Kolkata, June 27
Singur witnessed violence again today when Trinamool Congress and Bhoomi Raksha Committee (BRC) workers clashed with the police during the visit of Tata Motors chairman Ravi Kant and other senior officials to the Tata Motors plant.

The activists demolished factory’s boundary walls at several places, demanding the immediate return of their lands alleging that they had been forcibly acquired.

There were violent clashes between the police and the activists in front of the plant in which lathis, brickbats, stones and lethal weapons were used freely.

The police also fired a few rounds in the air and burst some 20 rounds of teargas shells for dispersing the violent mob engaged in demolishing the boundary walls and also attacking the policemen.

The clashes started around 11 am and lasted for two hours and the Tata Motors officials were stuck up inside the factory. But later, under heavy police protection, the officials were escorted back to Kolkata.

The Tata Motors chairman, accompanied by WBIDC and industries department officials were visiting the plant today for speeding up the construction work so that Nano, the Rs 1 lakh Tata’s small car, could be in the market before the festival session in October.

But the violence erupted all of a sudden when after the completion of the factory inspection the officials came out and started surveying the adjoining “uncovered vacant lands”, where a large number of Trinamool and BRC workers, many of them women, had assembled.

They were shouting slogans and obstructing the surveying of the lands. While several others at adjoining Tasher Bheri and Baje Media started demolishing the boundary walls.

As senior police officials came to know about the incident, the police swung into action and chased the miscreants away. Soon followed clashes at several places.

The “aggrieved” people began demonstrations on the adjoining national highway at various points disrupting traffic between Durgapur and Kolkata.

But after 3 pm, at the intervention of the senior administration and police officials, the demonstrations were ended.

The Tata Motors officials later expressed doubt that Nano could be brought out in the market in the stipulated period.

New Delhi, June 27
The Jammu and Kashmir issue took a back seat as India and Pakistan today firmly resolved to focus on enhancing trade and economic linkages and settle their differences by peaceful means under the bilateral composite dialogue process.

New Delhi pulled out all stops to make Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi feel at home as the visiting leader held “free and frank” talks with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on all bilateral issues that have hamstrung relations between the two countries.

Qureshi’s visit to Delhi came just three days after the joint anti-terror mechanism between India and Pakistan met in Islamabad and decided to take concrete steps to tackle the menace.

“Terrorism is a threat to the stability of our respective democratic frameworks. Whatever be our political differences, we have to be unambiguous in addressing terrorist threats,” Mukherjee said at a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart.

That the ushering-in of a democratic set-up in Pakistan augurs well for New Delhi became quite evident as Qureshi refrained from saying anything on Kashmir that would hurt the sentiments of his hosts and spoil the atmosphere.

The only reference about Kashmir came in the context of the issues to be taken up the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan when they kick start the fifth round of the dialogue process in New Delhi on July 21-22.

The two foreign secretaries would take up peace and security, including confidence building measures (CBMs), and Jammu and Kashmir, two of the eight issues under discussion between the two neighbours.

Qureshi, who also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said his talks with Indian leaders were cordial and friendly and expressed confidence that regular interaction between the two countries would help resolve bilateral issues peacefully.

Mukherjee announced that he and his Pakistani counterpart had taken certain important decisions at their meeting besides agreeing to launch the fifth round of the dialogue process.

Another major decision was that the technical working groups on cross LOC CBMs would meet in Islamabad on July 10 to concretise decisions regarding bus services, trade and truck services across the LOC announced in May.

Qureshi, who is also Pakistan’s petroleum and natural gas minister, said Islamabad was keen to move ahead on the ‘peace pipeline’ project which was mutually beneficial for both countries.

New Delhi, June 27
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has alleged that 7,468 persons, an average of 1,494 persons per year or around four persons per day, have died and/or killed in prison and police custody between 2002 and 2007.

An equal number of persons, if not more, have been killed in custody of the Army, central armed forces and states’ para-military forces in insurgency affected areas, the ACHR said on basis of its report “Torture in India 2008: A State of Denial".

