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Sixth Pay Commission in July

      New Delhi: The Government is likely to set up the Sixth Pay Commission to revise wages of its employees early in July, five months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made an announcement to this effect. Finance Secretary Adarsh Kishore said that the ministry is contemplating the proposal for consideration of the Cabinet on the subject so that Cabinet may consider all aspects and decide appropriately in the month of July. Kishore, however, did not elaborate but another official, confirming the development, said Cabinet note is being prepared and it is expected to go before the Cabinet in the first or the second week of July. The official said the detailed terms of reference was yet to be worked out but all efforts would be made to ensure that the Centre and states are not put to financial difficulty as was the case after implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission. Both the Centre and the states would not face the financial difficulties experienced during the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission because of "rightsizing" efforts carried out over the last ten years.

Salem's plea of joint trial rejected (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: A TADA court on Tuesday rejected extradited gangster Abu Salem's plea seeking joint trial with the 123 co-accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. Rejecting Salem's application, the Court ruled that he will undergo a separate trial in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case. Designated judge PD Kode had adjourned the orders on Salem's plea on June 9 till today. Defence lawyers Niteen Pradhan and Farhana Shah argued that it would be injustice to Salem and co-accused if they are not tried jointly in the 1993 serial blasts case. Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had urged the court for a separate trial of Salem as the judgement had been considerably delayed. In its petition, the CBI submitted that Salem's trial commenced in 1995 and that the judgement was yet to be delivered. CBI prosecutors Ujjwal Nikam and Natrajan argued before the court that there had already been a considerable delay in the trial and the prosecution was not in favour of delaying it any further. Salem, one of the country's most wanted men and a prime accused in 1993 Mumbai blasts, was brought to Indian on November 10 last year along with his companion, Monica Bedi. Altogether 257 persons were killed and 713 injured on March 12, 1993 when bombs exploded at 13 places in Mumbai, including Bombay Stock Exchange, Air-India building, hotels Sea Rock and Juhu Centaur.

Militant attack on Amarnath pilgrims foiled (Go To Top)

      Pampore/Pahalgam: Security forces on Tuesday foiled a bid by militants to disrupt the popular Amarnath pilgrimage. Officials said two militants were killed and one soldier was injured in a gunbattle in Pampore, 16 kilometres from Srinagar. The militants belonged to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit and were planning to disturb the progress of the annual pilgrimage. The militants were surrounded in their hideout after a tip-off received on their whereabouts. According to Brigadier M.S.Jamwal of the 50 Rashtriya Rifles, the militanst were planning on a suicide attack on the highway. Meanwhile, thousands of pilgrims continued to remain stranded for the third day on Tuesday at the base camp in Pahalgam as bad weather forced the authorities to postpone movement for yet another day. Yet, pilgrims are not giving up and are now eagerly awaiting the pilgrimage to begin. Most pilgrims said they were not deterred by the threat of militant violence. "We are receiving very good support from the people here. Full arrangements have been made from the government and the locals are also helping us. There is a lot of enthusiasm in the devotees and people are raring to begin the pilgrimage. Everybody, the young, old and children alike, are full of religious fervour," Ravinder, a devotee, said. On its part the government has made elaborate arrangements for the comfortable stay of the devout including the organizing of free community kitchens. "There are nearly 11 "langar" (community kitchens) here that are providing food free of cost. There are provisions of tea 24 hours a day. All requirements of the devotees are being taken care of. There are approximately 1200 tents here and each tent has a capacity of ten people. The tents are available to the pilgrims at nominal charges," Naren Kumar, a member of the organizing committee of the camp, said. Thousands of troops have been deployed along a 30-mile (50-km) mountain track, which takes pilgrims past roaring streams, icy lakes and through pine forests and snow-covered mountain passes before ending in a cave shrine. The pilgrims worship an ice stalagmite in the cave, which they regard as a symbol of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. A record 400,000 pilgrims visited the shrine last year.

Big B's fans protest in Mumbai (Go To Top)

       Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan's fans today staged a rally outside an Income Tax office here to protest against notices issued to the actor and his family members over non-payment of tax dues. Bachchan was in the news recently after a media report suggested that he had bought a pair of sunglasses for Rs 2.7 lakhs. "This is very bad, everytime Amitabhji is in a problem. The Congress government is creating a problem for our superstar. We will not tolerate this and we will protest until it is stopped," said Zulfikar Azmi, a fan. Riyaz Qadri, another fan, echoed similar sentiments. Asa mark of protest, most of the fans wore dark sunglasses and indulged in sloganeering against the Central government during their protest in South Mumbai. Income tax officials refused to provide any clarification on the incident. "The income tax department is not obliged to give any classification about individual notices issued to the individual persons. If he feels grief there are appropriate forum where he can go against the notices issued by the department," said Hariom Tulsyan, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai The protesters later courted arrest.

