New Delhi, April 16
The UPA government was cornered on the issue of price rise by the opposition as well as its supporters in both the houses of Parliament today.

The BJP, its allies and the Left wanted an immediate ban on futures trading of 25 items saying it was leading to profiteering. The Left even went to the extent of asking the government to justify its “very existence”

Participating in the discussion on price rise, the Left parties laid out a charter of demands while it apportioned blame on the previous BJP-led NDA government for having opened the “flood gates” by allowing unrestricted trading and hoarding.

Sitaram Yechury of the CPM today demanded in the Rajya Sabha that 25 items should be banned from futures trade. The suggestion was made by the parliamentary standing committee and it should be implemented, said Yechury. The list of demands included: the government should restore the cut in grain quota under the public distribution system (PDS); 15 items like edible oils should be included in the list of PDS items; rationalise the import duty and taxation of crude oil; bring in legislation, if required, to act against hoarders.

Yechury raised the hackles of the BJP when he read out an order that was issued during the NDA regime. The order allowed unrestricted trade and stocking of oil seeds, grains and other essential items.

The Left leader quoted the London economist and gave out figures that the futures trade market was doping trade worth $ 3 billion a day in India. The speculation was such that the trade was 300 times more than the actual grain stock position.

Raising the discussion in the Lok Sabha, CPI member Gurudas Dasgupta demanded that the “Manmohan Singh government establish justification of its existence.”

In an unsparing attack on the Prime Minister, the CPI leader said the government should have taken preemptive measures to prevent price rise.

“It is an unintelligent effort on part of the Prime Minister to hide behind the cover of global price rise. I’m compelled to say that this is a shameful surrender to the delinquent market forces of the country.”

Accusing the government repeatedly of making Indian economy susceptible to instability, Dasgupta said the country had lost its food sovereignty. “The price is dictated by hoarders and black marketeers.”

Blaming the government for completely ignoring agriculture and making people poorer, Dasgupta said the criminality of the government knew no bounds.

“Where is your fire-fighting policy when the market is in flames?”

Earlier, Murli Manohar Joshi, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha, said price rise was synonymous with the Congress. He chided union minister Kapil Sibal to have made the remark that the “government did not have a magic wand” saying the public had a wand and it would soon show it you.

New Delhi, April 16
The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on the bail application of Siddharth Vashisht, alias Manu Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment in Jessica Lal murder case.

A Bench, comprising Justices C.K. Thakker and D.K. Jain, reserved the verdict after hearing senior counsel Ram Jethmalani who appeared for Manu, and additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam appearing for the state.

Jethmalani, pleading for suspension of sentence awarded to Manu, son of former Haryana minister Venod Sharma, contended that the Delhi High Court has convicted the petitioner under the media pressure.

He also contended that the prosecution has suppressed the evidence in the case and said socialite Bina Ramani was not an eye-witness in the case.

Subramaniam, however, told the court that there was sufficient evidence against Manu as he was present on the spot and has been identified by an eyewitness Shyan Munshi and he did not deserve to be released on bail. Munshi, however, later turned hostile.

Jethmalani, pleading for suspension of sentence of his client, submitted before the court that “bail is rule while jail is exception” and his client must be released on bail at least till final disposal of appeal against his conviction pending before this court. — UNI

New Delhi, April 16
The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is losing scientists involved in critical development projects at an unbelievable pace. A whopping 1,107 scientists have put in papers in the past five years (2003-07), which comes to be about 220 leaving every year for alternative avenues in the private sector. And to top it all, the government has no such data as to where all these scientists have joined after quitting their jobs.

In 2006, 321 scientists resigned and most of them were young scientists from the electronics and computer disciplines. That year was the first time when the number of resignations at the DRDO surpassed the number of inductions (300). In other words, induction was not keeping pace with attrition resulting in a significant shortfall of trained scientists.

Though the DRDO had suggested various financial benefits to retain the best and the Ministry of Defence suggested the same to the 6th pay panel, nothing much had been done raising the fears that the outflow might continue, opine officials here.

