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STORIESYOU MAY HAVE MISSED...

SPTEMBER 21

CM!
Kalyan Singh may not have it his way in Lucknow this time.
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'Should cops sing bhajans when gangsters try to kill them?'
An interview with Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi.
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The Missing Millions
For over half-a-century, Ramalinga Nadar has waged relentless war with redtape, to get the Rs 423 million his father deposited in the Azad Hind Bank. But the RBI, to whom the Azad Hind Bank's assets were transferred, has refused to give Nadar his missing millions. A Ganesh Nadar travelled to Madras to find out more about this tragic story.
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What Happened To The Blood Bank?
Is anyone aware how many places in our country are without electricity, or with poor voltage? Is air-conditioning the only thing we can pick on to improve our blood banks? And how many people are we condemning to death with this rule, without even an attempt to save their lives?
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Is India producing junk science?
India's biological sciences, says Supratik Das, are nowhere on the international map. A terrible statement about a country that boasts the world's second largest scientific manpower.
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General Dyer was hardly remorseful for Jallianwala massacre
"It was a horrible duty to perform. But I think it was a merciful thing. I thought I should shoot well and shoot straight so that I or anybody else would not have had to shoot again.''
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The States

10 Nagas killed in Kuki attack in Manipur
Maharashtra govt ripe for plucking, says Pawar

Recent incidents in your state

NEWS BRIEFS

Anup Kumar dead

SEPTEMBER 20

Death Came A-Calling...
Arin, a little village in Kashmir's Baramulla district, is in deep mourning. It has been only a few hours since the villagers buried 11 of their own. Eleven innocents who have been killed, and a further 13 injured, by the very people assigned to protect them. According to the villagers, the Border Security Force.
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Home minister to review situation in battle-torn Rajouri
Indrajit Gupta will visit Rajouri on Sunday to take stock of the situation in the border district where fighting between the militants and the security forces continued for the seventh day.
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Vaghela tries to win back Kesri
The RJP government's fate will be decided on September 27.
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Court order forces BJP to don a new avatar
After the mosque was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, the party took great pride, condemning the 664-year-old structure as a ''symbol of slavery''. Today, five summers later, the saffron pride has faded, and the BJP has washed its hands of one of the bloodiest chapters in Indian history.
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President gets a hero's welcome in Uzhavoor
K R Narayanan visits his village for the first time after assuming office.
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No preconditions for Clinton-Gujral talks
The US has denied any pro-Pakistan tilt in its foreign policy.
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Pak blames India for failure of talks
India has ''categorically rejected the remarks''.
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India will soon reach major space milestone
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C1 will launch the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1D from the Sriharikota launch site between September 29 and October 27. The previous satellites in this class were launched by Russia.
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US to certify China stopped selling nuclear equipment to Pakistan, Iran
This will, for the first time, allow US corporate giants to sell nuclear power technology to Beijing.
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Part of controversial Rajasthan high court jugdment stayed
SC stays accusations against chief justice of India.
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Railway GMs sacked following accidents
Govt gets tough and demands that safety standards be enforced.
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Rao gets notice in St Kitts case
The move comes in the wake of CBI's plea against the former PM's discharge in the case.
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The States

AP high court quashes order classifying scheduled castes...

Recent incidents in your state

NEWS BRIEFS

After the fuss, Amritsar decks up for the queen...

Yeh Hai India!

Then there were martyrs who went unsung...
In his death, Maharaja Singh remained an unknown martyr. No verses were composed in his honour nor any memorials erected in his memory. Even historians failed to recognise his contribution to the freedom struggle.
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SEPTEMBER 19

