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Govt refuses to shelve Lohari Nagpala project
Army orders 28 weapon-locating radars
Corruption deep-rooted in India: Report
Amarnath Land Row |
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Blast in Assam market kills 6
Welfare schemes for Indian workers abroad
Right to protest being ‘misused’
IAF procuring firearms simulators
Wind energy sector gets a boost
Rift in Cong as Somen warms up to Trinamool
Gays march to wake up govt
New set of Nobel prizes in offing
Goa may face seawater intrusion, says study
Cong downplays CPM’s threat
Wildlife dept to save musk deer
Drug racket in Tihar jail busted
Gangrape
Mild quakes continue to hit Andamans
Shinjini's condition better: Father
Islamic scholars condemn terrorism
2 ultras killed in encounter
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Govt refuses to shelve Lohari Nagpala project
Dehra Dun, June 29 Union minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh during his visit to Tehri hydroelectric project categorically stated that there was no question of closure of 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project on Bhagirathi river. Professor Agarwal, a noted environmentalist, had started his ‘fast unto death’ agitation on June 13 to demand scrapping of hydroelectric projects on the Ganga between Gangotri and Uttarkashi. Bowing to the pressure, thee BJP government in Uttarakhand decided to shelve two of its power projects - 400 MW Pala Maneri and 310 MW Bhairon Ghati projects. After the decision of the state government, Agarwal shifted from Uttarkashi to New Delhi to pressurise the union government to suspend the 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project. The reaction by Jairam Ramesh was the first reaction by a functionary of the union government on the power projects on the Ganga. Already, the Uttarakhand Congress has objected to the agitation by Agarwal and termed it as politically motivated to help the BJP in the next General Election. Ramesh said the NTPC has already spent Rs 300 crore on Lohari Nagpala project and there was no question of stopping the project. Asked about the decision of the Uttarakhand government to shelve its’ project, Ramesh replied that Pala Maneri and Bhaironghati projects were only on drawing boards and there was no problem in shelving them. On another controversy between the state government and the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) on the issue of Lakhwar Vyasi power project, the union minister of state for power said the project would be built in collaboration by the NHPC and the state government. Earlier, NHPC officials had alleged that the state government had taken the Lakhwar Vyasi project from them without assigning any reason. “We will be sending the draft of the memorandum of understanding on the project to the state government soon,” Ramesh clarified.
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Army orders 28 weapon-locating radars
New Delhi, June 29 The radars are being integrated by the state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), set up in 1954 to meet the specialised electronic needs of the Indian armed forces, but a large number of components will come from the private sector, including some commercially-available off the shelf (COTS) from the international market. According to a report in the July issue of the India Strategic defence magazine, with the indigenous manufacture of the much-needed radars, there is likely to be no further import of the system from the US arms technology major Raytheon, which has supplied 12 radars to the Indian artillery under a 2002 government-to-government deal for around $200 million. An advance copy of the India Strategic, made available to IANS, quotes Dr Prahlada, a distinguished scientist and chief controller in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), as saying the Army had approved the radar after several tests in electronic clutter and “high density fire environment”. It may be noted that the Army had asked for the WLRs in the mid-1980s but the government sanctioned their acquisition only after the 1999 Kargil War in which the Army suffered more than 80 per cent of its casualties due to the Pakistani artillery fire. The need was felt so urgent that it was in fact the first acquisition from the US under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. Raytheon completed the order last year, and the radars were integrated on Tatra chassis supplied by the public sector BEL Ltd. The weapon locating radar, also known as Gun Locating Radar, helps track hostile fire and directs counter fire within seconds. Pakistan has had the advantage of US-supplied radars from the mid-1980s, and they were also built by Raytheon, but an earlier model. The version supplied to India has longer range and reach, and the additional capability to destroy some artillery missiles. There was, however, no transfer of technology in the WLR acquired from the US, although Raytheon officials had separately told India Strategic that it was favourable to the idea if there were further orders. — IANS
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Corruption deep-rooted in India: Report