Defence minister A.K. Antony, in a written reply, told Parliament that several proposals had been made by the DRDO and listed out 26 benefits that had been submitted to the pay panel. These are authorisation of additional increments to scientists at the time when they join the DRDO. The agency now wants to give more by way of a professional update allowance and even increase the study leave period for higher studies like Phd or M. Tech. And in 2008, the scientists do not even have Internet facility at home and wants that for all of them.

The archaic promotion policy needs to be revamped and fast track promotion policy is now planned. The DRDO should be given as a share of the monetary benefits of the commercialisation of the products and processes developed by the inventing scientists. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research follows this pattern.

On the social aspect, the DRDO wants that it should have better residential, medical and educational facilities.

The DRDO, which was once headed by former president Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is working in various areas of military technology which include aeronautics, armaments, combat vehicles, electronics, instrumentation engineering systems, missiles, materials, naval systems, advanced computing, simulation and life sciences.

Chandigarh, April 16
The Editors Guild of India has complimented the entire Indian media for resisting the “unacceptable” terms and conditions for accreditation of journalists imposed by the Indian Premium League (IPL) organisers for coverage of the IPL tournament beginning on April 18.

A statement issued by the Guild’s Secretary-General, K. S. Sachdananda Murthy, said that the conditions, which placed severe constraints on the media and directly affected freedom of editors, newspapers and news agencies, have been removed in the updated terms and conditions issued by IPL.

The earlier terms, which included submission of all photographs taken by accredited photographers to IPL for its global and perpetual commercial use; bar on newspapers from using the pictures on their websites; and bar on news agencies from supplying pictures to their subscribers, have been scrapped.

The Guild has, however, regretted that the news agencies have been barred from supplying pictures to stand-alone specialised websites subscribing to their services though the news agencies are in dialogue with the IPL organisers to remove this clause also from the terms and conditions.

Similarly the holder of the sole telecast rights has put new conditions on giving feed to news television channels, which were not acceptable and the guild supported the stand taken by the News Broadcasters Association that existing accreditation policies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India should be applicable for IPL.

Hyderabad, April 16
All eyes are on Telangana these days as the forthcoming byelections are expected to reveal the true depth of the statehood sentiment in the region. With the Election Commission today announcing that bypolls for 18 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in the state would be held on May 29, the political activity has gained momentum with parties keenly watching how the demand for separate Telangana state will fare at the hustings.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is in the forefront of the statehood movement, views the bypoll as a “referendum” on the demand for a separate state. The byelections have been necessitated following the resignation of four MPs and 16 MLAs of TRS on March 4 to protest the delay in the formation of Telangana state.

The vacancies for Khairatabad constituency in the city and Therlam in Vizianagaram district were caused by the death of sitting members. “Here is an opportunity for the people of Telangana to demonstrate their strong desire for a separate state.

This election will be a slap on the face of the Congress for betraying the people of the region,” TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao said soon after the announcement of the poll schedule. Spurning the overtures of the ruling Congress, Rao said his party would go it alone in the bypoll and hoped that the electorate would teach a fitting lesson to the ruling party for going back on its promise of carving out Telangana state.

While Congress’ poll campaign is dominated by the development slogan, the TRS is all set to play the statehood sentiment card to the hilt as the bypoll outcome will decide the fate of Telangana movement.

The Congress, which has left the decision on the sensitive Telangana issue to its President Sonia Gandhi, has been maintaining that there is no political consensus on the demand for a separate state. On its part, the TDP, which is coming under pressure from a section of party leaders to change its traditional stand opposing bifurcation of the state, has said it would take an “appropriate decision at appropriate time”.

“The Congress and TRS both have ditched the people of Telangana. We are confident of winning a majority of seats,” senior TDP leader T.Devender Goud said. The bypoll is expected to witness re-alignment of political forces in the state.

While Left parties and TRS had fought the 2004 elections in alliance with the Congress, which was then in the opposition, the situation may reverse this time around.

The CPI (M) is expected to forge a tie-up with the TDP while the CPI is yet to decide its course of action. The BJP, which was an ally of TDP in the previous elections, however, finds itself isolated.

Ranchi/Aurangabad, April 16
Naxalites targeted the railway network during the 24-hour bandh called by them in Jharkhand and Bihar, blowing up a stretch of the railway track today and holding employees of a railway station captive after a raid.

