New Delhi, April 11
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reconstituted the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and nominated former secretary in the ministry of external affairs K.S. Bajpai as its chairman.

Apart from Bajpai, six new names, including that of The Tribune's Editor-in-Chief H.K. Dua figure in the NSAB list. Other new faces are former high commissioner Shyamala B Coswik, CII's chief mentor Tarun Das, former secretary, ministry of environment & forest, Prodipto Ghosh, member (distribution), Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board, Sudha Mahalingam, and chairman, National Maritime Board, Vice-Admiral (retd) K K Nayyar, a press release from the Prime Minister's office said here.

The other existing members are JNU professor Alka Acharya, associate director of the Indian Institute of Science, N Balakrishnan, former vice-chairman of National Knowledge Commission P.M. Bhargava, Panjab University's professor & head of Department of Defence Studies, Rakesh Datta, former secretary A S Dulat, MEA's former secretary V.K. Grover, political analyst and associate fellow of Institute of Conflict Management Wasbir Hussain, former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswami, ICRIER director Rajiv Kumar, former foreign secretary K Raghunath, former ambassador to Nepal K V Rajan, Hindu editor N Ravi, former Chief of the Army Staff Gen V N Sharma, former chairman Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan and former commissioner of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security S P Talukdar, the release said.

Lucknow, April 11
Nearly 37.40 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow in what is largely seen as a dry run to the general elections scheduled early next year. Byelections to two Lok Sabha and three Assembly constituencies are scheduled for Saturday that may prove which way the wind is blowing in this politically significant state.

That is the reason why the bypolls saw some hectic campaigning by the party chiefs. Besides BSP supremo Mayawati, who travelled all the assembly seats, SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav and BJP national president Rajnath Singh also did not leave any stone unturned.

Interestingly, Mayawati’s controversial statement regarding AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s reported ritual cleaning every time he visited a Dalit household came during the Khalilabad poll meeting. She mocked at Congress’ “newfound love” for the Dalits at every election meeting that she addressed.

Defending Rahul Mulayam Singh Yadav had also cross-questioned Mayawati at his party’s Karnailganj (Gonda) election meeting asking her if she considered Dalits bonded labour who could not meet anyone else.

Once again caste affiliations and the Muslims are expected to be the deciding factor for the candidates in the three Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats going to polls tomorrow. The constituencies are Bilgram (Hardoi), Karnailganj (Gonda) and Muradnagar (Ghaziabad) Assembly segments and Khalilabad (Sant Kabir Nagar) and Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituencies.

Elections were necessitated in the Vidhan Sabha seats of Karnailganj and Muradnagar due to the winning candidates resigning from their seats after defecting to the BSP. In Bilgram, the sitting BSP MLA Upendra Tiwari died in a road accident and her widow Rajni Tiwari is the official BSP candidate.

Byelections to both Azamgarh and Khalilabad parliamentary constituencies were ordered after two BSP MPs Ramakant Yadav from Azamgarh and Bhalchand Yadav from Khaliabad were disqualified by the Lok Sabha Speaker following their switching of loyalty to the SP.

Both of them are in the fray once again. While Bhalchand is the SP official candidate Ramakant is contesting on a BJP ticket after being refused an SP ticket. Here BSP’s Akbar Ahmad ‘Dumpy’ is giving him a tough fight with the other Yadav, SP’s Balram Yadav also in the race.

Mumbai, April 11
Harshita Saxena who had bagged the Pantaloon-Femina Miss India Earth crown last weekend, today surrendered her title over a controversy over her past modeling commitments. According to information available from the organisers, Tanvi Vyas who came fourth in the contest has been crowned as the new Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2008.

Harshita, who hails from Goa, got into controversy shortly after her coronation. Maureen Wadia, president, Gladrags beauty pageants, claimed that Harshita was under contract with her company and could not have participated in the Miss India contests without permission.

Harshita was on a two-year contract with Gladrags. The Femina Miss-India organisers announced Harshita’s surrendering the title after Wadia threatened to sue the model. She had earlier won the Megamodel contest organised by Gladrags in April 2006.

BRIEFLY

Asia’s largest flower market gutted
KOLKATA: At least 236 shops were destroyed by a major fire at Asia’s largest wholesale flower market in the commercial hub of Burrabazar in the city on Friday night. Fire Brigade sources said 16 fire tenders have been sent to contain the blaze that started at around 8.30 pm at Jagannath Ghat beside Strand Road. Police sources said a gas cylinder burst could have triggered the fire. — PTI

Prez to visit Latin America
New Delhi: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will embark on a 14-day official trip to three Latin American countries - Brazil, Mexico and Chile - from April 12 to 25. This will be Patil's first official visit abroad after becoming President. The Brazil leg of the visit will be from April 13 to 16 during which she is slated to visit Sau Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. Patil will be in Mexico from April 16 to 20 where she will travel to Mexico City and Guadalajara. On the last leg of the visit, she will travel to Santiago, the capital of Chile, from April 20 to 23. The President will return home on April 25.— UNI

Stamp on Bhojpuri actor
MUMBAI: In the first instance of its kind, the Netherland government has issued a postal stamp on Bhojpuri film actor Manoj Tiwari. This multi-colour postal stamp, costing 44 Euro Cent, equivalent to Rs 35 in Indian currency, was issued considering the superstar’s huge number of fans all over the world, his spokesperson told UNI here on Friday. The stamp, the first one in any foreign country on any living Indian, has a picture of Tiwari wearing a typical Bhojpuri headgear. — UNI