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Kudankulam plant will start
Manmohan-Xi: A study in contrast but off to a good start
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BRICS gets down to business but still lacks mortar
India set to miss RTE Act March 31 deadline
War RooM Leak
Cashless treatment for mishap victims on Gurgaon-Jaipur road
6 states agree to debt recast of discoms
2 yrs post-launch, Govt asks: Who owns Aakash tablet
IPR?
BJP chief ready with his new team
Don’t fall prey to Cong’s ploys: Mulayam to voters
10 Maoists killed by rivals in Jharkhand
Tension on Mumbai’s outskirts over FB posts
Man gets life term for rape
Spurt in suicides rings alarm bells in Andhra Pradesh
UR Rao inducted into Satellite Hall of Fame
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Kudankulam plant will start
Durban, March 28 He gave this assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met in Durban late on Tuesday night on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. “I am pleased to inform you that Kudankulam I will become operational and critical by next month. As for Units III and IV we have secured all internal approvals and we hope to operationalise our cooperation on Unit III and IV,” Singh told Putin. Singh was accompanied by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon among others during the meeting. The atomic power plant has been opposed by villagers in and around Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district who are carrying out prolonged protests against the commissioning of the project. The protests got intensified after the Fukushima disaster in Japan last year. On bilateral economic cooperation, Singh said the two countries cannot be satisfied with the status quo. — PTI
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Manmohan-Xi: A study in contrast but off to a good start
March 28 Now entering his tenth year as Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh turned 80 in September last year. He has the air of an elderly statesman who has seen much but prefers to speak little. He always wears a cloak of humility that hides a brilliant intellect. Twenty years his junior Xi Jinping is barely a fortnight into his new job but carries himself with confidence that comes from being a 'prince-ling' whose father once rubbed shoulders with Mao Tse
Tung. The two leaders do have something in common: a market-friendly approach to development. Soon after he took over, the new President surprised China watchers with his forthrightness on both domestic and political affairs. He was quick to enunciate his priorities and in a media interaction before the BRICS summit, he outlined five "solid steps to strengthen this very important bilateral relationship" with India. These were: maintaining strategic communications and keeping bilateral relations between the two countries on track, expanding cooperation in infrastructure and investment, strengthening cultural ties and people-to-people contact, increasing collaboration in multi-lateral affairs to tackle global challenges and accommodating each other's core concerns and handling differences existing between the two countries. That Xi mentioned a total of five policy principles may have been a coincidence but it did give rise to speculation of a new
'Panchsheel" Agreement in the offing. Indian experts, however, maintained that the statement had "no new language or proposals" and it signalled continuity rather than any significant change. They did acknowledge that the Chinese leader had sent out "positive signs." As the Indian team prepared the agenda points for the PM's first structured interaction with
Xi, they were conscious that the first meeting between the two was more in the nature of a "getting to know each other" interaction. With the time set aside being just 45 minutes and given the time wasted on translation, it was decided that the PM would deal broadly with all the key issues rather than get into specifics. Yet it was important for Manmohan Singh to lay on the table India's concerns particularly the negative trade balance that had become a cause for worry. Though China in recent years has emerged as India's largest trading partner, the trade deficit is close to $ 20 billion. Also with reports of China putting up several dams across the Brahmaputra without notifying India, the sharing of trans-border water sources had increasingly become a source of friction. As the two leaders, accompanied by their respective delegations, walked into the restaurant in the resort, which had been converted into a make-shift meeting room, a high wind whistled through the windows. Outside the sea pulsed restlessly. Neither commented on the blustery weather - they had both had a long day and the meeting itself was delayed by four hours because of time overruns during the BRICS summit. For the Indian delegation that meant that Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma would have to miss the meeting as they both had to catch flights to keep prior commitments. So the Prime Minister was accompanied by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs. In contrast, Xi Jinping had his heavyweights present for the meeting: two politburo members of the Communist Party of China, Li Zhanshu and Wang
Huning, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and State Councillor Yang
Jiechi, who after his recent elevation, is likely to be China's chief negotiator for settling the India-China border dispute. When the meeting began, the Indian Prime Minister set the pace by stating that he was privileged to meet the new Chinese President so early in his tenure and that he regarded India's relationship with China as a matter of "great importance." Reading from a prepared text, Manmohan Singh invited Xi Jinping to visit India as soon as possible which the Chinese President promptly accepted. Then Xi
