Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has reportedly convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at 5 pm on Tuesday to discuss the growing threat of the Naxal terror in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The government has sanctioned Rs 95.61 crore to Maoist-affected states, including West Bengal, under the 'Special Assistance Scheme' to carry out speedy development works. The amount has been sanctioned to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
Maoists have threatened to extend indefinitely their bandh call in seven states if their arrested leader Azad is not produced before a court on Monday, a top Naxal leader said on Saturday. "Our 48-hour bandh call from March 22 in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and three districts of Maharashtra will be extended indefinitely if Azad is not produced before the court on Monday," said top Maoist leader Kishenji.
The Centre on Thursday rejected demand for ban on iron ore export, but said states need to take stringent steps to prevent illegal mining.
SKS Microfinance, one of the country's leading microfinance companies, has extended life insurance cover to about one million poor women in India in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
To chalk out a cohesive strategy to counter the Maoist violence, the government has convened a meeting of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states on July 14 which is expected to be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The day-long meeting of the chief ministers of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar will take stock of the situation arising out of the recent Maoists violence and will fine tune a fresh strategy.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) has offered to buy the land of RIL fuel retailers who wish to exit its dealership. Some of the retailers have been looking to exit the dealership as they are making losses in the venture.
Essar Oil has cut petrol and diesel prices by an average of Rs 1.50 a litre to bring them at par with that of public sector firms.
A number of new IITs started functioning in 2008-09, the minister said, adding that two more IITs in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will start functioning in 2009-10.
Brushing aside objections over brand dilution, the government has reportedly begun work on modifying the IIT Act, 1961, to ensure that the eight new engineering institutes it is setting up come under the premier Indian Institute of Technology umbrella.
The three-member Commission will hold discussions with the Home Secretary on the law and order situation across the country and availability of Central paramilitary forces to decide on the number of phases. Assembly polls in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim will also be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.
In the wake of the recent killing of 15 police personnel by Naxals in Maharashtra, the Union Home Ministry has convened a high-level meeting on Thursday to discuss the internal security in that state as well in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.The director generals of police of the four Naxal-hit states have been summoned by the ministry for a thorough review of the prevailing situation there.
The toll in the attack of Maoist rebels on a launch at the Balimela reservoir near the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border on May 29, has turned out to be higher than anticipated. While so far 33 bodies have been recovered, officials have declared five more personnel including two Greyhound commandos as missing.
All the seven states hit by Left wing extremism have agreed on a joint action to confront the menace firmly and decisively, and the Centre will provide them full support in terms of security forces and funds, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
Out of the total 22 tableaux, 16 were of various states and UTs and six of ministries, departments and the National Disaster Response Force.
With this, the number of IITs will touch 16. The new IITs will be set up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The academic sessions of six new IITs will start on July 23. The IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat will start their session with 120 students each in temporary campuses.
Even as search operation continues for the 35 missing Greyhound commandos on the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border for the third consecutive day, police officials have also started apprehending that at least some of the missing persons have been taken hostage by the Maoists after attacking the launch in Machkund reservoir on Sunday.
Six choppers and 13 divers were scouring the reservoir to trace the 35 men of the elite commando force who went missing after Naxals attacked them with grenades and fired at them indiscriminately when they were returning in a motor boat from Janabai after a combing operation on the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border on June 28. The jawans retaliated but the motor boat, in the wake of heavy exchange of fire, capsized in the reservoir forcing the Greyhounds to jump into the water.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has criticised Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for denying a probe in the death of three police officers, including Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, in the Mumbai terror attack.M M Khan, president of Jammat units of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, said there was nothing wrong in Antulay asking for a probe into the police officers' 'suspicious' deaths.
The prolonged break in the rainy season that has caused widespread concern over the delay in kharif sowing is finally ending with the monsoon likely to advance into Mumbai and adjoining parts of Maharashtra in two or three days.
NASSCOM Foundation and DataWind Corporation, have started a pilot project to provide internet connectivity in the rural areas.
The Department of Tele-communications is close to allocating start-up spectrum in seven more circles, in addition to Tamil Nadu, where the process is set to begin next week. According to the telecom ministry's plan, the companies would get 4.4 MHz each and the allocation would be completed within a fortnight.
Seven members are retiring from Maharashtra followed by six each from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, five each from West Bengal and Bihar, four each from Orissa and Gujarat.
It is a bit of a sad commentary on our democracy but the general election is going to be only the first step in forming a government. The second step will come only when the party leaders -- specifically from regional forces -- judge their positions after the polls.
These are the Zipp money centres which are being introduced for the first time in the country by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), a forum formed in 1997 and which has inclusive banking interventions as one of its key projects. The money centres have already brought banking to the doorstep in many villages and far-flung areas in one district in Uganda where CBC started the project.
The new IITs would come up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Indore in Madhya Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 6,080 crore (Rs 60.80 billion), Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after a meeting of the Union Cabinet.
The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered a probe into the deadly Maoist attack in the AP-Orissa border, where at least 35 policemen are feared drowned.
Naval divers were pressed into operation to look for 36 personnel of an elite anti-naxal Force, who were feared drowned in a reservoir at the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border, where their launch sunk after being fired upon by Maoists.Reports said that three more personnel of a 64-member strong squad of Andhra Pradesh's elite Greyhound Force swam to the banks with injuries, official sources said, adding that they were immediately air-lifted to Bhuwaneswar for treatment.
With just a week left for the fishing season to commence, the workers from Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra have begun arriving after a one-and-half month holiday.
Since some multi-purpose projects and shipyards could be on the terrorist hit list, the southern states have been asked to procure speed boats and other paraphernalia needed to boost security.
Gujarat has left behind other states in attracting investments.
ONGC confirmed on discovering natural gas in KG basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast and Mahanadi basin off Orissa coast, but said the find in KG basin posts 'technological challenges' and it was on looking for a strategic partner.
This move is significant as the Centre is proposing to drop the two-child norm from its action plan for controlling population.
Top police and revenue officials rushed to the spot and began rescue and relief operations. The injured were being shifted to nearby hospitals.
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