India News

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

Jaipur : The Jaipur literature festival, boasting of over 200 authors of national and international repute and with its focus on Dalit writings, took off to packed audiences at a royal palace here Thursday.

The fifth DSC Jaipur Literature Festival began at the Diggi Palace with a recitation of the English translation of ancient Indian poetry by noted poet and scholar Arvind Krishna Malhotra.

By IANS,

Lucknow : Eight students of a government-run polytechnic institute in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district were suspended for physically abusing and ragging a junior on the institute campus, an official said Thursday.

"The eight students placed under suspension are in their second year of the Electronics trade course and had ragged and assaulted one of their juniors last week," O.P. Seth, principal of the Jahangirabad Polytechnic, told reporters in Barabanki, some 40 km from Lucknow.

By IANS,

Hyderabad : Depressed over the delay in the formation of a separate Telangana state, three more people committed suicide, taking the deaths to six in three days.

Despite appeals by all political parties not to resort to suicides, three staunch supporters of Telangana belonging to Nizamabad and Medak districts ended their lives.

By IANS,

Srinagar : The intense cold wave continued in the Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh region Thursday even though snowfall in Ladakh helped raise the night temperature.

"The minimum temperature today (Thursday) in Srinagar was minus 2.9 degrees Celsius. It was minus 7 degrees in Leh and minus 8 degrees in Kargil town of Ladakh region," said an official of the local weather officer here.

The night temperatures in Leh and Kargil have improved as compared to the last fortnight, during which these remained around minus 18 degrees Celsius.

By IANS,

New Delhi : An embattled R.K. Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Thursday refused to answer any question on the goof-up by the global scientists' group which made it carry in its 2007 report an unsubstantiated claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035.

Pachauri convened a press conference here to unveil a roadmap for India's energy security, prepared by the other organisation he heads, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

By IANS,

Aizawl : Two suspected militants have been arrested in connection with the killing of a youth that sparked off ethnic violence in the state last year, displacing thousands of minority tribals, officials said here Thursday.

"Vanlalfela, 28 and Chusarai, 31 -- both suspected militants -- were arrested Tuesday by the special investigation team (SIT) for killing 18-year-old Mizo youth Zarzokima on Nov 13 last year," a police official told reporters.

The official said: "Both the detainees are members of United Liberation Army (ULA), a little known separatist outfit."

By IANS,

Kolkata : Tension ran high in Kolkata's eastern fringes of Tiljala area as a poster of deceased Marxist icon Jyoti Basu was found torched Thursday.

"A poster of Jyoti Basu was seen torched this morning at Tiljala's C.N Roy Road. We highly condemn this incident," senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and the party's central committee member Shyamal Chakraborty said.

He said people would definitely raise their voice against such an undignified act.

"Public outrage is quite obvious," he said.

By IANS,

New Delhi : The Republic Day parade rehearsals near India Gate, like every other year, added to the woes of Delhi commuters Thursday as the traffic was diverted and roads blocked around the parade route until noon.

While there were many who were aware of the diversions, thanks to travel advisories in the newspapers, there were several others who were caught unawares and were left stranded on the roads.

By IANS,

New Delhi : At least 35 places have been identified as night shelters and brisk work was on in some of them Thursday, a day after the Supreme Court rapped the Delhi government for failing the capital's homeless people in the chilling winter.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) submitted its report to the Delhi government Thursday, identifying 35 venues for setting up night shelters.

By IANS,

New Delhi : With the construction of strategic roads in Arunachal Pradesh and other Indian areas bordering China running into delays, the defence ministry has suggested that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) could hire helicopters to expedite the work, an official said Thursday.

Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju gave the suggestion during a meeting with the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB) in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar Wednesday evening.