New Delhi, June 29 “About one third of BPL households across the country paid bribe in the last one year to avail one or more of the 11 public services covered in the study, which shows that even the poor are not spared in the case of targeted programmes,” according to the study conducted by the Transparency International India
(TII) and the Centre for Media Studies. Vice-President Hamid Ansari released the ‘India Corruption Study 2007’ at a function here last evening. The 11 services covered under the study were public distribution system, hospital, school education (up to class XII), electricity and water supply (basic services) and national rural employment guarantee scheme, land records/registration, forest, housing, banking and police (need-based services). It confirmed a wide gap between perception and actual experience about corruption in public services, irrespective of recent measures by the authorities to improve service delivery and curb the menace. Police tops the chart as far as corruption in the 11 services is concerned. Of the 5.6 million BPL households that interacted with the police last year, a whopping 2.5 million paid Rs 2,150 million as bribe for some work or the other. Most of these households interacted with the police for simple registration of a complaint. The second highest in terms of monetary contribution among the selected public services is land records and registration services. Nearly 3.5 million BPL households paid Rs 1,224 billion as bribe. “The fact that most of the poor who claimed to have paid bribe did so directly to one or the other functionary within the delivery set up is a revelation, particularly because quite often the reasons for repeat visits were absence of staff and/or their apathetic attitude. This lends strength to the perception that the poor are not a priority even in the case of some of the programmes designed for them,” the study noted. It said procedural delays were another reason that made BPL households vulnerable to paying bribe or depriving them from availing the service. “There is hardly any evidence that IT or e-governance initiatives taken on a large scale in different states, involving some of the services, made much difference in the levels of perception about corruption or even actual experience.” As regards the relative position of states on corruption in availing 11 public services by BPL households, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have an ‘alarming level’ of corruption, while Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab have ‘moderate level’. The study revealed that in order to get a power connection or to get faulty meter rectified, people have to bribe officials/staff of the electricity department. Similarly, staff and officials of school indulge in corrupt practices in order to admit the child of poor parents, issuing certificates to them and promoting the child from one class to another. It was found that the amount paid as bribe by BPL households was Rs 120 million for availing school services. Releasing the report, the vice-president regretted that corruption in India had become pervasive and cancerous, weakening the nation’s resolve to usher in inclusive growth that covers all the marginalised and vulnerable sections of society.
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BJP warns Centre of nationwide protests
Faraz Ahmad Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 29 BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi issued a strong statement here today saying, “Any such step would be tantamount to an absolute surrender before separatist and terrorist forces and compromising national unity, integrity and sovereignty.” He called for rushing in adequate paramilitary forces to contain the situation in the state and send a strong message to the separatist and anti-national forces “Any surrender on this issue would only spark off nation wide protests,” Naqvi warned. He said, “The Congress has made compromises several times in the past to save its government in various parts of the country at grave costs to constitutional norms and national interests. Any such misadventure this time would be met with country wide resistance.” The BJP vice-president also made a scathing attack on the PDP for attempting to tear apart the state’s fragile secular fabric. He said the transfer of land to the temple board was a golden opportunity to provide a healing touch to the minority Hindu community in the state. It would help build bridges of harmony and understanding between the people of Kashmir and the rest of the state and country. Naqvi demanded that all steps should be taken to explain the facts of the matter to the people of Kashmir and ensure the safety and security of the pilgrims visiting the holy cave shrine of Amarnath and the people of Jammu and other border areas. Seek trust vote, Advani asks UPA Rourkela (PTI adds): Meanwhile, the BJP today asked the Manmohan Singh ministry to seek a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on the pact issue. “We will ask the government to face a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on the nuclear issue following the present political situation,” L.K. Advani said while addressing a rally here.
Advani said, “We cannot sacrifice our atomic energy and future tests in Pokhran by signing the agreement with the USA.”
