 She said the Union Home Ministry alert came in a communication on May 19 and pointed out that it was a refutation of criticism in the media and from political quarters that she had failed to contain the activities of the LTTE in the state. Ms Jayalalithaa said she had pointed out to the Union Home Minister in a letter that her government had taken an uncompromising and determined stand against the LTTE and had “worked assiduously to stamp out the LTTE menace”. The context for her letter is a brief paragraph in the Union Home Ministry’s Annual Report 2004-05 that said, “The LTTE continues to use Tamil Nadu as a base for smuggling petrol, diesel and drugs to Sri Lanka”. Ms Jayalalithaa said this innocuous sentence had been blown out of proportion by some sections of the media and the Janata Party leader, Mr Subramanian
Swamy, to “give an impression that there is heightened LTTE activity in Tamil Nadu”. Recalling her track record of cracking down on the LTTE since she assumed office first in 1991, recommending its ban in 1992, outlawing local outfits believed to be aiding the LTTE and stoutly opposing the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002, Ms Jayalalithaa said she had told the Home Minister “the LTTE continues to particularly target me, putting me to the highest personal risk”. Ms Jayalalithaa said, “I have invited the specific attention of the Union Home Minister to the communication from the Home Ministry on 19/5/05, conveying a specific personal threat to me from the LTTE, by assigning a mission to a woman suicide bomber.” |
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Convert failures into successes: DMK chief
Chennai, May 22 In his epistle to cadres, after the party suffered a drubbing in the recently-concluded byelections to the Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi Assembly seats, Mr Karunanidhi asked partymen to grant him a “boon”. He urged them to face the insults and criticisms with courage and resolve to work hard for the welfare of the people. “Some people may find pleasure in pricking others’ eyes and wounds with a needle. But we should not lose our heart and scale down our work,” he said. Take a resolve not to rest until the flags of the Dravidian movement’s political, social and economic policies were flown high, Mr Karunanidhi said. The DMK chief also called on the cadres to come in large numbers to the party zonal conference to be held in Coimbatore on May 28 and 29. The allies of the Democratic Progressive Alliance TNCC President
G.K. Vasan, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, MDMK leader M. Kannappan, CPM State Secretary N. Varadarajan and CPI state unit chief T. Pandian and others will participate in the conference, in which resolutions on people’s issues will be adopted.
— UNI |
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Medical test of VIP drivers likely
Jaipur, May 22 Mr Shree Prakash Jaiswal, who was on an official visit to the city of lakes, was travelling in a car on the hospital road along with present Congress MLA Prakash Choudhary and former Congress MLA Trilok Poorbia on Tuesday. The mishap took place when the car driver suffered an epileptic attack and lost control of the steering. The car hit the divider and crossed over to the other side of the road. Mr Poorbia, who was sitting on the seat adjacent to that of the driver, applied the brakes immediately and his colleague, Mr Prakash Choudhary, took control of the steering, averting a likely disaster. On reaching the Circuit House, the Minister expressed annoyance with the district administration for not being careful in deputing drivers with VIPs. The Controller of Garage placed under suspension the Office Superintendent for the lapse. Later, Mr Mohammed Farukhi, Controller of State Garage, said at present there was no provision for any periodical, medical check-up of the drivers at their end. Since the Transport Department while issuing or renewing driving licences asked the incumbents to produce medical certificates, such a necessity never cropped up, he added. |
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Steps on the cards to clear pending cases
New Delhi, May 22 Giving assessment of the steps initiated by the Manmohan Singh government about expediting the process of formulating various required laws and amending some of the existing legislation, the Law Ministry said: “The government is committed to speed up clearance of backlog of cases in lower courts and high courts and is deliberating with the Chief Justice of India and the high court Chief Justices to smoothen the process.” While giving details how the UPA government’s commitment
under the Common Minimum Programme about the abolition of POTA and dissolution of the Phukan Commission on the Tehelka expose had been fulfilled, the ministry said the Legal Services Authorities scheme and National Legal Literacy Mission, launched recently for the poor
litigants, would be strengthened. The government had initiated steps to upgrade the infrastructure facilities for the judiciary and appointing more judicial officers and staff in the lower courts, it said. |
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Moon probe project on schedule: ISRO
Hyderabad, May 22 With China expected to launch a similar probe in 2008, Mr Nair asserted that the country’s first moon probe project was on schedule and there was no cost overrun. Work on the production of instruments had already started and the design was complete. They were now looking at the deep space tracking network aspect, Mr Nair told mediapersons on the sidelines of the national workshop on ‘Emerging technologies ‘UAV’ organised by the Hyderabad chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India. On the GSLV rocket, he said 70 per cent of the work was complete on the third developmental flight next year. It could have an Italian payload, ‘Agile,’ which is likely to be put into orbit in the fourth and final stage by the indigenously developed cryo engine. Meanwhile, scientific Adviser to Defence Minister M. Natarajan said India is considering building its own Supersonic Jet Trainer and a multi-role medium range combat plane leveraging Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). A major portion of aeronautics budget, of around Rs 10,000 crore has been spent on the development of LCA, Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems and Kaveri Engine and the technology developed from these systems could be extended in designing advanced systems given the interface with the industry, he said. The LCA could lead to a supersonic jet trainer and a multi-role medium range combat aircraft, he said in his keynote address at the workshop. India had decided to acquire a fleet of British ‘’Hawk,’’ the Advance Jet Trainer (AJT) to upgrade the skills of the Indian Air Force pilots in the wake of the country inducting a large number of sophisticated combat aircraft. The multi-million pound AJT contract on the eve of the general elections was mired in controversy with the British media reporting ‘’manipulation’’ by the manufacturers. Terming it a Rs 10,000-crore opportunity, the defence scientist called upon the industry to share costs and take part in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to help save expenditure and delivery time. “We have proposed to the Kelkar Committee that there can be a cooperative approach in development of new technology with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO),’’, Mr Natarajan told participants at the workshop. He proposed that the DRDO, three services and industry contribute in the ratio of 70:10:20 in the
development of such technologies as the DRDO was facing tremendous pressure in systems development due to inadequate support from the industry to meet the defence requirements.