Indo-Pak talks fail
Sources said the two sides got bogged down primarily on the Kashmir issue and peace and security.
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Failure of Hatf I and II missiles drove Pak to China
Pakistan's paranoia over Prithvi and India's superiority in rocket technology seem to be the other reasons.
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'There are still 11 people missing'
"I have seen the total and partial collapse of many buildings," says Bombay's Deputy Chief Fire Officer Sirkhot. "But I have never, in all my experience, seen a building collapse like this one did."
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Visakhapatnam refinery blamed for gas tragedy
Several trade unions have threatened to move the Andhra Pradesh high court against the corporation's callous disregard for safety measures.
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'If Nadeem were innocent, he would not have evaded arrest'
“It will take us at least a month to arrest Nadeem if he does not come down to Bombay on his own,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (detection) L R Rao told Rediff On The NeT.
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India must get UN permanent seat: US congressmen
A resolution to this effect would be introduced in the US House of Representatives next week.
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International inspection of Indian nuke reactors is 'routine': Gujral
The PM said the media has ''blown up'' the government's decision.
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Leptospirosis toll in Gujarat rises to 58
One more dies in Bulsar civil hospital and 10 new patients admitted.
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Where silk garrottes childhood
Children are often mortgaged for loans to contractors, to work at the silk looms of Kancheepuram. Usurious rates of interest and bad pay keep them there.
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Troubled times for TMC
The 'trust case' may have a long way to go, but coming as it does in the wake of the legal tangle over the Rajya Sabha membership involving Moopanar and two party colleagues, the TMC leadership appears to be sailing from one legal controversy to another.
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Arundhati Roy may become first Indian citizen to win Booker
The novel is rapidly acquiring cult status which is evident from the critical response all over. American novelist John Updike called it ''a Tiger Woodsian debut'' in his review in the New Yorker.
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'Ammu Is Not Mary Roy'
Not once has she spoken about her daughter's controversial novel, refusing all requests for an interview. "The novel is so close to me that I keep it in my heart," she told George Iype who persuaded Mary Roy to speak for the first time about Arundhati's Booker Prize-nominated The God of Small Things.
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The Clouston Syndrome
A rare genetic disorder has been detected in a family from Madasa, a town in north Gujarat.
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The States

4 killed in Karnataka violence
Centre offers to set up working group to solve Bodo crisis
Rail strike paralyses Bombay, Maharashtra
Rajasthan high court judge resigns after controversy
Relations with China not detrimental to India, says NSCN

Recent incidents in your state

NEWS BRIEFS

IAF plan to cut accident rate paying off

Yeh Hai India!

The dream den of junkies
Chaubari had addicts of all sorts: Guys who could do with a pinch of powder, guys who could do with a lot of powder and, also, guys who just couldn't do without powder.
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SEPTEMBER 18

Decks cleared for
Bodo talks
In their efforts to bring peace to Assam, the Centre and the state government plan to pacify the militants in the talks on Thursday. The Centre is also highlighting the fact that non-Bodos, despite being in the majority, have been silently bearing the brunt of insurgency.
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Another storm over Rajiv assassination probe
The Tamil Nadu government plans to eject the CBI's Special Investigation Team probing the case from its present headquaters. The vacant building would then be at forest brigand Veerappan's disposal, when -- and if -- he surrenders.
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The Negotiator
"Former CM Jayalalitha and her top police official Walter Dawaram recently told the media, 'We killed 145 gang members of Veerappan,' when the fact is that most of those who died were innocent villagers. So who is to judge, between Veerappan and the other side, which is more brutal?" The R Gopal Chat
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Did Mother Teresa deserve a state funeral?
''How can a state funeral be accorded to a nun whose dedicated service to the sick and the dying was only an expression of her fierce, unflinching and dogmatic loyalty to the Catholic church?'' asks Kanchan Gupta.
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Bombay building crash toll touches six
Worried relatives of trapped victims take officials to task over tardy relief work.
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"I knew this was the end"
One of those who escaped alive from Poonam Chambers describes his ordeal.
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Rajasthan high court judge slaps contempt notice on his boss
In an unprecedented move, Rajasthan high court Justice B G Sethna issued a show cause notice to Chief Justice M G Mukherjee for 'contempt of court'.
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India's scrap copter sale may land Thatcher in trouble
The Indo-British bilateral aid programme is likely to run into rough weather following the allegation that India misused British funds.
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Delhi high court directive to govt in Kesri case
The Delhi high court directed the Centre to decide whether the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is applicable to the Rs 37.5 million donations received by the Congress.
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Gujral to seek world backing for UN permanent seat
The prime minister is meeting Clinton, Sharief in New York, besides visiting Tanzania, Italy.
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Chargesheet yet to be filed in Rajkot 'Tiger balm' case
Eight months after seven undertrial prisoners suffered permanent damage to their sight due to police interrogation, the eyes of investigating and government officials also appear to be feeling the result -- thus far, there has been no chargesheet prepared, no compensation paid to the victims.
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500 hit by leptospirosis in Gujarat
Surat Medical College confirms presence of bacteria. State takes precautionary measures.
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The States

15 killed in TN road accident
UP CM creates more districts
Pak infiltrators still find it a cool walk to Kashmir
Delhi high court cancels Uphaar's licence
Recent incidents in your state

NEWS BRIEFS

SC questions govt on status of National Police Commission Report
Suspected Bangladeshi child smugglers arrested in Madras

Yeh Hai India!