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Blast in
Assam market kills 6
Guwahati, June 29 IG Khagen Sharma informed that four persons, including three women, were killed on the spot while two seriously injured person died while being brought to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) here. The police recovered another bomb planted in the market immediately after the blast. At least 23 injured persons were rushed to the GMCH here. The condition of eight injured was stated to be serious. The death toll may go up. The explosion took place in the corner of the market where some Bodo tribal traders were selling pork. The bomb was planted on a bicycle. The senior police official suspected the hand of the 709 battalion of the banned ULFA in the explosion. “The area is a den of militants belonging to the 709 battalion of the ULFA. They didn’t carry out subversion in the area in the past. Now, probably because of pressure from the top leadership of the outfit, the battalion carried out today’s blast in their place of shelter as security in urban centres in the state have been geared up,” the police official said. He said the blast might be retaliation on part of the ULFA to the split that had surfaced in the outfit in the wake of unilateral ceasefire declared by two companies of the 28th battalion of the outfit last week.
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Welfare schemes for Indian workers abroad
New Delhi, June 29 The proposal envisages provision of welfare services to emigrants at all stages i.e. financial support to meet emigration expenses at the pre-emigration stage, onsite welfare during their stay abroad and need-based rehabilitation services after their return to India. The fund is likely to be established during 2008-09. The Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojna is already being implemented to provide insurance safeguards to the emigrants against unforeseen exigencies. In addition, the government has launched a helpline for emigrants. Besides, it is implementing a scheme for skill upgradation and pre-departure orientation, setting up a council for the promotion of overseas employment and signing MoUs with the receiving countries for the protection and welfare of emigrants. Recently, the ministry of overseas Indian affairs has taken several initiatives to assist overseas Indian workers. A nationwide skill upgradation-cum-training programme for potential migrant workers will help create a strong cadre of highly skilled workers to fill large labour supply gaps. The ministry is launching this scheme in diverse sectors such as construction, engineering, manufacturing, nursing, IT and household services etc. The scheme is being implemented in partnership with the state governments, the ministry of micro, small & medium enterprises, as well as industry associations and NGOs.
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Right to protest being ‘misused’
New Delhi, June 29 The ministry of home affairs has suggested that the political parties should have a consensus as to what forms a protest and what can be classified as disruption to normal life and essential services. The parties should decide what is a legitimate form of protest and should arrive at a consensus as to what essential services would not be allowed to be disrupted at any cost by its cadres or any protester, said an official of ministry. Disruption to railways, telecommunication, roads and other services, results in economic loss. The “external” hand cannot be blamed for such agitations. Sources in the ministry said the political parties had been apprised that how strategic interests of the country could be harmed by such prolonged protests when people resort to blocking national highways and trunk routes of the Railways. In case of the Gorkhaland agitation, the home secretary had to rush to the spot and ensure supplies to Sikkim to continue. The Sikhs had protested across the country when a person of their community was allegedly shot dead by a gunman accompanying Dera chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh. The Centre has been reduced to a “fire-fighter” and this cannot go on for ever and on , said a senior functionary with the ministry. The para-military forces or the Army cannot be pressed into service to lift agitators off the rail tracks or open blocked roads. The democratic right to protest is being taken too far and being misused.
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IAF procuring firearms simulators
Chandigarh, June 29 IAF sources said that so far 12 such simulators had already been procured and installed at major IAF stations. Another 15 such simulators were being procured. The IAF would be procuring a total of 50 firearms training simulators in the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan. Procurement of these simulators is part of the IAF’s ongoing drive to modernise and upgrade security measures at its installations, many of which are located in sensitive areas prone to terrorism, insurgency and law and order problems. Interactive firearms training simulators are computer based training aids that lay out a security scenario for a trainee on a monitor or TV screen. The trainee has to assess the situation and tackle hostile elements by aiming and firing his specially modified weapon at designated targets appearing on the screen. A laser beam shooting from the weapon instead of a real bullet records his hits or misses. A large number of Army training centres have already installed computer-based firearms training simulators, which offer a wide range of advantages. IAF officers said that with simulators, training could be carried out without the hassle of availability of field ranges. “Simulators will offer us the flexibility to fix regular training schedules without taking into account the availability of ranges or the weather,” an officer said. “Of course, live firing would not be done away, though trips to ranges would be cut down,” he added. As part of its modernisation drive, the IAF has procured 26 X-ray baggage inspection systems for scanning the luggage of passengers travelling in service aircraft. In addition, 175 night vision devices have been issued to security units at various air force stations and another 900 are being procured. To improve networking, as many as 900 Motorola communication sets have been procured recently and distributed among IAF establishments.