Jinping, also reading from a prepared text, recalled that his predecessor had built up a good rapport with Manmohan Singh and hoped that he too could also interact regularly with him. He then invited Manmohan Singh to visit China soon, which the Prime Minister accepted. Introductory speeches done, Manmohan got down to discuss "the entire range of bilateral issues". He discussed economic relations and raised issues of the trade deficit. On the Brahmaputra dam issue, he suggested that they form a joint commission to address each other’s
concerns. Xi appeared to take mental notes of the issues raised and did not directly respond to the Prime Minister's proposal. Xi always addressed the Prime Minister with a great deal of respect and reverence. Xi appeared self-assured exhibiting a willingness to "be interactive in his discussions". Xi did raise the Tibet issue - a core concern of China's - and hoped that India would maintain its responsible policy on this issue. Manmohan reiterated India's commitment to do so. For most parts though both sides were cautious and stuck to the script rendering the discussions anodyne. After the meeting official sources stated that the two leaders got off to "a good start" with both of them committing to improve relations and putting it on "an even higher growth trajectory." On his way back to India on board his special flight, to a question posed by The Tribune, Manmohan Singh termed his meeting with Xi as "a getting acquainted one" and added, "I got the distinct impression that the new Chinese leadership is as serious as its predecessor to promote good neighbourly relations and to find practical, pragmatic solutions to outstanding issues between the two countries." In short, he found Xi was someone India could do business with.
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BRICS gets down to business but still lacks mortar
March 28 Yet when the summit concluded on Wednesday much like these trophy beasts of yore, the disparate nature of the grouping came to the fore emphasising both BRICS' powerful potential and its in-built limitations. Potential because at Durban, BRICS countries stopped vacillating over the myriad proposals put forward in the previous four summits and got down to implementing them in a time-bound and result-oriented manner that could provide the much needed mortar to cement the grouping. Among the game-changing decisions taken at the fifth summit was the setting up of a Development Bank that could challenge the hegemony of the World Bank, a $ 100 billion Contingent Reserve Pooling fund to guard member nations against currency fluctuations, a Business Council consisting of top honchos from member countries to further intra-BRIC trade and an academic Think Tank.At the plenary session, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his satisfaction at the progress stating," our forum has become more cohesive and more relevant." But cautioned against a scattershot approach to issues stating, "We should carefully prioritize existing and new areas keeping in view our strength, our resources and the differences we can make both for our people and the world." Manmohan Singh comments were seen as a reflection of the limitations that BRICS is exhibiting because of its members diverse national interests. Conceived by Goldman Sachs economists who first coined the terms BRIC to define a group of leading emerging economies influencing global policy, the grouping came into being in 2009. Since then South Africa joined BRICS and the group now consists of five of the most influential non-Western countries. Yet despite five summits their diverse national interests continue to slow up implementation of decisions. As Chinese economist Zhao Jinping told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, "The BRICS nations are like scattered pearls that haven't been put on a string." That became painfully evident when one of the biggest decisions of BRICS to set up a Development Bank ran into rough weather at the recently concluded summit. Member nations fought over issues such as the amount of seed capitalisation, Board membership and governance issues. India pushed hard to make it a reality with Union Finance Minister a $ 50 billion seed capital. China aware that it has deep pockets and hoping to gain control of the Development Bank pushed for a $ 100 billion corpus knowing full well that South Africa and Brazil were likely to baulk at putting down so much. China even offered to put more money in than other members but Russia pushed for equal share of the capital to prevent China from hijacking control over the Bank. Russia was uncomfortable being termed as a developing country apart from its preoccupation with setting up a similar Eurasia Bank. It was also against the Bank being pushed through in a hurry without enough deliberation on the key contentious issues. Russia wanted the Bank to lend only for infrastructure projects and pushed commercial rates to be charged rather than concessional rates. As Putin told the Business Forum at the summit, "We are working on the basis that if established, the Bank will operate according to market principles."Others members regarded charging commercial rates as Russia putting a spanner in the works in a bid to delay its take-off. South Africa was pushing for a much lower seed capital than even $ 50 billion as it expressed its inability to cough up the $ 10 billion that each member would have to pay. When China offered to make up the deficit for South Africa, Russia, Brazil and India baulked at a Chinese dominated bank via voting rights based on investments. Proposals to expand the Board to non-BRICS members also saw divisions as did where the bank would have its headquarters. In the end members countries decided that at the plenary session that they would announce the in principle setting up of the bank but said the details such as capital, governance and interest rates be thrashed out during the run up for the next summit. The final wording in the eThekwini (the African name for Durban) Declaration was reflective of the lack of agreement on key parameters. It stated, "we are satisfied that the establishment of a New Development Bank is feasible and viable. We have agreed to establish the New Development Bank. The initial contribution to the Bank should be substantial and sufficient for the Bank to be effective in financing infrastructure."