Armed Naxalites blasted a two-metre stretch of a railway track at the Choudary Baandh in Giridih district in Jharkhand in the early hours, disrupting train services in the Dhanbad division.

The Naxalites had called the bandh to protest against the killing of eight of their associates in an encounter near Garwah, earlier this month. The Maoists also set afire a truck at Tamar, about 50 km from Ranchi.

According to reports, vehicles were off the roads due to the bandh, affecting loading and unloading at mineral sites.

In Bihar’s Aurangabad district, over 200 heavily armed Maoists raided Fesar railway station and held its five employees captive last night.

The rail traffic on the Aurangabad- Mughalsarai section of the East Central Railway was disrupted for more than two hours, police sources said, adding the employees were later freed from captivity.

In the wake of the Maoist attack at Jhajha station, all railway stations in the state have been put on high alert and security agencies have been advised to move in groups during the physical search of all important trains, the sources said. — PTI

Guwahati, April 16
Noted Assamese litterateur and the only link between the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Government of India, Jnanpith Indira (Mamoni Raisom) Goswami has raised hopes for a fresh effort for talks with the proscribed militant group when she claimed that the ULFA had shown interests for negotiation once again.

Dr Goswami disclosed here that the ULFA commander-in-chief had called her up on the occasion of ‘Rongali Bihu’, the spring festival in Assam, to greet her as well as to drop hint about the outfit’s desire to sit for talks with the Government of India.

The Jnanpith Award winner said, “The ULFA commander-in-chief during the brief telephonic conversation with me pointed out that Rongali Bihu is being celebrated in Assam in a peaceful atmosphere and it is up to the government to take advantage of the peaceful atmosphere for taking initiatives for holding fresh dialogue with the ULFA.”

She said the ULFA commander-in-chief while talking about fresh talks with the government had not mentioned about any precondition, including ‘demand for discussion of the sovereignty issue’, which had been the major hurdle for the government of India to hold direct talks with the ULFA.

The litterateur, who was authorised by the ULFA to play a role in facilitating talks with the Government of India in the year 2005, had been maintaining that talks with the ULFA should be held on all issues not only the issue of restoration of sovereignty of the people of Assam.

A security source here observed that going by what Dr Goswami has to say about her conversation with the ULFA commander-in-chief, it seems the ULFA, which has been put on the back foot by the sustained intensive operation against it by security forces and the police, has a bit softened up and wants early negotiation with the government.

On earlier occasions whenever the ULFA talked about ‘talks with the government’ it invariable set the pre-condition that talks should be held on its key demand for ‘restoration of sovereignty of Assam’.

It may be mentioned that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently said the government was willing to hold talks with the ULFA only when the outfit would stop indulging in violence to facilitate a peaceful and conducive atmosphere in the violence-hit state. 

New Delhi, April 16
With the new President in Moscow set to take over, Russian parliamentarians are keen to upgrade their country’s ties with India to the level of Soviet era and want the two countries to be as close as India is now to the US.

A group of five young Russian parliamentarians, currently on a visit to India, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with their compatriots from India on forging closer cooperation between the young parliamentarians of the two countries for tackling emerging global issues, including climate change, cultural cooperation, student exchange etc.

“Every country has its own compulsions. We are also having relations with the US...We must bring it (Indo-Russia ties) to the level we had in the Soviet times,” said Viktor Nefedov, leader of the five-member delegation and a member of the State Duma Committee on Science and Technology.

The MPs -- Members of the State Duma Committee --who witnessed proceedings in both the Houses of the Indian Parliament today, said they were impressed with the way questions were directly addressed to ministers by the members, which was not the case with Russia.

The MPs -- Pavel Tarakanov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Issues, Elena Afanasyeva, State Duma Committee Member on Family, Women and Children’s Issues, Sergei Pekpeyev, Member on Federal Issues and Regional Policy and T. Voronova, Member for Foreign Affairs -- were addressing a joint press conference after witnessing the Indian parliamentary proceedings.

Nefedov said they were impressed by the Indian Parliamentary proceedings and wanted to implement it back home.

The delegation witnessed the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha when home minister Shivraj Patil was replying to questions on Indo-Bangladesh border. They later went to the Lok Sabha.

