THE TRIBUNE
Online Edition
Today's main news stories and other features
 Thursday, January 13, 2005, Chandigarh, India
Punjab : Chandigarh : Ludhiana : Haryana : Jammu & Kashmir : Himachal Pradesh : Nation : Opinions
Front page
MBBS admissions: SC sets strict guidelines
New Delhi, January 12
In a bid to bridge the wide time gap in the entrance examinations by different states to the medical and other professional courses, the Supreme Court today directed the Central Board of Secondary Education and the state boards to positively declare the ten-plus-two results by June 10 to ensure completion of admissions in time.
Tribune Internet poll
Today's question

Should the government help farmers with crop insurance?

RJD, Left, NCP to fight jointly in Bihar
New Delhi, January 12
In a clear game of oneupmanship, the RJD, Left parties and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today said they would contest next month’s Bihar and Jharkhand elections together and announce their seat-sharing arrangement in Patna on January 14.

Centre rejects Geelani’s plea to visit Pak
New Delhi, January 12
The Centre has denied permission to hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from attending a conference in Islamabad.

Amrish Puri dead
Mumbai, January 12
 Veteran film actor Amrish Puri, who through his distinct style coupled with a husky voice lent a new touch to the character of the villain — the most famous as the evil “Mogambo” in “Mr India” — died at a city hospital.

PM announces knowledge panel
Kolkata, January 12
India will pursue its policy of seeking partnership for development with China and Pakistan along with the other countries, but there will be no compromise on the nation’s security aspect, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared today while inaugurating the three-day 10th partnership summit of the CII held on the National Library premises here this morning

Powers of junior officers cut
Cannot issue arrest warrants
Chandigarh, January 12
A decision to withdraw powers of junior officers to issue arrest warrants of farmers with regard to the recovery of cooperative loans has been taken by the Punjab Government.
Punjab
Teachers, doctors to be recruited: CM
Taprian Khurd (Balachaur) January 12
In its bid to improve the performance of the health and education sectors, the Punjab Government has initiated a process of recruitment of teachers and doctors in the state. Giving this information, the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, said the state government had started the recruitment process and the Education and Health departments had been asked to furnish a detailed report of vacancies.

Computerised land record copies soon
Jalandhar, January 12
Farmers and other people will soon be able to get computerised copies of land records with the implementation of the ambitious e-patwari scheme, on which the state government has decided to spend an amount of Rs 25 crore.
Haryana
Finalise highway deal after poll, says EC
Chandigarh, January 12
A road block has come up in the way of the proposed Rs 1200-crore Palwal-Kundli express highway, tenders for which were being processed at a super highway speed by Haryana Government agencies.

BJP unit revolts against candidate
Hisar, January 12
The Haryana unit of the BJP today received a jolt as the local unit of the party revolted against the candidature of Mr Rakesh Sethi, who has been fielded for the Hisar Assembly constituency.
Delhi and neighbourhood
3 autolifters held, 7 theft cases solved
New Delhi, January 12
With the arrest of three autolifters, the East district police claimed to have worked out seven cases of vehicle theft and recovered three Maruti cars and one motorcycle from their possession.

Gangster shot at in police encounter
New Delhi, January 12
A gangster of Haryana was shot at by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in an encounter in Paschim Vihar. He was involved in at least 12 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and attack on police personnel.
Chandigarh Tribune
Vehicle density behind increasing deaths in mishaps
NGO wants use of cycles popularised
Chandigarh, January 12
Heavy density of traffic on the four main roads of Chandigarh — Madhya Marg, Lok Path, Himalaya Marg and Udyog Path — is taking a heavy toll on human lives and health.

Lakhs spent in excess on PGI project
Chandigarh, January 12
At the PGI where lakhs of rupees allocated to various research projects have remained unutilised during the last financial year, one project is breaking the norm.
Ludhiana Tribune
Couple murder: four ‘confess’ to crime
Ludhiana, January 12
Four of the five accused, including a retired police Sub-Inspector, in the shocking honour killing of a couple case have confessed to hiring professional killers for the job.

PNB acts tough against defaulter, takes possession of property
Ludhiana, January 12
Aiming to curb its non-performing assets, Punjab National Bank took possession of the property of an alleged defaulter. The bank officials sealed the property of Gautam Enterprises and Gautam Textiles in Bagh Wali Gali here today.
Editorials
Leave it to the court
Politicians need to keep off the Seer case
The Supreme Court's order granting bail to the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi - even as the Tamil Nadu Government moved ahead with the arrest of his junior, Shri Vijayendra Saraswathi - has given a boost to the political play over the case. 