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India set to miss RTE Act March 31 deadline
New Delhi, March 28 For one in four schools in the country has not even met the basic infrastructure requirement mandated by the law - provision of a toilet. At the national level, only 64.80 per cent schools have separate toilets for girls and boys. This at a time when studies have shown that lack of toilets is the biggest hindrance getting girls into schools. Further, there is slow progress on provision of ramps for the disabled children. Since the Act was notified on April 1, 2010, only 61.63 per cent of all elementary schools (classes I to VIII) in India have provided ramps on their premises. Progress on drinking water norm has been satisfactory with 94 per The situation is even worse in terms of teacher training, with 8.6 lakh untrained teachers still in the system. Under the Act, the National Council for Teacher Education had prescribed minimum qualifications for existing teachers, requiring states to ensure they are upgraded by March 31, 2013 and the teachers’ vacancies are filled. But even today there is 30 per cent vacancy in India. Of 52.2 lakh sanctioned posts of teacher, 11.8 lakh are lying vacant, HRD Ministry’s data shows. Thirteen states (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, UP and West Bengal) have approached the government requesting relaxation in norms so as to train teachers in the distance mode. That approval has been granted. Maximum number of untrained teachers are in West Bengal (1.97 lakh), Bihar (1.86 lakh), Jharkhand (77,000) and J&K (31,000). With schools failing to meet even the most basic of infrastructure requirements that the RTE Act mandates, the government is now staring at litigations considering people can move courts seeking their children’s admission to neighbourhood schools as a right at ages 6 to 14. The irony is that despite knowing the fact that most states will miss the deadline, the HRD Ministry hasn’t considered amending the law and extending the deadline.
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War RooM Leak
New Delhi, March 28 The court dismissed Shankaran’s appeal against extradition and referred the matter to the UK’s Secretary of State after the CBI gave an undertaking that his bail would not be opposed in India, the CBI said. The UK Secretary of State may now take up to two months to issue the final decision on Shankaran’s extradition. The decision is challengeable in a UK High Court. The CBI said plans were afoot to send a team to the UK to bring Shankaran back once legal formalities were completed as Shankaran, against whom an Interpol red corner notice had also been issued, might challenge the decision in the High Court. In his appeal to the court against extradition, Shankaran, a relative of former Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash, tried to discredit the evidence provided by the CBI by submitting an expert report in the extradition court. This report was countered successfully by the CBI investigators and forensic experts, the CBI said. The CBI claimed that in December 2011, the extradition court had ruled that there was an answerable case against Shankaran. The defence, however, raised issues such as admissibility of evidence, human rights and condition of jails in India. On the possibility of bail to the defendant during trial in India, the CBI gave an undertaking that Shankaran’s bail would not be opposed in the court as all other accused in the case were already on bail. Shankaran had left India prior to the registration of case by the CBI in 2006. During the course of investigation, the CBI got his passport revoked and a red corner notice issued by the Interpol. After he was charge-sheeted, arrest warrants were issued and he was subsequently declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court. His known assets in India were also attached. Shankaran was subsequently traced to the UK and a request for his extradition was sent in 2007. On the basis of the arrest warrants issued by the Indian court, a London court also issued similar warrants. Shankaran was arrested in April 2010 and granted conditional bail by the extradition court in the UK. The Indian High Commission in London got a seasoned Queens Counsel and a Barrister appointed by the Crown Prosecution Services, UK, to present the case on behalf of the Indian Government.
War room leak case
The 2006 case involves leaking out of 7,000 pages of sensitive information from naval war room and air defence headquarters Shankaran, a key accused in the case, remains untraceable after the CBI registers a case in 2006 The CBI revokes Shankaran’s passport and secures a red corner notice from Interpol; Scotland Yard arrests him in 2010 Other accused include sacked Naval Commander VK Jha, former IAF Wing Commander SL Surve and businessman Abhishek Verma
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Cashless treatment for mishap victims on Gurgaon-Jaipur road
New Delhi, March 28 Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi said the ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with ICICI Lombard for the pilot project with no administrative cost. However, it will spend Rs 30 lakh as part of corporate social responsibility. — TNS
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6 states agree to debt recast of discoms
New Delhi, March 28 Talking to reporters here today, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that six states had come forward and agreed to the government's ambitious financial rejig plan of state discoms. "Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Haryana have agreed to the debt recast plan," Scindia said. He also said the government was hopeful of executing the power distribution companies’ debt restructuring soon. The government had in October last year come up with financial restructuring plan for the power distribution companies in the face of the mounting debts which is now over Rs 2.46 lakh crore. This figure, as given by the Power Ministry, is of the period till March 2012. The Centre had then announced that it would recast Rs 1.5 lakh crore debt of the state electricity boards. According to the Central government’s plan, the state government would have to take over 50 per cent short-term liabilities of discoms. Also, incentives such as reimbursement of 25 per cent of discom debt taken over by the state government are part of the scheme. According to the financial restructuring plan, the Central government will provide 25 per cent capital reimbursement of principal repayment by the respective state governments on the liability taken over by it. Under the scheme for state-owned discoms, the respective state government is to take over 50 per cent of the outstanding short-term liabilities up to March 31, 2012. According to the plan, this shall be first converted into bonds to be issued by discoms to participating lenders, duly backed by state government guarantee. The last date for the states to register for the recast plan may be extended from the current March 31.
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2 yrs post-launch, Govt asks: Who owns Aakash tablet
IPR?
New Delhi, March 28 The Human Resource Development Ministry has initiated an inquiry to find out who really owns the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the Aakash tablet project. These inquiries, highly-placed sources said, are rooted in the repeated claims over ownership of the tablet design by Canada-based IT firm Datawind, whose chairman Suneet Singh Tuli has said on more than one occasion that his company owns the Aakash Intellectual Property Rights. If that be the case, how is Aakash’s one of the biggest achievements of the UPA government and that of India? Sources in the Human Resource Development Ministry say they are digging into Aakash files to arrive at a legally sound position on the IPR ownership of the tablet if the matter was to go to court tomorrow. “The project was born out of the government’s urge to provide a cheap internet access device for academic purposes. But so far, we have nothing on record to show that we own the Aakash IPR. We are in the process of finding out and will soon be in a position to settle the question of ownership which, according to us, rests with the government,” a Human Resource Development Ministry official said. The Aakash project, the Human Resource Development Minister had recently said, was being given another look with respect to viability. It is further learnt that the Ministry has, in a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs, raised objections to Datawind owner’s claims over Aakash tablet’s Intellectual Property Rights in global forums. In a recent statement, Tuli had said his company owned the copyright of the tablet and alleged that contract manufacturer of the tablet — India-based Quad Electronics — was violating its right by signing a direct agreement with IIT Rajasthan for development of the device. “Datawind’s team internally developed Aakash and sub-contracted the assembly of Aakash tablet to Quad Electronics, based on its own design. Therefore, the Intellectual Property Rights of the tablet belong to Datawind,” Tuli had said. The first version of Aakash was designed in collaboration between IIT Rajasthan and Datawind and Hyderabad-based Quad was the producer. It was launched by former Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on October 5, 2011. Aakash 2 was launched on November 12, 2012. The latest version is being developed by IIT Bombay. Tuli has been maintaining that only the programming and assembly of Aakash parts happened in India — something Human Resource Development Ministry is not buying. The Ministry has already written to IIT Bombay to take legal action against Datawind if the latter fails to supply 1 lakh Aakash orders in time. So far, only about 20,000 pieces have come. The Aakash tablet had run into controversy last week after the Human Resource Development Ministry said it was never to be supplied on 50 per cent subsidy to students. The tablet costs Rs 2,250. “Aakash Intellectual Property Rights is a much more critical question than the product supply,” said Human Resource Development sources.
