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Friday, January 29, 2010 JOHANNESBURG: Some of the last of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes, kept in secret for decades by a family friend, will be scattered at sea off South Africa's coast on Saturday, 62 years after his assassination, his family said. After a radical nationalist shot Gandhi on January 30, 1948, he was cremated according to Hindu custom. Normally, ashes are immersed in rivers or the sea within days, but for Gandhi, his remains were divided to many urns and sent around India and across the globe so his followers could hold memorials. One urn came to South Africa, where Gandhi had come to practise law in 1893, living in the country on and off for 21 years. A family friend, Vilas Mehta, helped with the arrangements for the prayers, and the ashes were immersed after 10 days, according to the Gandhi Development Trust in Durban. Unbeknownst to the family, Mehta kept a few remnants of the ashes, and guarded them in secret for the rest of her life, the Trust said. ...

Sunday, January 10, 2010 MUMBAI: Actor-turned politician Sanjay Dutt has decided to resign from his post of general secretary of the Samajwadi Party. The resignation comes after senior leader Amar Singh quit all party posts just a few days earlier. Sanjay Dutt addressing a press conference said that he was announcing his resignation as general secretary of the party and that he was toing the line of Amar Singh. Sanjay Dutt also said that he is hurt by the members of his own party. Adding that it was Amar Singh who brought him into the Samajwadi Party fold, Dutt said that he would follow his elder brother to any other party even. Dutt also said that he was upset by comments that filmstars like him were no good for the party. He, however, said he would remain in the party as long as Amar Singh is there. He said despite slogging for the party in his poor health condition, certain leaders of SP mistreated Singh. Dutt was appointed to the post of SP general secretary in April...

Tuesday, January 05, 2010 NEW DELHI: With temperatures dipping below normal and snowfall witnessed in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh and the Kashmir valley, the normal life was disturbed for the fourth consecutive day and over 125 deaths were reported from across the country. Around 40 deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh during the last twenty-four hours. Eight people died in Bihar and two deaths were reported from Haryana. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered all schools to be closed for three days from today in view of the cold. In Punjab, all schools have been closed till January 8 due to cold. The officials of the Meteorological department said that the cold waves have swept Himachal Pradesh due to heavy snowfall in the upper reaches. In Uttarakhand, rains and snowfall intensified the cold conditions affecting normal life. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 9.6 degree Celsius, while morning mist reduced visibility to 1,000 meters, but there was...

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 NEW DELHI: India is preparing for a possible `two-front war' with China and Pakistan, Geo News quoted an Indian newspaper saying Wednesday. The newspaper said the Indian Army is now revising its five-year-old doctrine to effectively meet the challenges of war with China and Pakistan, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy. Work on the new war doctrine -- to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges -- is already underway under the aegis of Shimla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-General A S Lamba, sources told the Indian newspaper. It comes in the backdrop of the 1.13-million strong Army having practiced -- through several wargames over the last five years -- its `pro-active' war strategy to mobilise fast and strike hard to pulverize the enemy. This `cold start strategy', under a NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhan...

Monday, December 14, 2009 NEW DELHI: Twenty people died and several others were injured in a high-speed collision between a bus and a truck in Uluberia in India's eastern West Bengal in the wee hours of Sunday.The accident took place when a truck collided head-on with a bus, with fifty passengers on the National Highway-6. Eight people died on the spot. The injured were rushed to Uluberia General Hospital, out of which 12 succumbed to their injuries.Federal Railway minister and Chief of regional Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee and her colleague, Minister of state for shipping Mukul Rai rushed to the spot immediately."In this region, there is no concern for the humans. In this hospital, doctors, nurses or medicinal facilities are not available. Many injured passengers died due to lack of proper treatment. In this situation, only thing that can be done is setting up of camps outside the hospital. We have informed the authorities to do the needful for injured. This is a crime ...

Sunday, December 13, 2009 CHANDIPUR: ‘Dhanush’, the naval version of India’s indigenously developed surface-to-surface Prithvi missile system was test fired from a naval ship about 40 nautical miles from here inside the Bay of Bengal today.A naval team and the scientists of the DRDO jointly conducted the mission, claimed an official from the Department of Defence.The missile was flight tested from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal at about 11:30 A.M, according to Defence sources.Dhanush missile is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. It is a single stage missile with liquid propellant and can hit both sea as well as shore based targets of 350 km range with 500kg payload.The missile in its initial test of development stage on April 11, 2000 had failed due to some technical snags developed during the blast-off phase. But, in it’s range and pay load capabilities the missile was a success.The last trial of Dhanush missile was successfully conducted on March 30,2007 f...