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Wind energy sector gets a boost
New Delhi, June 29 Investors, apart from getting the tariff as determined by the respective state regulatory commission, will get an incentive of Rs 0.50 per unit of electricity for a period of 10 years provided they do not claim the benefit of accelerated depreciation. Minister of new and renewable energy Vilas Muttemwar said it was the ambitious target of 10,500 MW planned for 11th Plan period that prompted his ministry to find ways to attract new and large independent power producers in wind energy sector through an alternate generation-based scheme. He said the scheme intends providing a level playing field to those investors who were unable to absorb the benefit of accelerated depreciation in the sector. “We hope independent power producers will expose wind power industry to market forces and competitive pressures, which can result in reduction in cost of equipment,” he added. Grid interactive wind power generation plants of minimum installed capacity of 5 MW will be eligible for the incentive, which would be available only for projects commissioned, that is synchronised to the grid and certified by the concerned utility. It will be for projects installed at wind potential site validated by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) and for those independent power producers whose capacities are commissioned for sale of power to the grid. Grid connected renewable power has been a major focus area of the ministry and by the end of the 10th Plan period, the installed capacity of renewable power will be about 12,400 MW, constituting about 8.8 per cent of the installed capacity. Wind power has made significant contribution to this achievement by installed capacity of 8760 MW. These activities have largely limited to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
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Rift in Cong as Somen warms up to Trinamool
Kolkata, June 29 In 1996, the state Congress was divided when Mamata Banerjee left the party
and formed a parallel Congress, namely, the TMC. And now according to sources, Somen has been planning to quit the party along with a large number MLAs, other leaders and workers in order to form an alternative front in Bengal. This is being done to forge an electoral alliance with the Trinamool Congress and other like-minded secular parties against the CPM. . Somen, however, will not quit the party immediately, but he will wait for the AICC to respond positively to his proposal of forming a common front against the CPM. He said without the TMC, an anti-CPM front was not possible in the state and hence he had spoken to Mamata about it. According to him the WBPCC should have taken this step much earlier. The veteran party leader, who has the largest number of Congress workers and at least 18 of the 21 MLAs and two MPs supporting him, met the TMC supremo at a closed-door meeting at the Central government’s guest house at Nizam Palace, last night. They held talks to chalk out their strategy for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. But neither the AICC high command nor WBPCC president Priya DasMunshi had any prior knowledge of the meeting. DasMunshi said he was surprised but he did not find anything wrong in Somen meeting Mamata. “ We too had been wanting to form a front with the like-minded and secular forces against the CPM in the state but unfortunately, that did not materialise”, DasMunshi regretted. It was good that Somen had talked to Mamata and he would be glad if an anti-CPM front could be formed with Mamata after she left the NDA. DasMunshi said, adding that there could not be any alliance or understanding between the two individuals and the AICC would certainly welcome if the TMC left the NDA and set up another front with the Congress and other secular parties against the CPM, DasMunshi asserted. Somen said he met Mamata as an individual as he thought it was the right moment to forge an alliance. He alleged he had waited for a year or so for the Congress to come to a common platform with the TMC against the CPM. Somen said after the recent panchayat polls, the necessity of the formation of a common front with the TMC had been further strengthened and accordingly, he was insisting that they should initiate talks with Mamata for reaching an understanding among themselves without disturbing their respective ideological stands in the national politics. But his proposal had been ignored. And now he thought this was the right time to forge an alliance as without the TMC, there could not be any anti-CPM front in West Bengal.