A large number of these deaths are a result of torture, stated the first-ever nationwide assessment of the use of torture in India.

A pervasive regime of impunity is the single-most important factor for institutionalising widespread use of torture even in areas where there are no armed conflicts, says ACHR director Suhas Chakma, adding that only four police personnel were convicted in 2004 and three in 2005 for custodial deaths.

“Hundreds are killed, dozens paid compensation but only three to four persons are convicted each year. Nothing more can expose pervasive impunity,” Chakma said.

Explaining officials figures of 7,468 custodial deaths from 2002 to 2007, he said award of compensation in 684 cases of custodial violence was given by the National Human Rights Commission alone from 1994 to 2007 and conviction of only seven police personnel in 2004 and 2005.

India, he said, was in a worrying state of denial about torture. "The home minister attributed these 7,468 custodial deaths to illness/natural death, escaping from custody, suicides, attacks by other criminals, riots, due to accidents and during treatment or hospitalisation.”

“However, he failed to clarify why so many accused had committed suicide in police detention, what had led them to act in this manner and how they had accessed the means for committing suicide like knives, poisons and open electric cables or how victims could commit suicide with strange objects like shoe laces and underwear,"
he charged.

Lucknow, June 27
Two days after the 23rd anniversary of the imposition of Emergency, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav today termed the Mayawati government in the state as worse than the Congress regime that had imposed Emergency.

Addressing a press conference at party headquarters, Yadav said, “One lakh people were arrested in the country during the Emergency. But during Mayawati's tenure more than one lakh Samajwadi Party workers have been arrested in UP alone”.

Yadav said during the Emergency the families of arrested persons had not been harassed, but now even the families were not being spared.

Going a step further, he said the firing on students in his ancestral village of Sefai in Etawah earlier this year, was indeed worse than the Jallianwala Bagh incident in terms of police atrocities.

Charging Mayawati government of crossing all limits in resorting to political vendetta, Yadav promised to send Mayawati to jail as soon as she stepped out of power.

Not even sparing the media, the former Chief Minister said it had been intimidated to such an extent that no one was willing to write the truth. “However, after the Lok Sabha elections, the countdown will begin,” he observed.

Responding to a question on the ongoing Sahara-Mayawati tussle, Yadav charged the Mayawati government of having scant respect for the judiciary.

According to him, the action against Sahara would scare industrialists from investing in the state.

“I have observed how 20 top officials personally supervised the demolition of Sahara Shahr. My party is preparing a list of officers who have exceeded their brief on this issue. They will face the music after the change of guard in the state,” he said.

While evading all questions about his party's position on the nuclear deal, Yadav reiterated that he would announce his decision only after the proposed UNPA meeting on July 3.

He appeared to be ignorant about the presence of CPM leader Prakash Karat in the state capital. “In any case, we meet and talk regularly about various issues.”

New Delhi, June 27
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested Raj Kumar, the domestic help of Anita Durrani, a doctor friend of dentist Rajesh Talwar, who is under judicial custody for the alleged murder of his teenaged daughter Arushi Talwar and her family's domestic help Hemraj.

According to Arun Kumar, CBI joint director investigating the case, Raj Kumar was arrested after a forensic examination confirmed human blood stains on the T-Shirt belonging to the servant.

“Raj Kumar was detained for interrogation but he was arrested only today after forensic examination confirmed that the T-shirt that we recovered from his room had blood stains of human origin,” told Kumar.

The CBI had picked up a washed T-Shirt and a cycle belonging to Raj Kumar on June 13 from sector 53, Noida residence of Anita and Prafful Durrani, dentist couple friends of Talwars.

These stains will now be matched with those picked up from the crime scene to see whether they match with any of the victims.

This is the third arrest in the case after Dr Rajesh Talwar and Krishna were held earlier for the sensational double murders in the Jal Vayu Vihar in suburban Noida
on May 16.