NEW DELHI: India's home minister said Wednesday India was prepared to withdraw a "significant" number of troops from the occupied Kashmir.Briefing lawmakers in parliament, P. Chidambaram noted that violence in the region had dropped in the past few years."I would take what appears to be a risky step of withdrawing a significant number of battalions of security forces in Kashmir," the minister told members of parliament, according to Indian news agency."We are now transferring more and more law and order duties to the Kashmir police," the news agency quoted Chidambaram as saying.Chidambaram, however, did not state how many troops would be withdrawn or give a timetable for their pullout.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009 NEW DELHI: India Home Minister P Chidambaram Wednesday said Kashmiri groups have responded positively to the Centre's initiative of "quiet talks" and hoped a solution will emerge.Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, he said the government would not shy away from talking to any organisation, some of which are demanding self-rule.The Home Minister said there was "very positive response" and the government was willing to talk to "every shade of political opinion" in Jammu and Kashmir."These will be quiet talks, quiet diplomacy... far away from the glare of media," he said, adding he could not share details of the talks at this moment.Noting that the response to the proposal was encouraging, he hoped a "solution will emerge."Chidambaram said Jammu and Kashmir had a number of groups with a number of demands.

NEW DELHI: India is withdrawing about15,000 soldiers from Jammu and Kashmir, a military official said on Thursday, in a move aimed at boosting prospects of peace talks with the disputed region's freedom fighters.India has been under international pressure in recent months to reduce tensions along its Pakistan border particularly Kashmir so that Islamabad could focus on fighting the Taliban on its western border with Afghanistan.But military analysts said the slight thinning of troops in the Jammu region was linked with ongoing efforts to resume talks with All Parties Hurriyat Conference rather than extending an olive branch to Pakistan.Kashmiri freedom fighters urged New Delhi to pull out troops, release prisoners and end alleged human rights violations after the Indian government offered to resume talks this month to end a two-decade insurgency.A military spokesman said one army division was being moved in a phased manner since September from the border districts of Rajouri and Po...

Friday, October 23, 2009 NEW DELHI: In its first test since parliamentary elections four months ago, India’s ruling Congress party on Thursday emerged victorious in the assembly elections in three crucial states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. In the industrial western state of Maharashtra, the Congress retained power for a third consecutive term defeating the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance. It also swept north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh and got a slender victory in northern Haryana in the outskirts of national capital New Delhi. The Congress along with its ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 145 seats out of 288 in Maharashtra. The Haryana results came as a bit of a surprise for the Congress, which advanced polls by over seven months to cash in on its Lok Sabha performance, in which it had won nine out of the 10 seats. The party managed to win only 40 of the 90 seats, falling short of a simple majority. These elections were be...

MUMBAI: India is not responsible for terrorist activities in Pakistan's Balochistan province, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared on Sunday. "We are not in the business of exporting terrorism to Pakistan or any other country," he said. "The people and government of Pakistan jolly well know that this is a false accusation." He was replying to a specific question on Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik's allegations that India was arming militants in Balochistan. Replying to questions, the Prime Minister said, "We have to make adequate preparations to deal with the consequences of this overflow of terrorism from neighbourhood to our country. "We are taking all necessary steps in that direction but it is still my belief that particularly Pakistan and the people and government of Pakistan should realise the great harm and (their) patronisation of terror groups have done to the South Asian region," he said. Singh said if the countries...

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 NEW DEHLI: Heavy rains and floods over the past week have wreaked havoc in Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and claimed over 230 lives and displaced over a million people.The death toll in Karnataka alone has crossed 180. Over 3,00,000 people have been displaced in the 14 districts of the state.In Andhra Pradesh, though the flood situation is improving in Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts, but hundreds of villages in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda are still inundated. Heavy rains have also lashed the districts in Konkan and southern Maharashtra.In Goa, large parts of the state are lashed with heavy rains for the third day with people remaining indoors. According to sources over 250 houses have collapsed in the state in last one week.In Kerala, flash flood has affected normal life at 6 places in Kozhikode district. Landslides were also reported at many places in the district. In Orissa, floodwater is receding fast in Balasore and Bhadrak...

Monday, October 05, 2009 NEW DELHI: Floods triggered by heavy rains have killed more then 200 people in the past five days in southern India, destroyed standing crops and left tens of thousands of people homeless, officials said.At least 167 people have been killed in Karnataka, where several rivers burst their mud embankments following heavy rains and swept away houses.Authorities said vast areas of agricultural land, including sugarcane and paddy fields were under water in the state.More than 100,000 people were homeless and television pictures showed hundreds of people waving at helicopters carrying relief materials from rooftops. Some were seen clinging on to tree branches.In the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, at least 33 people have died and more than 1.8 million people have been affected by the floods, officials said.

Monday, October 05, 2009 NEW DELHI: To beef up air defence capabilities and react in quickest possible time along the international border with Pakistan, the Indian Air Force has decided to station all its MiG 29 squadrons at Adampur, the second largest Air Force base in the country. The Adampur Air Force station, which is also known as home of MiG 29s, already has two frontline fighter squadrons and will see another squadron moving from Jamnagar in Gujarat soon. “We consider ourselves to be a strategic air power establishment of the IAF in the western sector, ever ready for operations. We are fully geared up to operate in any given time frame like any other Air Force stations of the country,” said Air Commodore HS Arora, Air Officer Commanding of the Adampur air base. To extend the service life of MiG 29 by 25 to 40 years, the RAC MiG aircraft corporation signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence to upgrade over 60 fighters in service with the IAF since the 1980s.