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Gays march to wake up govt
Bangalore, June 29 Services of some 10-odd transvestites were employed, who gyrated wildly in the beat of drums, apparently in an attempt to draw crowd for the event. Curious onlookers did gather around the show while amused cops, deployed at the site on law and order duty, kept watch on the proceedings from a safe distance. Another section of the marchers, which consisted of men and women dressed in kurtas and t-shirts, paced up and down looking busy or chatted with each other or kept taking photos with their imported cameras or making videos with their imported handycams. A handful of foreigners were also present in the motley crowd. A car placed near the site was wrapped with a festoon that announced the support of “environmentalists” for the gay cause. Many of the men at the site wore rings pierced through their ears, nose and even eyebrows. The demands raised by this unique bunch of protesters, who marched to the town hall from the National College to commemorate protests and riots by sexual minorities in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1969, had been ignored by the state all along. These include abolition of Section 377 of the IPC and legitimise all forms of sex between consenting adults. The marchers also demanded steps to prevent police action and violence by thugs against sexual minorities. They also sought acknowledgement by the state of change of sex by willing adults. Most importantly, they demanded that the transsexuals should not be discriminated against in issuing of voter identity cards, ration cards, passports, driving licence and in employment, giving of old-age pension and the likes. By coming out in the open and networking with other sympathetic groups, the gays and other sexual minorities are expecting to draw the attention of the state to their problems. |
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New set of Nobel prizes in offing Mumbai, June 29 These will be given to three personalities of which one will be a scientist, preferably below 40 years of age, an industrialist and a policymaker who work in harnessing renewable energy, lead to reduction in pollution or global warming. Dr Nobel (68), a scientist and the chairman of the Nobel Charitable Trust, maintained in an interview that the new set of Nobel awards would not have any similarity with the world's most famous prize — the Nobel prize.
— PTI
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Goa may face seawater intrusion, says study
Roorkee, June 29 The costal tracts of Goa are rapidly being transformed into settlement areas. The poor water supply facilities have encouraged people to have their own source of water by digging or boring well, leading to extensive depletion of groundwater. Water experts here at NIH, believe that due to rapid infrastructural development in Goa, there has been large-scale withdrawal of groundwater during the last decade in the region and if the withdrawal continues at the same pace, the tourist destination could very face serious problem of seawater intrusion. “The objective of the current study includes simulation of seawater intrusion in a part of the coastal area in Bardez taluka of North Goa, besides evaluation of the impact on seawater intrusion due to various groundwater pumping scenario,” says an NIH scientist, adding that a finite element model was selected for a model simulation during the study.
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Cong downplays CPM’s threat
New Delhi, June 29 Party spokesman Shakeel Ahmad also refuted the CPM charge that going ahead with the deal would help communal forces. “It is nothing new. This has been the Left stand since long,” he said about the CPM’s latest threat. Ahmad also disagreed with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s charge that the Congress-led coalition had not done much to rein in inflation. He said the government had taken a series of steps to bring down rising prices of essential commodities in the backdrop of a huge increase in international crude prices. This, he said, had resulted in India having far less inflation as compared to several Asian countries. Noting that the Congress has always fought communal forces, he insisted that the deal was in the national interest as it would help bridge the massive energy gap. The nuclear deal should not be seen in isolation from the country’s overall energy security, Ahmad said. Contending that nuclear fuel is cleaner than coal and more reliable than wind, he said developed countries were increasingly going back to nuclear energy as a relatively cleaner fuel option.