According to Kumar, suspicion towards Raj Kumar grew after Krishna, compounder of Dr Rajesh Talwar in his narco-analysis test said Raj Kumar was ‘after’ Arushi.

Kumar revealed that Raj Kumar had been subjected to polygraphy (lie) detection test on June 14 in forensic laboratory at the CBI Headquarters here, which was followed by another similar test, psychological assessment test, brain mapping and narco analysis test.

These tests were conducted from June 23 to June 26 at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat.

Raj Kumar will be produced before the special CBI court in Ghaziabad tomorrow. Even as CBI took Raj Kumar under arrest, his employers Anita Durrani said he was at home on the night of murder.

“Raj Kumar was at home on the night of May 15-16 and went to his room only around 12 am. He was not seen after that until next morning”, said Anita.

Meanwhile, Krishna was sent to judicial custody till July 11 after he was produced before a special CBI court in Ghaziabad after his six-day remand ended today.

He was arrested on June 13 by the CBI, while Dr Rajesh Talwar, who too is lodged in Dasna Jail was arrested on May 23 by the Noida police.

Besides, the CBI has also interrogated Nupur Talwar, mother of Arushi and Anita Durrani and made them undergo lie-detection test to solve the murder mystery that has intrigued everyone since the past one-and-a-half month.

New Delhi, June 27
As an imminent break-up between the ruling UPA and the Left parties over the Indo-US nuclear deal points to an early election, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has initiated the process of consultations with senior party leaders to take stock of poll preparations and other organisational matters.

The first such meeting with AICC general secretaries is to be held here tomorrow, called ostensibly to discuss the status of the party’s ongoing membership drive and the Antony committee report that has recommended a series of measures for rejuvenating the organisation in the run-up to the coming Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections.

But given the prevailing uncertainty and confusion over the Congress party’s stand on the Left’s threat to pull the plug on the government in case it goes ahead with the nuke deal, the Congress president may use tomorrow’s meeting to clear the air and ascertain the views of her party colleagues on the health of the organisation and how ready it is for an early election.

It has fallen upon Sonia Gandhi to decide on the further course of action after the UPA government and the Left parties failed to break the logjam on the nuke deal. Besides consulting UPA allies on this matter, the Congress president is also expected to call a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, to deliberate on the Left’s threat and the possibility of an early election.

UPA sources said the government was determined to move ahead on the nuke deal but was simultaneously working with the Left to see that they did not part on such bitter terms that it becomes difficult for the two to work together in the future.

According to a Congress internal assessment, there is a distinct possibility that the BJP will not move a no-confidence motion against the government on the nuke deal in case the Left withdraws support.

“The BJP does not want to send out a wrong message to the US and its middle class constituency, which has come out in strong support of the deal,” remarked a UPA minister.

The Congress game plan is to ensure that the government lasts till the year-end so that the Lok Sabha election is held only a few months ahead of schedule.

Dehra Dun, June 27
Sam Manekshaw was amongst the first 40 cadets who joined the academy and were known as the “pioneers”.

The IMA was set up on October 1, 1932. With Brig L.P. Collins as its first commandant, the first course had on its roll Manekshaw, who after passing out from Sherwood College, Nainital, joined the IMA.

The academy, which started from erstwhile Railway Staff College here with an extensive campus, also had Smith Dun and Mohammad Musa along with Manekshaw who all rose to become Army chiefs of their respective countries namely Burma, Pakistan and India.

Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode, after whom the main building of the academy was named, formally inaugurated the IMA on December 10, 1932.

Interestingly, even before the first course passed out, Lord Willingdon, the then Viceroy of India, presented colours to the academy.

Under Officer Smith Dun commanded the parade held on the occasion and later also commanded the passing out parade.

As per academy records, Manekshaw as a gentleman cadet had his share of trials and tribulations, rewards and punishments.