— UNI |
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No tiger in Sariska, says Mishra
Kolkata, May 22 “The management had not lived up to the expectations,’’ Mr Uma Shankar Mishra told mediapersons at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport before leaving for Dimapur on a two-day visit to the North-East. A combined team of the CBI and the Centre’s Forest Department, which visited the project, have submitted a joint report to the Centre recently, he said. He pointed out the ‘’unsatisfactory conditions’’ prevailing in the projects that were being financed by the Centre and managed by the state government. The team have given several suggestions, including improvement of infrastructure, training of personnel working in the project as well as providing ‘’environmental protection to the tigers”.
— UNI |
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Black Taj Project to be completed by year-end
Lucknow, May 22 Ifthikhar Nadeem Khan (35), the great grandson of General Bakht Khan, Bahadur Shah Zafar’s commander-in-chief of the army that fought the British in 1857, has embarked on a project to create the replica of the black Taj Mahal, an unfulfilled dream of Shah Jahan. Mr Khan said the findings of historians, including Jean Baptise Tavernier from France (1679), Percy Brown (1964) and Louis Rousselet (1875), prove that the Mughal emperor, who built the Taj in memory of his beloved Mumtaz Mahal, wanted to build its black replica. However, the dream to built the black Taj and connect the two monuments by a bridge was interrupted by the war with his sons and ultimately buried with him in Agra Palace, the place where he was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb. “The Black Taj Project started in August 2001 for creating a 2.5 m x 2.5 m replica is an attempt to pay a personal tribute to a great King,” Mr Khan told newspersons here today. The model is being built in ebony (a real substitute for black marble) which is the only wood that sinks when thrown in water. Mr Khan’s fascination for the Taj began as a 15-year-old when his thermocol model of the 17th century monument fetched him the coveted state government award in 1985. “It seemed as though the spirit of a heart-broken emperor wanted me to tell the world his unfinished task,” he maintained. The Project is expected to be complete by the year-end, Mr Khan said, adding that he intends to showcase his creation at the concluding ceremony of the celebrations to mark the 350th year of the Taj in Agra. The work, likely to cost over Rs 80 lakh, is being developed through such a technique that makes its dismantling and reassembling easy so as to make it portable.
— UNI |
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Give Rs 1.23-lakh relief to 1984 riot victims: HC
New Delhi, May 22 “It is the bounden duty and responsibility of the state to secure and safeguard the life and liberty of an individual from mob violence,” Justice Gita Mittal said in her landmark judgment that would benefit around 2,800 Sikhs injured during the riots in the Capital. The court asked the government to pay the compensation within a month to Manjit Singh Sawhney, who was injured in an attack by an angry mob that killed seven others at Tuglaqabad railway station in November 1984. It also asked the Centre to pay him an additional amount of Rs 11,000 as cost of protracted litigation that went on for four years in the High Court. Most importantly, to secure parity among all those who suffered injuries during the riots and were given an ex gratia of Rs 2,000 only, Justice Mittal ordered that they all be paid the enhanced amount. It took note of the fact that in the case of Bhajan Kaur, who lost her husband at the same place during the riots, a general order was passed in July 1996 directing the Centre to pay the enhanced compensation in all similar cases. The court calculated the compensation amount payable to the petitioner at Rs 75,000 with interest from the date of incident which was quantified at Rs 50,000. The Centre had contended that Mr Shawhney could not be given a further amount as there was no FIR or other documentary proof of the incident and that he was discharged from the hospital very soon. The incidents dates back to November 2, 1984, when a frenzied mob stopped a train at Tuglaqabad railway station here and pulled out petitioner Manjit Singh Sawhney, his sister and other Sikh passengers. Seven persons were killed while Sawhney was battered by the mob and dumped on the track thinking that he too had died. Later, Army men brought him to New Delhi from where he was shifted to the LNJP Hospital. However, he got himself discharged from the hospital and went to look for his sister. Terming the Centre’s attempt to take advantage of his early discharge as “unfair” and “insensitive”, the court said, “Concern for his missing sister outweiged all concerns of his own injuries....” The court took exception to the fact that the government did not have any records relating to the petition.