Army operations begin in Asom (Go To Top)

     Guwahati: Taking serious note of the recent violent activities of banned outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) throughout the state, the Army has begun ombing operations in four districts of Upper Asom to flush the militants out. In its latest move, the army has entered Lakhipathar and Charipung in the tea-and il rich district of Tinsukia. Besides Tinsukia, the army has also launched combing operations in Dibrugarh, Sibsagar and Jorhat. Reports of a heavy exchange of fire between the army and suspected ULFA militants have emerged from the dense forests of Lakhipathar. However, no any report of casualty or arrest has yet been received Tinsukia district is considered an area dominated by the ULFA.

     Army sources added that its operations are likely to be extended into selective parts of other districts like Golaghat, Kamrup, Nagaon, Nalbari, Barpeta. Meanwhile, On Tuesday, police had a major success when it identified the ULFA militant killed during late last night encounter in Guwahati. According to police the slain militant was Phulen Nath alias Kamal Barman from Nalbari district, allegedly masterminded bombings in Guwahati city. Nath was the mastermind behind the explosions in city's Machkhowa, Ganeshguri and Bamunimaidan area since June 8 last which took the lives of six persons and left many injured, police added. Police have also recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunitions including a 7.62 revolver, three detonators, several rounds of live ammunitions, fuse wires from the slain militant. Reacting to the fresh wave of violence, Home Secretary V K Duggal said: "ULFA is adopting tactics to pressure the Centre. These are tactics we understand and we can reply to them... These are not good tactics." Duggal also spoke to the Indira Goswami-led Peoples' Consultative Group (PCG). "When talks are slated to take place, these incidents of violence can spoil the atmosphere. We can also deal with violence, but right now, we want to talk about peace," he said Earlier, a rattled Asom government asked Centre for additional security personnel to halt the terror run. Chief Secretary S. Kabilan confirmed the move, but declined to reveal the number of additional companies of security forces the government had requisitioned. "The home ministry has promised to do the needful at the earliest," he said. The three-tier Unified Command for counter-insurgency operations had met in Guwahati yesterday to take stock of the situation.

Karunanidhi's son escapes bid on life (Go To Top)

      Madurai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's son and the Minister for Local Administration, M K Stalin, escaped unhurt on Tuesday when a man tried to attack him with knife, but was stopped on time by a constable escorting the Minister. According to reports, the constable saw a man in the crowd gathered at the railway station to receive Stalin, pointing the knife towards the minister. As he tried to snatch the weapon, the constable sustained injuries on his hand. However the officials said that they were yet to uncover whole picture of the incident.

100 children sick after eating ice cream (Go To Top)

      Jammu: Nearly a 100 children fell ill, at least a dozen of them seriously, after eating ice cream late on Monday in Jammu. Panic gripped a crowded residential colony in the city after children from nearly every household began vomiting and complained of severe abdominal pain, some even fainted and were rushed to a state-run hospital. The children are daily customers for the numerous vendors of "Kulfi", a milk ice cream, which can be made at home or at tiny unhygienic factories, which are rarely checked by health authorities. "Around 6.30 PM (local time), the children had the Kulfi. At around 10.30 pm (local time) most of them fell sick. At least 90 of the cases were very serious," Gridhari Lal, father of a sick child. Doctors suspect the milk used for the "Kufli' could have been stale or infected due to unhygienic handling. Officials said that most of the children were being treated for dehydration and recovering well. "The children were brought in after they fell sick. They had consumed Kulfi. Around 40 of them have recovered well and are doing much better now," Nazeer Chouwdhury, deputy superintendent of the state-run SMGS hospital, said. The Kulfis usually come extremely cheap. Most of the vendors often freeze the ice cream on discarded broom stick and sell it without any proper packaging or directives like the date of expiry and ingredients.