He was commissioned into 4/12 Frontier Force as Second Lieutenant after he passed out in December 1934.

Manekshaw visited the academy many times as Army chief in 1969 and then as a reviewing officer of the passing out parade in 2002. He visited the academy for the last time in 2006 to inaugurate a war memorial.

Manekshaw become a legendary military leader imbibing the credo of his academy given by Field Marshal Chetwode in his inaugural address: “The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last always and every time.”

Dr M. Prasad, the medical practitioner, who has been treating the Hero of 1971 Bangladesh War said during the final moments Manekshaw never lost his confidence.

He remained a warrior and said I am okay, sporting a smile, a couple of minutes before slipping into coma.

He was humble, charming and responding very well to the treatment. He was the easiest person to deal with, he added.

Maya Barwal, Manekshaw’s daughter, said, “Even after his death, we (the family members) have a feeling that he is still living with us".

His domestic help Man Bahadur, who served the Field Marshal since 1997, said his boss looked after him well and was “very good to everybody”.

“Saab used to enquire about my health all time and also about the maintenance of the garden and the cow he reared,” Bahadur added. — UNI

Kolkata, June 27
The four-member Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) delegation, which met the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee at Writers Buildings today, had been assured that the state government would urge the Centre to call a tripartite meeting to resolve the on-going Gorkhaland problem.

But the demand for a separate Gorkhaland was altogether turned down. Neither the GJM president Bimal Gurung nor any other important leader was present at the Chief Minister's meeting, which was attended by party's central committee members like Amar Lama, Anmol Prasad, Dipen Rai and Raju Pradhan.

They all demanded a separate Gorkhaland which they said could only solve the problems in the hills.

Bhattacharjee, however, assured the delegation that they were ready to sanction more administrative and financial power to the Gorkha Hill Council, where the election be held immediately.

The Chief Minister also assured that a special development package would be prepared on the long and short-terms development programmes in the hills.

After the meeting, the home secretary said the Chief Minister would soon write to home secretary Sivraj Patil for convening a tripartite meeting as demanded by the GJM for resolving the present Darjeeling crisis.

Union information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan dasMunhsi expressed satisfaction that the steps had been taken in the right direction for ending the present crisis.

New Delhi, June 27
The government has finalised the national action plan on climate change and will most likely unveil the much-awaited document on June 30.

The country’s climate change action plan will consider risks that climate change poses to India and how country can best adapt itself for sustainable development.

Sources say members of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s high-level committee drafting the plan have resolved their difference over the approach to be adopted for the reduction of green house gases (GHG).

Therefore, while the main focus will be adaptation, the plan will be in line with the country’s stand that for a developing nation growth cannot be compromised by reducing GHGs.

The committee had to get the plan ready by June-end as the G-8 summit next month was expected to be dominated by the issue of climate change.

Largely, the plan will deal with issues related to climate change, including corrective measures for mitigating its impact on foodgrain production.

Whether climate change happens because of man-made reasons or natural calamity, the country has to be ready to face the consequences.

Which is why the plan will be more about adaptation than mitigation and completely in line with the country’s stand that for a developing nation growth cannot be compromised by reducing GHGs.

India has been saying it is developed nations which should mitigate and cut down carbon emissions and this is precisely why the country does not want to bind itself with commitment to cut down emissions, largely contributed by developed nations.

India’s emission data shows that in 1994 per capita emission of the country was only 0.87 tonne per person per year.

It increased to 1.1 tonnes per person, which is still very low compared to developed nations. India accounts for just four per cent of the global emissions. In comparison, the US emits around 20 tonnes per capita.

The plan will also focus on the transfer of technology from developed nations to developing nations and affordability of different technologies in the field by developing countries.

Earlier, differences had cropped up on ways of means of adopting green technology, particularly by mining, thermal power and cement industry, without compromising on economic growth.

While one group insisted that the country should put in place a comprehensive mitigation strategy for reduction in carbon emissions, the other group said an adaptation strategy by the industry should be in place first.

Guwahati, June 27
As part of damage control measure to salvage its image that received a beating after the arrest of former minister Ripun Bora by the CBI on bribery charge, the ruling Congress in Assam has asked its legislators and ministers to declare their assets in black and white before the Chief Minister.

The AICC in charge of Assam, Veerappa Moily, today informed that though there was no provision in the Constitution to make it mandatory for ministers and MLAs to declare their assets, all party ministers and legislators in Assam would have to declare their assets before Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi who in turn would submit it
to the AICC.

“We will compare the current statements with those submitted by the ministers and MLAs to the Election Commission just before the last Assembly election,” he said.

The AICC leader declined to make further comment on arrested firmer minister Ripun Bora citing that the case was now sub-judice.

He said the party had already relieved him of ministerial portfolio besides suspending him. Further action, if any, would be taken in the light of the court verdict in the case, he added.

Moily, who was on a stock-taking visit to the state to find out the status of the implementation of the party’s Assembly election manifesto so far, cut a sorry figure while dealing with queries from reporters on the party’s strategy to deal with the burning problem of floods in Assam.

He sounded hardly aware that the Congress-led government in the state had been tackling floods only on ad hoc basis adopting a reactionary approach.

“Mere strengthening of embankments is not enough. Tackling floods in Assam definitely requires a multi-pronged approach,” is all Moily had to say when he was asked to comment on Gogoi’s recent admittance that the state government’s approach towards tackling floods was only an ad hoc one.

Moily also parried question on the current spell of devastating flood in Lakhimpur district in upper Assam that was caused due to sudden release on water from a dam in hydro-electric project in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month.

He only said the controversy over construction of dams in Arunachal Pradesh was an inter-state matter between Assam and the hill state.

Dehra Dun, June 27
The Uttarakhand Congress has demanded convening of a special session of the state assembly to discuss the decision taken by the state government to shelve two hydro-electric projects following protest by Prof G.D. Agarwal, a noted environmentalist, at Uttarkashi last week.

Harak Singh Rawat, leader of the opposition in the assembly, alleged that the decision by Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri to stall 400 MW Pala Maneri and 310 MW Bhairon Ghati projects would harm the interests of the state.

Rawat alleged that the decision was politically motivated with an aim to use the issue of the Ganga in the next Lok Sabha elections. “The state government cannot take a unilateral decision on such a vital issue,” he said.

He said, “Uttarakhand has been endowed with abundant water resources and the economy of the state depends on the generation of hydropower, considered to the cheapest and the most clean source of power generation”.

“Uttarakhand has made tremendous progress by attracting investment worth more than Rs 20,000 crore and industrialists have invested only due to the fact that the state can provide uninterrupted power to the industry. The BJP government is out to destroy it all,” he charged.

Rawat demanded that it was the responsibility of the Chief Minister Khanduri to convene a special session of the state assembly to take the legislature into confidence on such important issue.

Meanwhile, after getting assurance from the state government regarding stalling of the Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati projects, Prof Agarwal has gone to New Delhi to demand that the National Thermal Power Corporation stops its 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project.

Mumbai, June 27
The Maharashtra government may ban the entry of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, for a period of one year in order to protect public peace. Deputy chief minister R.R. Patil, who also handles the state's home portfolio, made this announcement in Solapur today.

Patil's statement has, however, taken officials here by surprise since the matter was yet to be discussed with top bureaucrats and police officials.

However, state government sources admitted that the authorities were wary of clashes between the followers of the dera and Sikhs later this year when the 300th death anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh would be observed in the town of Nanded.

The dera chief hit the headlines when he came in public donning the robes of the tenth Sikh guru last year which provoked violence across Punjab.

Leaders of the Sikh community had warned Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Patil that any similar action during the 300th death anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh would really hurt the sentiments of the community.

Maharashtra is gearing up for the event in a big way which is expected to draw more than two million Sikhs to Nanded in October-November.