The MPs are also scheduled to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and learn about Indian Pariamentary procedures. — UNI

New Delhi, April 16
The Congress today congratulated the people of Nepal on their historic Constituent Assembly election, and assured full support to its deliberations and subsequent decisions.

AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told mediapersons that the party always supported the people of Nepal in their resolve to frame a constitution that addresses their needs.

In this context, he highlighted the visit of a four-member Congress delegation, led by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, to Nepal during pre-election period to express its solidarity with the Nepali leaders.

The delegation had met all the political leaders, including G.P. Koirala and Prachanda. — UNI

Mumbai, April 16
The National Defence Academy (NDA) at Pune is all set to put up a number of grand events over the next few months to commemorate its 60th birthday, due to fall on January 16 next year.

According to naval sources here, the list of events scheduled include expeditions over the sea, land and air and will cover some of the most challenging terrain.

"There will be a number of expeditions to the Himalayas by our cadets. The naval training ship, Tarangini, will undertake a 70 day voyage from Kochi to Seychelles via Salalah and back," said a senior naval official. The NDA cadets will also undertake an aerial gliding expedition to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Later this year, in the run up to the diamond jubiliee anniversary celebrations, President Pratibha Patil will preside over a reunion of NDA alumni. Apart from the three service chiefs, the union defence minister and all the chief ministers of Indian states are scheduled to attend the reunion.

The actual celebrations will be kicked off by a candle-lit homage to NDA alumni who died in action. So far, the NDA has trained more than 30,000 cadets including 1600 foreigners.

The academy, located at Khadakvasla near Pune, has unveiled an ambitious expansion programme so that it is able to churn out more cadets two years down the line.

New Delhi, April 16
It is not just the farmers and the common man, good monsoon rains during 2008 is something that even the government is hoping and praying for. So the good news for the day is that the country, reeling under spiralling inflation figures, can expect near normal monsoon rains this year.

In its much-awaited, though cautious, long-range forecast for the 2008, southwest monsoon between June and September, the IMD said today rainfall for the country, as a whole was “likely to be near normal”. The La Nina factor too was positive this year, an indication towards a better monsoon in the country.

Quantitatively speaking, the rainfall will be 99 per cent of the long-period average with the model error of five per cent, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal said, adding that he too, like everyone else, was praying for a good monsoon season.

The long-range average rainfall over the country as a whole for the period between 1941 and 1990 is 89 cm. The IMD will update the forecast in June 2008, in a second stage forecast.

It is also when separate forecasts for July rainfall for the country as a whole and seasonal (June -September) rainfall over the four geographical regions will be issued.

Amidst some very grim news of inflation rate surging to a new three-year high of 7.41 per cent, unabated increase in prices of vegetables, food articles and persistent concerns about food security of the country, this year’s rainfall is very important.

As on this year, rains will ride not only the fortunes of Indian farmers but also the UPA government in the face of the coming general elections. For India’s food security, the next kharif crop is very important. During 2007, the monsoon remained deficient in the northwest. The rabi season also did not go down well and there was hardly any rains during the winter months, leading to several moisture-deficient subdivisions in the states - Punjab, Haryana and western Utter Pradesh- that are the granaries of the country.

A deficient monsoon would have increased cumulative deficiency in the region. The IMD, which has been at the receiving end for issuing way-beyond-the bulls’ eye forecasts in the past, also claimed to have used improved long -range forecast capabilities this year.

According to Sibal, as part of ongoing efforts to improve forecast capabilities, experimental forecast for the 2008 monsoon rainfall based on the IMD’s dynamical forecast system was also generated.

New Delhi, April 16
India’s agricultural production base is quite strong but at the same time the wastage of precious agricultural produce is also massive. For a country stressed under the burden of assuring food security for one billion plus people, the wastage due to post harvest losses stands at a startling Rs 55,000 crore per annum

In a report tabled in Parliament today, a committee related to the ministry of agriculture also stated that India’s processing level was also surprisingly very low. It is around two per cent for fruits and vegetables, 26 per cent for marine, six per cent for poultry and 20 per cent for buffalo meat as against 60 to 70 per cent in developed countries.