Monday, October 05, 2009 NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old airhostess with Air India has alleged that she was beaten up and molested by the pilot and a co-pilot on the Sharjah-Lucknow-Delhi flight on Saturday.In her complaint to the police the victim claimed she was “abused and pushed” by the two pilots inside the cockpit when she refused to grant them “personal favours”.The incident took place in the cockpit of the Air India flight that was coming from Sharjah in UAE, the complaint said. The flight arrived in Delhi around 2 am on Saturday. The victim lodged a complaint at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) after the flight landed. The airhostess was then sent for medical examination where it was confirmed that she had “simple injuries”. A case of hurt, molestation and outraging the modesty of a woman has been registered at the Palam Airport police station. Police said the victim airhostess was traumatised after the incident.

Sunday, October 04, 2009 LONDON: India has expressed its worries over the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) appointment of a special envoy for the resolution of Kashmir issue.British Radio reported Indian foreign minister saying that OIC in its decision has not made efforts to understand the Indian stand and added that Kashmir was the indispensable part of India and OIC has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of India.Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Mir Waiz Umar Faruque said that the OIC appointing special envoy for Kashmir would pave the way for the resolution of Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir.OIC Secretary General Akmaluddin said that OIC earlier also had appointed its representative for Kashmir and OIC envoy could play the role of a bridge between Pakistan and India.

WASHINGTON: Stressing linkages between Pakistan, India and Afghanistan with regard to durable peace and stability in South Asia, the United States on Wednesday said it encourages dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi for developing a stable bilateral relationship. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J Crowley said the U.S. is focused on the region and “understands clearly the importance of Afghanistan, the importance of Pakistan, the importance of India, and the interaction among those countries.” He said the U.S. wants all these countries to work “constructively together.” “This is kind of an inseparable you can’t look at peace and stability in South Asia without understanding the vitally important role played by all of these three countries and, obviously, the surrounding republics in Central Asia as well,” he said in response to a question at the daily State Department briefing. Continuing, Crowley said, “It’s one of the reasons why we changed our strategic foc...

Sunday, September 27, 2009 NEW DELHI: India plans to spend an estimated $100 billion on defence over the next decade to modernize its Soviet-era arsenal and is pushing the Obama administration to ease the acquisition of US weapons and technology, according to a US Newspaper. “With its growing military footprint, India is steering away from traditional ally Russia, its main weapons supplier, and looking toward the United States to help upgrade its weapons systems and troop gear,” the newspaper reported. India’s expanding military ambitions, and the US role in selling this nuclear-armed nation more firepower, is starting to worry Pakistan, the report said. India also has ongoing border disputes with another Asian giant, China, which defeated it in a short 1962 war. “This increase in India’s military spending is seen with rising anxiety here in Pakistan,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a leading defence analyst in Pakistan. “As long as India builds pressure on Pakistan militarily, Pakistan won’...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 MUMBAI: Giant chandeliers slowly rising to the ceiling, walls swathed in luxurious fabric resembling an opulent Mughal Darbar, and beautiful and elegant models walking the ramp, heralded the beginning of the last and final show of the Lakme Fashion Week.The five-day fashion extravaganza came to a befitting end in Mumbai with India's top designer Tarun Tahiliani dazzling everyone with a fabulous mix of fashion and beauty.Tahiliani's collection was based on the Glamour By Lakme 2009 collection, and comprised of Red Carpet Glam, Uptown Glam, Resort or Goa Glam and Gypsy Glam.Tahiliani had divided his show, "The Painterly Vision" into drapes that featured saris, gowns, togas, tunics, Grecian, jersey NavVaaris, fringed kurtas and the Pegged Drape."The collection was very simple... drapes...The evening wear wasn't particularly bright because it was placed against Indian tableaux and also, we had the luxury for the first time of showin...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 BANGALORE: India successfully launched seven satellites including six from foreign countries on Wednesday, officials said, underlining the country's ambitions in the space business. About a month after its first moon mission was aborted, the country's space agency announced that the seven satellites had been put into orbit about 720 kilometres (447 miles) above the earth. India will use one of the satellites, Oceansat-2, for monitoring ocean patterns, backing up the first Oceansat, which was launched in 1999. Of the six foreign satellites, there are four from Germany and one each from Switzerland and Turkey. "It was a perfect launch," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said from the spaceport Sriharikota, about 80 kilometres north-east of Chennai. The cost of the launch was two billion rupees (40 million dollars), including 1.3 billion rupees for the satellite and 700 million rupees for the rocket, Satish...