Fake encounters
They engender more violence
It is ironical that Naxalites, who can often be blamed for killing innocent persons, are protesting against the Andhra Pradesh government whom they accuse of killing their colleagues in allegedly fake encounters but still such extra-constitutional measures are totally unacceptable if these are actually being adopted.

Keep MSP intact
Raise farm productivity
In his pre-Budget consultations on Tuesday, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was advised to dispense with the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and paddy.
Himachal Pradesh
Move to shift capital creates turmoil
Shimla, January 12
While Mr Virbhadra Singh , Chief Minister, is camping at Dharamsala with his team of ministers to woo people of merged areas, the issue of shifting the state capital from Shimla has created a turmoil in the BJP.

Follow teachings of Vivekananda, says Virbhadra
Kangra, January 12
The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, today said that Swami Vivekananda was the torch-bearer of modern India and had fortified youths with zeal for serving the down-trodden of the country and his teachings were still relevant.
Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmiri youths hold protest in Muzaffarabad
Jammu , January 12
Several hundred Kashmiri youths,camping in occupied Kashmir,staged a demonstration in Muzaffarabad recently in support of their demand for repatriation to the valley. These youths,whose number is said to be around 400, and belonging to various areas of the Kashmir valley, had gone across the LoC, years ago for receiving arms training.

ABVP felicitates members of Student Nationalist Assn
Jammu, January 12
To counter the dissidents who have revived the Praja Parishad in Jammu and Kashmir, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad, which is the youth wing of the BJP, today organised a function here today to felicitate those members of the Student Nationalist Association who led the famous Praja Parishad movement in the fifties.
Nation
India, NATO hold first-ever strategic talks
New Delhi, January 12
A delegation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation initiated first of its kind strategic dialogue with India today, reflecting the fast emergence of India on the global economic and strategic radar.

Panel formed to set up disaster control authority
New Delhi, January 12
Home Minister Shivraj Patil today constituted a five-member committee to draft a Bill to set up a National Disaster Management Authority, which is to be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament beginning next month.
Business
Press Note 18 curbs go
To facilitate FDI
Kolkata, January 12
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced the scrapping of Press Note 18, which bars foreign companies from floating other joint ventures without the local partner’s consent, for new joint ventures to encourage foreign investment in the country. He also announced setting up of a National Knowledge Commission.

Sensex falls to 6,100 points as FIIs bail out
Mumbai, January 12
The Sensex continued its free fall today, losing nearly 120 points as foreign institutional investors sold heavily. The BSE Sensitive Index has lost more than 700 points in the last few trading sessions, causing concern of the Sensex going below the psychological 6000 mark. Today’s fall comes amidst better-than-expected performance by blue-chip Infosys in the third quarter.
Sports
Rach steps down as hockey coach
New Delhi, January 12
Under attack over a string of failures, India's chief hockey coach Gerhard Rach has quit his job. The German-born Rach, whose future was hanging in balance following a string of poor performances by the team in various events including Olympics and Champions Trophy, has taken up a new assignment with the national team of Egypt, the Indian Hockey Federation said today.

PHL kicks off today
Hyderabad, January 12
A new chapter in Indian sports unfolds tomorrow as the much-awaited inaugural edition of the Premier Hockey League kicks off at the floodlit Gachibowli Stadium here.
World
USA can help solve Kashmir dispute, says Musharraf
Islamabad, January 12
President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday stressed the need for the United States to help resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute which is the root cause of tension in South Asia.

India has enough food for tsunami-hit: FAO
New York, January 12
India will be able to meet the food supply needs in its tsunami-affected areas and its overall production prospects for the year have not been affected, the United Nations food agency has said.
Amritsar Plus
City’s Burma connection
Unlike the tragedy of the Partition that moved several fiction writers to depict the traumatic days, another trauma of gigantic proportions which led to the exodus of the Sikh families from Burma (now Myanmar) to Amritsar in the early 1940s mostly remains an untouched topic.

Latest cancer treatment equipment at Sri Guru Ram Das Rotary Cancer Hospital, thanks to NRIs
For a large number of patients suffering from breast cancer it was hitherto not possible to afford life-saving advanced medical techniques, which were available at select and far off places. Thanks to the sustained efforts of some concerned citizens, NRIs and organisations like Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Rotary Club, an advanced machine to heal breast cancer has been imported from Holland.

 

Editor-in-Chief, Publisher & Printer: H.K. Dua
Published from The Tribune House, Sector 29-C, Chandigarh, India, for The Tribune Trust
Copyright : The Tribune Trust, 2004.