In fact, the panel has lambasted the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for having no authoritative estimates or statistics and also no plan to end the prevailing mismatch between production and post-harvest technology even after more than 50 years of being in existence.

“Having no authoritative estimates or statistics of post harvest losses of agrarian and allied sector produces even after more than 50 years of existence speaks volumes about the irresponsible manner DARE and the ICAR are fulfilling their mandatory responsibilities,” the panel headed by MP Ram Gopal Yadav said.

Even though no authoritative estimates of post harvest losses in various agricultural livestocks and fisheries sectors is available, on basis of general post harvest loss estimates available with the ICAR, the extend of annual post harvest losses in various commodities is large enough to feed lakhs of people-around Rs 55,000 crore per annum.

Consider this - for grains, losses are about 10 per cent (valued at Rs 16,500 crore), for pulses about 15 per cent (valued at Rs 2,000 crore), for fruits about 30 per cent (valued at Rs 13,600 crore), for vegetables about 30 per cent (valued at Rs 14,100 crore), for floriculture about 40 per cent (valued at Rs 400 crore) and for livestock and fisheries produce losses are valued around Rs 8,400 crore.

The committee has now asked the two agencies to undermine their nodal and apex stature at national and state levels and take immediate steps to collect, compile and analyse data at the earliest in order to have better planning and R&D to stop this huge wastage.

The data will also help ministries, departments and agencies concerned, which entrusted to develop appropriate technologies and modern storage facilities, areas wise, to prevent the waste.

“Unless this is done and the desired post harvest technologies developed and implemented to plug the gaping hole in the basket of agrarian and allied sector produces all efforts made by the ICAR to increase productivity and production of agrarian and allied produces will not bear the desired result,” it said.

Lucknow, April 16
Taking yet another bold step towards promoting iconic politics, Chief Minister Mayawati has now created another district in the name of BSP founder and mentor Kanshi Ram.

Carved out of Etah district of central UP, Kanshi Ram Nagar is the 71st district of the state having Kasganj as its headquarters, including tehsils of Kasganj, Patiali and the newly created tehsil of Soron.

Keeping with her brand of politics, Mayawati has created or renamed several districts after Dalit or Buddhist icons during her previous regimes.

Hathras became Mahamaya Nagar and part of Ghaziabad district became Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Bahraich was split to re-create Shravasti, the historical capital of the Kosala kingdom of 6th century BC, where Buddha is believed to have spent considerable time.

Siddharth Nagar named after Buddha’s original name and Sant Kabir Nagar named after the saint-poet were new districts carved out of the erstwhile Basti district in eastern UP.

Similarly, splitting the Allahabad district, Mayawati created Kosambi that was a historical place associated with the Buddha as he had spent much time here during his wanderings.

Bhadohi the carpet capital of the state was renamed after the Dalit saint-poet Sant Ravi Das.

She carved out Ambedkar Nagar from Faizabad and Amroha in western UP, which is now known by the name of 19th century social reformer from Maharashtra, who worked to uplift the Dalit, Jyotiba Rao Phule.

In fact, this recently brought her an unlikely left-handed compliment from none other than the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray.

Taking note of the name of UP districts, the MNS leader praised Mayawati for daring to name the two districts in UP after Maharashtrians. He had also eulogised her for naming two universities after another Maharashtrian - Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.

New Delhi, April 16
Bodies of two Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan on April 12, arrived here from Kabul, this morning.

The bodies of Mahendra Pratap Singh, an engineer, and C. Govindaswamy, a mason, were airlifted from Kabul in Kam Airlines, a private carrier operating in Afghanistan.

The two BRO personnel were killed in a terror attack carried out by the suspected Taliban extremists on the BRO’s road construction project near Minar in the Nimroz province of Afghanistan on Saturday morning.

Five others - Bishram Oroan, Vikram Singh, Mohammad Nazim Khan, Anil Kumar Thampee and Maya Ram - were also wounded in the attack.

Mahendra Pratap Singh from Varanasi is survived by his wife, a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, while 45-year-old Govindaswamy had been working in Afghanistan for the past one year and is survived by his wife Sivagami, three daughters and a son.

The bodies arrived at the IGI Airport and were then kept at ‘Shradhanjali Sthal” in the cargo area of the domestic airport.