Rat grounds Hong Kong flight
There he was, on board, all set for the Chinese city and exotica...
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SEPTEMBER 17

Darkness At Noon
Many feared dead as office building collapses like house of cards in Bombay.
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'We saw everything shaking and the wooden structures started collapsing'
Five hours after Poonam Chambers collapsed, there is still terrible urgency in the work of the firemen. They are using gas cutters to get through the iron beams and farther on to anybody trapped beneath. But the way the building looks -- like King Kong stomped on it -- anybody still alive inside is very lucky.
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Why does a building collapse?
Bad design and bad planning definitely affect the longevity of a building. "The life of a building is affected by bad workmanship. By bad design," says one Bombay architect.
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Another fire erupts at AP gas refinery'
While government officials claimed that only 41 persons perished in the mishap, a senior refinery official told Rediff On The Net, ''Most of the 180-odd, who were supposed to report for work on the fateful Sunday, might be trapped in the debris of the canteen building....''
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Populism and poor technology ensure bloody track record for Railways
A growing network, populist demands and poor funds have given the Indian Railways a bloody track record in the past decade. Since 1986, railway ministry records reveal, more than 5,000 people have died in train accidents across the country.
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Court asks CBI to probe if Kesri's household expenses are only Rs 1,450
The court ordered the investigating agency to probe each and every point related to the Congress chief's household expenses, including the expenditure incurred on servants and pets.
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Renuka storms police station over land dispute
The minister says the land, belonging to her family, has been grabbed by two Hyderabad builders.
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India, Pakistan foreign secretaries meet for 3 hours
Kashmir on the agenda, but of course.
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US must ask India to see ground realities in Kashmir: Pak minister
Mushahid Hussain justifies the US role in the overall interest of peace in South Asia.
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No cause for alarm over Indo-Pak border fencing gaps: BSF
Only three of the 29 gaps, created by floods along the 553-km border, are yet to be plugged.
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Drug cartels fuelling terrorism again: study
An Indian defence analyst claims some prominent sub-national movements aided and abetted by narcotics smugglers are militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, the United Liberation Front of Asom and Bodo movements, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement in Pakistan and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines.
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The States

Army major, 2 JCOs among 12 killed in JK
Road accident claims eight in Cuttack
Delhi high court pulls up JK govt for Amarnath arrangements
Goan scribes go all out against Information Bill
Ramamurthy will launch 'parallel' Congress in TN
Recent incidents in your state

Yeh Hai India!

Gutka products aren't really bad for your health...
Fifty million rupees down the drain in Bombay. All because it hurts certain people to see gutka products being consumed by certain others!
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SEPTEMBER 16

Bridge To Nowhere
Sunday's train tragedy, which killed at least 120 people and injured 400 others in Madhya Pradesh, could have been averted had the driver received timely information about ongoing maintenance work on the tracks. Rail Bhavan officials in Delhi, however, do not rule out the involvement of "terrorists" in the incident.
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80 feared killed in AP LPG blast'
More than a hundred people are still trapped in the devastating fire that was triggered by a series of deafening explosions at a state-owned refinery.
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Fear of Mulayam's proxy rule forces BSP to relent'
Kalyan Singh will take over as UP CM. But he cannot expect a smooth sail as Mayawati is already raising several demands.
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CBI rapped for letting Kesri go scot-free'
Only the agency knows why the Congress chief has not been chargesheeted in the JMM MPs's bribery case, says the Delhi high court.
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India, Pak reiterate commitment to peace
Working committees to be set up on various issues but the foreign secretaries themselves to monitor matters involving peace and security and the Jammu and Kashmir.
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Pak will not progress until it improves ties with India: report
'Violence in the Indian border state will escalate despite resumption of Indo-Pakistan talks.'
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Human chain from Pakistan to India on October 24
Leaders in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Kashmir valley plan to form a human chain across the Line of Control from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar.
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Army called in to quell protests in Rajasthan
A police superintendent was suspended after Jains claimed that cops's torture drove a monk, accused of rape, to suicide. But the action sparked protests across Jalore and surrounding towns.
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India Caucus to move resolution for UN permanent seat'
The world's largest democracy deserves a place in Security Council, feel US representatives.
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The States

14 electrocuted during religious fair in UP
Three soldiers, six militants killed in Kashmir
Eight BSP workers crushed by train in UP
Militants kill daughter of CPI-M leader in Tripura
Tamil Nadu Congress suspends Vazhapadi
Militant leader shot dead in Manipur
BJP's month-long stir against Gujarat CM
Recent incidents in your state

NEWS BRIEFS

HC finds irregularities in CBI map on Massey incident
145 defence staff face corruption cases
Switzerland orders banks to freeze Benazir Bhutto's accounts

Yeh Hai India!

Cops and robbers, there ain't any difference 'tween the two!
Guns dangling from limp hands, the cops stood there, two wheezing ducks for the crowd to overpower, disarm and frog-march to the nearest police station.
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