— PTI
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Wildlife dept to save musk deer
Dehra Dun, June 29 The Wildlife Institute of India
(WII), Dehra Dun, says steps should be taken to increase the population of the species. According to the wildlife census, 2005, the number of musk deer found in the state was 279. Out of this, 142 were registered inside the protected area and 137 outside the protected area. The number of musk deer registered in 2005 was higher than in 2001 and 2003. In 2001, only 161 musk deer were registered and in 2003, their number increased to 274. The musk deer has a commercial value because of the musk, which is an important ingredient in perfumery. During the monsoon, the chances of poaching increase. The wildlife department has initiated two sanctuaries, namely Kedarnath Kastura Wildlife Sanctuary and Askot Kastura Wildlife Sanctuary, for the protection of musk deer. Srikant
Chandola, additional principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden,
Uttarakhand, informed, "Though massive poaching was never registered in the state yet there have been a few cases where the cops booked people found with the musk deer gland."
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Drug racket in Tihar jail busted
New Delhi, June 29 According to the NCB, the racket was busted with the arrest of a Nigerian woman and Anju Tiwari, an Indian national from the Uttam Nagar area here, last evening. The agency claimed that Anju’s husband Krishan Kumar Tiwari, currently lodged in the Tihar jail in kidnapping and extortion cases, was the main kingpin of the racket alongwith some other alleged Nigerian drug-traffickers. The duo was caught while exchanging a consignment of 4 kg of Afghanistan heroin worth Rs 4 crore in the international market. $ 30,000 was also recovered from their possession. Explaining the syndicate’s modus operandi, senior NCB officials said both Anju and the foreign national used to visit the jail every Monday and Thursday, where they were briefed by Tiwari and his Nigerian fellow inmates. — PTI
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Gangrape
Dehra Dun, June 29 After the identification parade, cops managed to get a three-day police remand for Pramod. Giving further information, SSP Amit Kumar Sinha said now the police would extract information about other accused in the case from Pramod. “We may conduct a lie-detector test of Pramod. And if required, we will go in for a narco analysis test and brain mapping of Pramod”, he told media persons. On Friday evening, the police had released the sketches of five men, including Pramod Kumar, who was allegedly accused of raping a 23-year-old girl in a resort situated in Rajpur.
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Mild quakes continue to hit Andamans
New Delhi, June 29 The quakes, measuring 5.1 and 5.2 on the Richter scale, shook the islands at 6:02 am and 9:45 am today, the Met Department said, adding that no tsunami warning was issued. Another tremor, measuring 5.5 on Richter scale, was felt at the islands at 20:59 hrs last night. The epicentres of this morning’s quakes were located at 11.3 and 11 degrees latitudes in the north and 91.7 and 91.3 degrees east longitudes, respectively.
— PTI
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Shinjini's condition better: Father
Bangalore, June 29 Shinjini is at the neuro-centre of the state-run National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences here (NIMHANS). She was admitted to the NIMHANS on Friday. Visitors, especially mediapersons, have been barred from entering in the ward where Shinjini has been
kept.
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Islamic scholars condemn terrorism
Mumbai, June 29 The day-long conference on the theme “Unity, Love and Tolerance-Islamic Perspective”, was organised by the All-India Ulema Council. The council’s convenor Sami Bubere proposed the resolution at the end of the session, which was passed unanimously. The aim of the conference was to give a proper Islamic perspective on different issues, Bubere said. Experts from Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Holland, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Bahrain, besides India took part in the event. It included Libyan scholar Dr Mohammed
Shahumi, founder of Al Hayat Research Centre Mumbai Maulana Sayyed Hussain Mehdi Al-Hussaini, President of Darul
Kutub, Egypt Dr Ayman Fowad Sayyed, among others. — PTI
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2 ultras killed in encounter
Agartala, June 29 Acting on a tip-off, a contingent of the Tripura State Rifles and the CRPF went to the area yesterday and spotted two insurgents, moving with firearms in the area. The security forces were fired upon when they challenged the ultras and a gunbattle ensued. The jawans later recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of two ultras with one Chinese grenade and several rounds of ammunition.
— PTI
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Trinamool, CPM activists clash in Nandigram HC upholds sack of cop for leave without permission 4 sisters down with rare genetic disorder Acid attack culprits to face harsh penalties Drive against robbers
on trains 
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