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BJP chief ready with his new team
New Delhi, March 28 With crucial Assembly elections lined up in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jharkhand, the delay is holding up the party's planning, said sources. Extensive programmes have been drawn up for the three crucial states - Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh — which need to kickstart in April, they add. Apparently, redesigning a team that satisfies all factions and regions is proving to be a tricky task for the new president, especially with emerging circumstances and fast-changing power equations. Initially, the new team with "adequate representation" to old and young guard was to be announced after the mid-March meeting of the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) - the highest decision-making body of the party's ideological fountainhead RSS. However, objections were raised on certain names in the list. Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha, for instance, whose stock is down with the RSS after he demanded resignation of former president Nitin Gadkari. Another name which was asked to be reconsidered was that of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's protege Amit Shah because of his involvement in fake encounter cases. But with Modi's personal stock bound northward (the Gujarat Chief Minister is all set to be included in the party's Parliamentary Board) to find a suitable replacement for his protege for the post of the general secretary is proving to be a difficult task. In case Shah does not make it, Puroshottambhai Rupala, the current vice president, could find himself in the coveted list of general secretaries. Meanwhile, apart from Rupala, the names of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Delhi leader Harsh Vardhan are doing rounds for the post of party vice president.
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Don’t fall prey to Cong’s ploys: Mulayam to voters
Lucknow, March 28 Virtually flying off the handle, the SP leader did not mince words in criticising the Congress for resorting to “clever” tactics in order to sway voters on the eve of elections. “Last time, they (Congress) set aside farmers’ loans which helped them at the poll. It is a very clever party which plays a few such tricks before the elections so that simple people can get trapped,” said Yadav. He was addressing party workers and villagers at a meeting on the occasion of Holi at his ancestral village of Sefai in Etawah. The entire Yadav clan traditionally gathers in Sefai to celebrate festivals. Declaring that neither the Congress nor the BJP would form the next government at the Centre, Yadav raised the pitch for a Third Front hinting at the larger role he saw for himself and his party in this possible scenario. Explaining in his earthly fashion the implication of taking over power in Delhi, Yadav said, “The state governments are like patwaris (village accountant) and the Central government is like a Collector. You people know very well what a patwari is worth in front of the Collector,” quipped Yadav. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also asked party workers to reiterate their commitment to increase Samajwadi Party’s Lok Sabha seats so that it could emerge as a major player in Delhi after the Lok Sabha election.
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10 Maoists killed by rivals in Jharkhand
Ranchi, March 28 The Maoists were killed in an encounter with the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) last night. Superintendent of Police Anup Birtheray has reached the spot.Lakramanda village under Kunda police station of Chatra district is about 100 km from here. Birtheray said the encounter between the Maoists and the TPC cadres began last evening and lasted till the wee hours today. "As personnel of the COBRA battalion and district police had reached the area, the rebels could not take away the bodies. Six weapons were also found from the spot," he said. The TPC also rang up a media house claiming it also kidnapped 15 other Maoists and looted some weapons. Asked about this, Birtheray said the police did not have any such information. The TPC was formed in 2002 after a number of CPI (Maoist) cadres in Jharkhand quit the organisation following difference of opinion on various policy issues. The outfit had declared that its main enemy was not the police but the CPI-Maoist. — PTI
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Tension on Mumbai’s outskirts over FB posts
Mumbai, March 28 After the posts came to light, a mob went berserk at around 1.30 am, stoning vehicles, police said. Action by the authorities prevented the situation from getting out of hand. Residents of the town observed a bandh to protest against the post on the online networking site. Local MLA Rashid Momin told reporters that the bandh call was spontaneous and the situation was peaceful in the town. “The bandh is supported by Hindus and Muslims and it is completely peaceful,” Momin said. Police said it has registered cases against unidentified persons under several provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code. The town, which has had a history of communal tension in the past, has been peaceful for several years, with the police working with local community leaders to maintain peace and harmony. Earlier today, police officers met leaders of the Hindu and Muslim communities to ensure communal harmony.
