Finally, drought reality sinks in
Situation grim but we’re ready, says PM
New Delhi, August 8

For the first time the government today admitted that the country was facing a difficult situation due to the deficient rainfall and price rise. “The country is facing a tough situation,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday, sending a strong warning to states that situation arising out of delayed monsoon should not be allowed to turn into a calamity.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses a conference on agriculture & food security in New Delhi on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Growth can’t happen with empty belly: Sen
New Delhi, August 8
India cannot march to development and economic prosperity with “empty stomach”, especially when 40 per cent of children are born underweight, said Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday.

Mumbai woman second swine flu victim
Mumbai, August 8
India has a second swine flu death with a woman succumbing to the H1N1 virus. The victim Fahima Paanwala, 53, from Mumbai died at the Kasturba Hospital this evening.

Imported H1N1 infections register decline
Tamiflu not to be put in retail sector
New Delhi, August 8
A day after Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Rajya Sabha that he would see if Tamiflu had to be made available in the open market, the Health Ministry today ruled against the decision, saying it could not trust “pop-a-pill” Indians with the only treatment available for influenza A H1N1 virus.

Patwant Singh dead 
New Delhi: One of the leading Sikh literary personalities, Patwant Singh, a noted writer
on international issues, Sikh affairs and historian, passed away in the national capital today. He was 84. 

Patwant Singh (1925-2009)
An aesthete par excellence
Suave, handsome, charming and a truly multi-faceted personality, Patwant Singh was the polished face of the Sikhs in the later decades of his life. (Details on Nation page)

EC: None could prove fallibility of EVMs
New Delhi, August 8
The Election Commission of India tonight announced that none of the persons who had doubted the efficacy of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) could demonstrate how the EVMs could be tampered with.