— PTI |
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NE Frontier Railway haven for smugglers
Guwahati, May 22 Occasionally, the police succeeds in seizing some smuggled goods. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. From Tripura to Mizoram, the entire Railways communication for the seven sister states is Assam centric. Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh do not have any direct railway service yet. For Nagaland, the railway traffic is confined to Dimapur only on the Assam-Nagaland border. The rest is in Assam. Apart from local trains in Guwahati, there are over 16 pairs of long-distance trains which daily commute between different destinations in the country. The poor railway security and slow pace of train due to single line till a certain distance in Assam, are helping the smugglers to treat the North-East Frontier Railway as a haven for them. In February, sources in the railway police said, in a goodstrain a person was travelling with four elephants. Upon investigation it was found that while three elephants had a valid licence to travel, one elephant was being smuggled from Tejpur in upper Assam. All four elephants were handed over to the Forest Department. Another lucrative material is bamboo, which grow in abundance in the north-eastern states. The police seized bamboos worth Rs 7 lakh in the past one year. Electronic goods, ladies’ undergarments and shoes are some other smuggled goods, and the police had seized such goods worth Rs 17 lakh in the past one year. Gold, cement, rice and wrist watches only add to the list of smuggled goods. But what shocked the railway police and the administration was the recovery of over 5,000 bullets from a compartment of the Rajdhani Express in March. Those bullets, being produced at the arms factory in Pune, are used by the Indian Army. Explosive materials like 840 gilletin sticks, 800 detonators and crude bombs were seized from the North Cachar hills last month. A person from Guwahati station was arrested with 50 fake gun licences. A senior railway police official said they did organise raids and checks in all long-distance trains. “But the network of smugglers is much stronger than ours”, he added. The North-East Frontier Railway is fast emerging as the safe transit mode for all kinds of smuggled goods which subsequently are being spread across the country, from Delhi to Mumbai and Bangalore to Kolkata. |
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BSF to get modern weapons
New Delhi, May 22 This was stated by Home Minister Shivraj Patil at an investiture ceremony here today. He said the BSF was fighting a low-intensity war on the borders and needed modern weapons. He said it required modern weapons and gadgets, helicopters for air support and communication and transport facilities in its fight against infiltration and terrorism. He stressed the production of films and documentaries on the armed forces to make the public aware of the hardships faced by the security forces. Mr Patil decorated 51 BSF officers and personnel, six of them posthumously, with gallantry and meritorious service medals. |
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Telugu film producer attempts suicide
Hyderabad, May 22 The film “Narasimhudu”, starring Junior NTR, grandson of former Telugu matinee idol N.T. Rama Rao, could not be released on Friday last as announced due to the non-payment of dues to the financiers. Even as film-crazy fans across the state created scenes in front of theatres for failing to screen the film, some senior film personalities in the industry such as D. Suresh Babu of Rama Naidu Studios intervened and temporarily resolved the issue by arranging to release the film in most parts of the state. However, the producer was deeply disturbed over the mess in which he found himself and jumped into the Hussain Sagar Lake after an argument with his family members. He was rescued by the Lake Police and immediately rushed to KIMS Hospital. “The budget has overshot. Everybody tried to help but I felt ashamed having run into so many problems,” Venkata Rao said from his hospital bed. The film cost Rs 18 crore and apparently the producer did not get the response he expected from the distributors and exhibitors. Venkata Rao, who won from Payakaraopet in the last year’s elections, said that the entire episode brought bad name to the TDP and hence he would submit his resignation. Telugu film industry spokesperson T. Bharadwaja said that the latest development should wake up the industry on the need to rein in the costs. “Budget over-runs have become too common and Telugu film industry cannot afford such huge budgets,” he remarked. |
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CBSE Class XII results today New Delhi, May 22 The results will be posted at 8 a.m. on the websites of the Central Board of Secondary Education www.results.nic.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in. Results will also be available on telephone through interactive voice response system (IVRS) on 011-24357270 and on SMS from all mobile operators, the CBSE said in a statement. — PTI
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Aman case hearing likely tomorrow
Mumbai, May 22 The actor had moved the Andheri Metropolitan court, alleging that the channel intended to “blackmail and extort money” from
him. Verma’s lawyer Dipesh Mehta said he had filed a complaint against India TV CEO Rajat Sharma, programme manager, Suhaib Ilyasi and journalist Ruchi.
— PTI |
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