Curfew continues in Kupwara (Go To Top)

       Srinagar: Curfew continued for the second consecutive day today in Trehgam belt of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, where a 16-year-old boy was killed on Monday in firing by the security forces trying to disperse the mob agitating over the alleged desecration of a mosque by the army. Meanwhile, normal life in Srinagar was affected, as Mirwaiz Umer Farooq's Hurriyat Conference observed a state-wide shut-down to protest the desecration. Kupwara deputy commissioner Abdul Majid Khanday said that there were no reports of fresh violence from anywhere across the district and the authorities were keeping a close eye on the prevailing situation. Additional police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas. The protests rocked the city since Saturday after residents of Zirhama village accused the army of desecrating a mosque and the holy Quran, followed by firing by the army personnel, in which one person was killed and several others injured. Work in government and semi-government offices, educational institutions, banks, courts and other establishments was also affected by the strike.

190 Maoists released from Nepal jails (Go To Top)

       Kathmandu: At least 190 Maoist rebels, lodged in various jails in Nepal, have been released till now, following a government move to drop charges pressed against them through the controversial Prevention of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (POTA) Ordinance. The decision to withdraw the cases against the Maoist rebels was taken at a cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Monday. According to official sources, the legal process for releasing more detainees is underway. The release of all political prisoners was one of the main demands of the Maoists. Earlier, the law allowed security forces to hold suspects for up to a year without trial. Now, the authorities say the law is to expire shortly and no longer needs to be enforced after the government stopped calling the Maoists "terrorists" and began peace talks with them aimed at ending the 10-year insurgency. The release also follows the first direct talks between Maoist chief Prachanda and Home Minister Krishna Sitaula, who is also the government's chief peace negotiator. Sunday's talks between Sitaula and top rebel leaders, including Prachanda and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai, are said to have taken place near the town of Pokhara. The meeting between Prachanda and Sitaula was the rebel leader's first known meeting with a government minister since the rebels took up arms in 1996.

Lahore temple razed for commercial building

      Lahore: A Hindu temple in a residential area in Lahore was demolished recently after the administrator of the Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB) concealed facts and gave a false to the Board Chairman. Based on the false report, the Chairman gave its approval to a private developer to raze the "Krishna Mandir" and raise a commercial building there. Situated at Wachhoowali in the Rang Mahal residential colony for Hindus, the Mandir was the only Hindu temple in the city. The Chairman's decision was in violation of the EPTB's own scheme for management and disposal of the urban evacuee trust properties, reports the Dawn. Quoting official, the paper reported that the Board officials did not mention that the property was being given to an influential jeweller of the area was a Hindu temple. "Had the officials indicated in the official correspondence with the chairman that the property was a Hindu temple, he might have rejected the request for its transfer to the jeweller-developer for the construction of a four-storey commercial building with a basement in its place," it quoted a source in the EPTB as saying yesterday. According to the report, the EPTB Scheme for Management and Disposal of Urban Evacuee Trust Properties, 1977, categorically prohibits the sale or demolition of an evacuee trust property that is part of appurtenance to a shrine, a religious place or a building of historical or architectural importance. Several Hindu temples in Lahore and other parts of Pakistan are managed and maintained by the EPTB. Each temple is rented out by the EPTB to several tenants for residential or commercial purposes. Meanwhile, the razing of the temple has acquired political colour, with many opposition members in the National Assembly already moving a motion against the demolition of the temple in Wachhoowali, saying such an act could have a bearing on Pakistan's relations with the neighbouring countries.

Shares slide 4.5 percent to six-month low (Go To Top)

       Mumbai: Shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell more than four percent on Tuesday to their lowest close in six months, extending losses for a second session on weaker global markets and concerns that higher interest costs will hurt companies' profitability. The 30-share BSE index ended down 4.36 percent at 9,062.65 points, its lowest close since December 8. Losers beat gainers eight to one in modest trade of 140 million shares. The 50-issue NSE index fell 4.09 percent to 2,663.30. The key index has lost more than 28 percent from a May 11 peak of 12,671.11, wiping out $209 billion in market capitalisation and surrendering all its gains in 2006. It is now down nearly four percent this year. Market expert Arun Kejriwal said the fall was a result of various reasons, but there is no cause for worry as the markets would bounce back, given 10-15 days of consolidation. Investors fretted about a weaker rupee, foreign fund sales and expectations the central bank would raise interest rates again in July, after a rise last week, to check inflation pressures and maintain rate differentials with the United States. A sub-broker in Dalal Street said investors should be cautious of where they put their money.

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