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Man gets life term for rape
Mumbai, March 28 The suburban Malvani police said Nandlal Yadav (28), despite knowing that the victim was mentally challenged, had lured her to a nearby lodge after finding her alone in March 2008. After raping the girl, he left her on the road. — PTI
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Spurt in suicides rings alarm bells in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, March 28 The Board of Intermediate Education has also been impleaded in the matter in view of the growing number of suicides involving junior college students owing to academic pressure. According to the State Crime Records Bureau, out of 115 suicides recorded during the last three years, 50 cases involved students. In a majority of the cases, academic pressure or failure in examinations forced them to end their lives years. Recently, there was a bizarre case of a 12th standard student inflicting a punishment on herself, for faring poorly in a mathematics exam, by placing her hands under the wheels of a running train. Across various universities in the city, nine students committed suicide in the past one year. Taking up the issue of student suicides suo moto, a division bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and justice Vilas V Afzulpurkar asked the university authorities and various government departments to list out the measures they were taking to prevent such tragedies. The court sought reports from a long list of government functionaries including Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of Home and Higher Education departments, Collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, Police Commissioners of Hyderabad and Cyberabad, Chairman of the University Grants Commission, and registrars of 10 universities in the state capital. The authorities of the University of Hyderabad, Osmania University, English and Foreign Languages University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Ambedkar Open University, N G Ranga Agricultural University, NALSAR University of Law, Potti Sree Ramulu Telugu University, Moulana Azad National Urdu University and Indian Institute of Technology have been asked to submit their reports within a week. The court also wanted to know the follow-up measures on the report of a government-appointed expert committee, headed by Neeraja Reddy, which studied the cases of student suicides in residential junior colleges a few years ago. The Amicus Curiae D Prakash Reddy said that Osmania University had submitted a report detailing the steps taken in counselling the students. On its part, NALSAR said that it had set up a counselling centre on the campus and employed psychological counselors to talk to the troubled students.
HC seeks status report
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has sought status reports from the city-based universities and also appointed an Amicus Curiae to assist it in the matter State Crime Records Bureau data shows that out of 115 suicides recorded during the past three years, 50 cases involved students In a majority of cases, academic pressure or failure in examinations forced them to end their lives
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UR Rao inducted into Satellite Hall of Fame
Bangalore, March 28 Rao, a former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman and Department of Space Secretary, is the first Indian Space Scientist to be inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, joining the select group of about 50 Hall of Fame members. He was conferred the honour at a function attended by over 1,000 distinguished guests consisting of Space Scientists, Industry leaders, Administrators and Professionals on March 19, 2013 at Washington, an ISRO release said. The citation read out at the time of induction said Rao has contributed to the development of space technology in India and its extensive application to communications and remote sensing of natural resources. "..More than any other single individual, Prof Rao is responsible for the creation of India's space and satellite capabilities and their application to the nation's development," it said. — PTI
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As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the new Chinese President Xi Jinping settled down for their first face-to-face meeting at the Zimbali beach resort on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Durban, they were a study in contrasts.
At the 5th BRICS summit deliberations got underway in Durban, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the five BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to that of Africa's "Big Five" game - the lion, the rhinocerous, the elephant, the leopard and the buffalo.
“This time, I want you to show some respect and send me to Delhi with a decent number of seats. I expect a commitment from you people to give the SP every single Lok Sabha seat in the region from Etah, Agra, Etawah up to Auraiyya. If we win these seats, we will manage to put Delhi under pressure. Only then, we will be able to take out money for the development of Uttar Pradesh.”
"Bodies of 10 Maoists were recovered near Lakramanda village. They were killed during an encounter with the TPC last night," Chatra Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar said.