So far, more than Rs 1500 crore have been allocated under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission to revitalise Nanded city.

In July, Nanded will have a new airport. The main Nanded railway station is being redeveloped in the shape of gurdwara.

The Nanded civic body is constructing a 22-km-long peripheral road to connect all major gurdwaras of the city.

The Sachkand Sri Hazur Sahib Gurudwara complex and its environs are undergoing a major refurbishing at the end of which its courtyard spread over 2,50,000 sq ft will be completely marbled and will have a capacity of 40,000 devotees.

A Guru Granth Sahib Bhavan that can accommodate 4000 people and a museum of Sikh history and the Guru has also been planned.

Guwahati, June 27
The first and only all-women political party in the country, the United Women Front (UWF), has taken up the cudgels to fight trafficking of vulnerable girls and women from Assam and other North-eastern states to rest of the country.

Jula Sharma, president of the Assam state unit of the UWF which was registered with the Election Commission of India on September 28 last year, informed that the party unit in the state would focus on the increase in trafficking of women from the region to affluent northern and western states of the country.

She said the UWF, which has so far set up 12 district units in Assam, was working in coordination with various NGOs fighting a battle against women trafficking.

She said that as a result of abject poverty, women from far flung areas of Assam and other parts of the the North-East become easy prey for the widespread trafficking network.

“These women are shipped out the region in the lure of financial security and end up becoming sex workers or domestic help outside the state especially in northern and western states,” the UWF leader said.

The UWF, which was formed at the pioneering initiative of Suman Krishna Kant, is launching a campaign in Assam to mobilise the women folk in the state to raise their voice for legitimate place of women in politics, a hitherto male bastion.

The UWF state president said despite the place of pride occupied by women in the society in Assam and the North-East since the days in history, they are very insignificantly represented in current political arena in the region.

Kanpur, June 27
Describing the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government "as critically ill and counting its last breaths in the ICU", BJP PM-designate L.K. Advani declared that now it was not the question of the government surviving, but for how long.

Launching his Lok Sabha election campaign from the historic Phoolbagh maidan a day after his name was officially announced as the party's candidate from Gandhinagar, Advani said that the UPA government had lost the moral right to rule and should go back to the people to seek their opinion afresh.

With the weather gods not being too kind, the attendance at Advani's 'Vijay Sankalp' rally remained poor as it had been raining ceaselessly since morning reducing the venue to a puddle, forcing Advani to keep his address to a brief 30 minutes and depriving the other state-level leaders a chance to speak.

Charging his "good friend" Dr Manmohan Singh of "changing the most important address in the government from 7, Race Course to 10, Janpath", Advani said that Manmohan Singh presided over a government which for the last two years has been battling with its own alliance partners unsympathetic to the rising prices, farmers suicides and growing terrorism.

Setting the tone for the BJP's election campaign, Advani just about mentioned the party's determination to build the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.

The only time applause could be heard was when he observed that the Ram Mandir movement had changed the course of the country's history and politics and that they would build the mandir as promised.

However, he made it clear that this was not his main agenda for the party. "If the NDA regains power at the Centre, I would try to do two things - make India a forerunner among nations and restore the image of a politician to its former respectable one."

Coining the slogan 'Congress ka haath, aam admi ke saath vishwasghat' Advani warned the party to sit up and draw lessons from Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Bangalore, June 27
Karnataka MLA Raghupathi Bhat, whose wife Padmapriya’s disappearance and subsequent suicide made headlines, has regretted comments and allegations being made against him and his wife in the media by certain outfits and individuals.

Denying that there was any rift between him and his wife, Bhat said he and his wife trusted each other and there was no misunderstanding between them.

In a letter written to the media, Bhat said both his parents and his wife’s family knew they had deep understanding and affection for each other.

Reiterating the allegation that their family friend Atul Rao was responsible for Padmapriya’s death, the BJP legislator from Udupi claimed that painting Atul as an innocent victim of circumstances would be wholly wrong.

