New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Tsunai survivor Deborah brought India's first medal in the Asian Cycling Championships by winning a bronze in the 500 metre time trial at the Indira Gandhi velodrome here Thursday. The girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands clocked 37.841 seconds to finish behind Korea's Yeonhee Jang (37.159) and Taipei's Yu Shiou Cheng (37.834) in the junior category. After the Korean girl had finished with an excellent timing, the odds were heavily stacked against the 19-year-old Indian as she had Yu Shiou Cheng to follow as the last and sixth rider.
Mumbai, March 7 (IANS) Taking serious note of the CAG report on agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme of 2008, the RBI has cracked the whip on all scheduled commercial and local area banks asking for complete details on farm loans, an official has said. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report tabled in parliament Tuesday on the "Implementation of Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008", said there were irregularities in at least one in five cases. In a letter to the chiefs of all scheduled commercial and local area banks Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought the beneficiaries' lists with verification with priority to areas where indebtedness was high.
Mumbai, March 7 (IANS) Model Angela Jonsson has chosen to stay mum about her Bollywood debut with superstar Salman Khan in "Sher Khan" and says it is modelling that will keep her busy for the next few months.
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is to under take a private visit to the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer Saturday (March 9). He will not visit New Delhi, an official said Thursday. He will be hosted for lunch by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid at the Hotel Rambag Palace in Ajmer on that day.
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Natural gas tapped under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) will be supplied to power plants on the condition that electricity produced from the gas shall only be sold to distribution networks at tariffs set by the regulator, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Thursday. "Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has decided that the existing and future allocations of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) gas to power plants be subject to the condition that the entire electricity produced from the allocated gas shall only be sold to the Distribution Licensees at tariffs determined or adopted (in case of bidding) by the tariff regulator of the power plant," Scindia told the Lok Sabha in a written reply
Shillong, March 7 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma again left for New Delhi Thursday to finalise with the Congress high command the names of his 11-member council of ministers.
Mumbai, March 7 (IANS) Sanjeev Jaiswal, seen as Ajmal Amir Kasab in Ram Gopal Varma's "The Attacks Of 26/11", says his biggest challenge was that people shouldn't feel he bagged the role just because he resembled the terrorist. Kasab was the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist responsible for the 2008 terrorist attacks that killed 166 people
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) As the union cabinet approved the citizen's charter bill Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the bill attacked the federal structure by compelling states to adopt it.
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the "scam" in allocation of sandstone mines in Rajasthan and sought the resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. BJP leader Prakash Javadekar alleged that the chief minister changed the criteria of allocation of sandstone mines to benefit his relatives. "Gehlot changed the rules for allotting mines, and out of 37 allocations, 19 went to his relatives," he said
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured parliament that action will be taken in the irregularities reported in the loan waiver scheme, the BJP said mere examination of the CAG's report by a parliamentary committee will not be enough. "The prime minister said PAC will look into the CAG report.
