75% voting in Tripura till 3 PM

Feb 14,  5:2 PM In Tripura, the polling process for the 60 member assembly election ended on Thursday at 4 in the evening.According to the chief electoral officer, till 3 pm the polling percentage was 75%. Though the time of the polling has ended but the polling will continue for those voters who have queued up in the booths till 4 PM.He also informed that some EVM’s have been replaced again but he said that the Polling Process has not been affected as the replacement is done promptly.The polling has gone peacefully in the state till now, as adequate Security arrangements have been put in place by the commission. Rs. 1, 20,000 crores to be spent as subsidy on food security:Food Min Feb 14,  5:12 PM Subsidy on food grains will go up by Rs. 20,000 crores more over the existing Rs. 1 lakh crore if the National Food Security Bill is passed in the Budget Session of Parliament. Food Minister Prof. K V Thomas said the food grain requirement is likely to touch 62 million tonnes as against the present 55 million tonnes. Talking to reporters in New Delhi on Thursday, Prof. Thomas said procurement of foodgrains will also go up from the present 25 to 35 per cent of the country's foodgrains production under the provisions of the Food Security Bill. Prof Thomas said the Food Security Bill will ensure better distribution of the highly subsidised foodgrains besides providing legal entitlement of food and nutritional security to the people. He said the bill provides for coverage of upto 75 per cent of the rural population. He said about two thirds of the population will be entitled to receive subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution under the Food Security Bill. Replying to a question, the Minister said the centre will protect the present entitlement of foodgrains even after the implementation of the food security bill. He said Tamil Nadu has pleaded with the Centre to keep the state out of the purview of the Food Security Bill. The Minister said that he has asked the states to ensure better storage and effective distribution of foodgrains to the people. Justice Y Bhaskar Rao sworn in as new Lokayukta of K'taka Feb 14 Justice Yarabati Bhaskar Rao was sworn in as the new Lokayukta of Karnataka. Governor HR Bharadwaj administered the oath of office to the anti-corruption ombudsman in Bangalore today. The post of Lokayuktha was lying vacant since September 2011, after Justice Shivaraj Patil, resigned following allegations of false declaration while obtaining a housing site. The 74-year-old former Chief Justice Bhaskar Rao was acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court for three months in 1999 and later served as Chief Justice for four months. After retirement, he was appointed Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission and later became a member of the National Human Rights Commission. Security tightened across Meghalaya ahead of Feb 23 assembly polls Feb 14 In Meghalaya, security has been beefed up across the state for Assembly elections. The polling will be held on 23rd of this month . The Chief Electoral Officer P Naik said that 61 companies of central paramilitary forces would arrive in the State to maintain law and order in the state during the time of polls . The officials said, 1272 polling stations have been declared either Hyper Sensitive or Sensitive by Election Commission while only 1213 are declared normal of the total 2485 polling stations in the state.