The body of Mahendra Pratap Singh would be later flown to his hometown Varanasi and that of Govindaswamy to Tippanapalli in Tamil Nadu.

Condemning the act of terrorism aimed against its aid and humanitarian programme in Afghanistan, India reiterated its determination to continue to work with the Afghan people and the government in Kabul for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and the well-being of its citizens.

Nearly 400 BRO personnel are engaged in the construction of a crucial 218-km highway between Zaranj and Delaram in Afghanistan as a part of India’s assistance programme for the reconstruction of the war-torn country. — UNI

New Delhi, April 16
About 2,000 employees of All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD)today held a protest march to Parliament demanding the repeal of the ''outdated and irrelevant “Prasar Bharati Act” and that the corporation's employees and assets should remain part of the government.

The employees, who rallied under the banner of the National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE), said the Act was passed in 1990 when there was no private broadcaster in the country and the AIR and DD had monopoly. Today in the changed scenario, when there are hundreds of private TV channels and radio stations, there is no relevance of Prasar Bharati, said Kulbhushan Bhatia, secretary-general of the federation.

''The organisation has proved to be a financially unviable proposition, unnecessarily vying with the private broadcasters to grab advertisement revenue,'' he said and cautioned that ''few people with sinister designs'' were eyeing to get the assets of AIR and DD and ultimately sell it off to private parties. Addressing the gathering, CPI leader D Raja assured his party's support to the employees' demands and agreed with their contention that while granting functional autonomy to Prasar Bharati, all employees and assets should be retained with the government.

Memoranda were submitted to the Prime Minister and the I&B minister by the federation with a threat to embark on a direct confrontation if its demands were not met.

Similar rallies were held near Raj Bhavans and Collectorates in various state capitals and district headquarters. — UNI

New Delhi, April 16
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday took exception to the union sports minister, M S Gill's remarks about participation of politicians and actors in the Olympic torch relay run here on Thursday.

"He is the sports minister. Who will dare to argue with him. They are the government," Bachchan told NDTV when asked about Gill's comments on the issue.

Gill had disfavoured invitation to the politicians and the film stars for the April 17 relay, saying they have little right to hog the limelight in the event.

He had said only athletes with distinguished careers and budding sportspersons should carry the torch.

However, IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi had contested Gill's view, saying citizens from all walks of life could run in the event. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Plane with Jogi on board makes emergency landing
NAGPUR: A Delhi-bound Air Deccan flight from Raipur to Delhi with 178 persons on board, including former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, on Wednesday made a safe, but emergency landing at the airport here following a technical fault in the engine. There were 171 passengers and seven crew members in the plane. — PTI

Hogenakkal project to meet deadline
CHENNAI: The Hogenakkal water project, kept on hold by Tamil Nadu till the Karnataka elections, would be completed as per the schedule announced by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, local administration minister M.K. Stalin told the state Assembly on Wednesday. The Chief Minister had stated that the project would be commissioned by 2012 and this time frame would be adhered to, Stalin said. — PTI

Former HC judge to probe phone tapping
CHENNAI: A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced a judicial probe into the telephone-tapping episode, the state government today appointed retired high court Judge Justice P. Shanmugham as the one-man Commission of Inquiry. The Commission would complete its inquiry and submit its report to the government within three months. — UNI

Teachers back medico strike
MUMBAI: The strike by medical students and resident doctors of government medical colleges in Maharashtra to demand more seats in Post Graduation course intensified on Wednesday with the teachers and other medicos desiring to join the stir from Thursday. Medical students and resident doctors began their indefinite strike on Tuesday, accusing the Medical Council of India (MCI) for slashing the number of PG seats to 411 this year from 653 last year. They wanted the MCI to at least restore 653 fixed for 2007. — PTI

Americans flock to Kolkata
KOLKATA: Americans constituted the bulk of 1,26,543 foreign tourists visiting the city of joy last year, according to the regional tourist office here. Americans constituted around 20,971 or 16.57 per cent of the total visitors. They were closely followed by the British, who constituted around 19,124 or 15.11 per cent of the total foreign tourists. The third largest group of foreigners was from Japan. — PTI