He said Atul, who was his childhood friend, pretended to help him even after “abducting” his wife.

The media was publishing stories about the incident without verifying the truth with him or his family or her parents, he said.

New Delhi, June 27
Known as the "living fossil", the neglected horseshoe crab is the latest to join the long list of endangered species.

Considered an important organism for its medicinal value in pharmaceutical, clinical and food industries, the Indian horseshoe crab is also useful as an indicator of the health of the coastal zone.

"The horseshoe crab is an amazing creature. The name horseshoe comes because its shell resembles a horse's hoof," says Anil Chatterji, senior scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography.

"Their long survival has given us opportunities to know more about the immuno-defensive mechanisms and perfection in their biological and physiological processes," he adds.

It is this property that made scientists use it in space to look for proof of any illness in outer space.

Apart from this, the horseshoe crab, a hard-shelled invertebrate that lives in warm, shallow coastal waters on the sea floor, is said to have properties to treat diseases such as typhoid and meningitis, act as a painkiller as well as create wound-dressings for use on burn victims and skin-graft donors.

Even as it contributes to such a wide variety of medicinal uses, the horseshoe crab with its armoured shell and spiked tail is gradually dying out and experts are calling out for including it under the endangered species.

"We want it to be included in the Schedule IV of the Wild Life Act so that it becomes labelled as endangered species," says Chatterji, who is at present in Malaysia carrying out research on the animal.

Though Orissa coast is reported to be the major breeding ground of the horseshoe crab, other important nesting sites such as Balaramgadi, Chandipur and Hukitola are not protected and require some form of protection at least during the breeding season. — PTI

BRIEFLY

2 govt officials suspended for sexual abuse
RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government has suspended two of its officials on charges of sexual exploitation, official sources said on Friday. "There were allegations of sexual exploitation against M G Shyamkunwar, deputy director of agriculture department, and Vijay Das, rural agriculture extension officer, working in Sarguja district. They have been suspended with immediate effect," they said. — PTI

Communal clash in Margao
Margao (Goa): Curfew was imposed in Margao town in South Goa today after members of two communities clashed with each other this afternoon following an eve-teasing incident. The town saw mobs vandalising Gandhi market and other business establishments. The police said it was a “petty” fight to begin with when two groups assaulted each other over the issue of eve teasing. However, it took a serious turn when youths from both the communities joined, snowballing the entire episode into a riot. — PTI

Award for Veerendra Kumar
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eminent writer and JD(S) leader M P Veerendrakumar has been selected for the P Kesavadev memorial award “for outstanding contribution to Malayalam literature and culture”. The award, instituted in memory of Malayalam literary stalwart P Kesavadev by the cultural forum Sahridayavedi, would be presented to Veerendrakumar on July 1 at a function here, a release said on Friday. — PTI

Naxalites kill sarpanch
JAMUI (BIHAR): A sarpanch along with an associate was killed by Maoists in Bihar's Jamui district on suspicion of being police informers. Ashok Ravidas, head of Babudih panchayat, and his associate Mushtaq Ansari were dragged out of the former's house at his native Dokuli village and shot dead on Thursday in the Naxal-hit district, the police said on Friday. — PTI

US visa office for Hyderabad
CHENNAI: The US government has decided to set up a visa office in Hyderabad by the year-end, David Hopper, US Consul General here, said on Friday. This would help students and others in Andhra Pradesh “to get their visa done in Hyderabad itself instead of travelling to Chennai”, he said. The embassy here dealing with the southern states of India receive three lakh applications annually. — PTI

BJP hartal hits life
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The dawn-to-dusk district hartal called by the BJP to protest Thursday's "attack" on its youth wing workers allegedly by the DYFI activists here hit normal life in the state capital and suburbs. Shops remained closed here, buses kept off the road and schools and colleges went without classes. Private vehicles were, however, plying without any obstruction. No violence was reported. — PTI