PCB bars players from IPL
Apologise, Butt tells Lalit Modi
Karachi, January 29
Pakistan cricket board chairman Ejaz Butt today demanded an apology from Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi for the IPL auction fiasco and made it clear that no Pakistani cricketer can play in the Twenty20 tournament without PCB permission. 

Nation page: Keep off Pak players, Sena warns SRK

RBI ups CRR to tame inflation
Pegs growth rate at 7.5 pc
Mumbai, January 29
Clearly indicating that its priority was to rein in inflation, the Reserve Bank of India today hiked the Cash Reserve Ratio by 75 basis points to 5.75 per cent from 5 per cent. The CRR is the money banks have to compulsorily deposit with the Reserve Bank of India.

Editorial: RBI curbs money supply

Tax sops divide northern states New Delhi, January 29 Lucrative concessions and tax exemptions to manufacturing units in hill states have divided the northern region. Both Punjab and Haryana have lodged fresh protests over continuation of these tax concessions beyond March 31 in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
	Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Friday. A Tribune photograph

CRR hike won’t hit interest rates: RBI
Mumbai, January 29
The Reserve Bank today said its decision to hike Cash Reserve Ratio would not harden the interest rates immediately or impact the credit flow to the private sector. In its quarterly monetary policy review today, the RBI hiked the CRR — the amount banks have to park with the central bank — by 0.75 percentage points to 5.75 per cent. (Details on Business page)

Prof Darshan Singh ex-communicated
Amritsar, January 29
The Sikh high priests today ex-communicated Prof Darshan Singh, former Akal Takht Jathedar, from the Sikh Panth for his controversial Rochester gurdwara (USA) discourse and ostensibly for his ‘defiant posture’ towards the Sikh clergy during the hearing of the case. It is for the first time that a former Jathedar of Akal Takht has been ex-communicated.

Leprosy eradication still a far cry
New Delhi, January 29
India’s leprosy elimination targets look grim. If performance indicators under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) are anything to go by, the Eleventh Year Plan target of eliminating leprosy and reducing its prevalence rate to less than one per 10,000 remains to be achieved.

Darjeeling Land Scam Army chief orders Lt Gen’s court martial New Delhi, January 29 Bringing down the curtains on the controversy surrounding the infamous Darjeeling land scam, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor today ordered court martial proceedings against Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, a military secretary and the senior-most three-star officer ever to face such an action. Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash