0815 HRS
4th March, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• FIR lodged against UP government's Minister Raja Bhaiya in connection with the killing of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
• Centre to review anti-Naxal operations in a meeting with Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Maoist-hit states.
• Finance Minister to interact with citizens on Union Budget through Google Plus Hangout.
• At least 48 people killed in two powerful blasts in Pakistan's port city of Karachi.
• Services lift the 67th Santosh Trophy Football tournament, beating Kerala, 4-3 in penalties.
•  India to resume their first innings at the overnight score of 311 for 1 against Australia, on Day 3 of the Hyderabad Cricket Test today.

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In Uttar Pradesh, police has lodged an FIR against Food and Civil Supplies Minister of the state government, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in the killing of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Zia-ul-Haq. Police have lodged a case against the minister, under IPC 120B (conspiracy to murder). Zia-ul-Haq, a 2009 batch police officer and Deputy SP of Kunda, was killed in a clash on Saturday.

Our correspondent reports that the state government has announced an ex-gratia of twenty lakh rupees to the kin of the deceased police officer.

"Allegations have been made against the Minister and his four supporters, including Chairman Kunda Nagar Panchaya, for hatching conspiracy for murder of police officer. Wife of the deceased police officer has named the Minister and his men in her application. Two separate FIRs have also been lodged naming nine persons for murder of a Gram Pradhan and his brother. No arrests have been made yet in the killing of three persons including the deputy SP. District police chief has been removed. Opposition parties have demanded judicial probe into the case. Large numbers of police forces have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order. Sunil Shukla, AIR News, Allahabad."

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The Centre has convened a meeting of top police and civil officials of Maoist-hit states in New Delhi today, to review the anti-Naxal operations and discuss steps to improve the efficacy of strategies. The high-level meeting, to be chaired by Union Home Secretary R K Singh, will be attended by Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The meeting will review the development programmes being carried out in Naxal-hit districts and ways to speed them up to reach the maximum number of people.

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Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will respond to citizens' questions on the Union Budget 2013-14, at 8 this evening, by joining the multiparty video conference on Google Plus Hangout. This is the first time that any Union Cabinet Minister is using this medium to interact with the citizens about the Union Budget. The Finance Minister will be joined by group of esteemed panelists.

Before the Hangout, the citizens can submit their questions to the Finance Minister, either by uploading a video or commenting on the YouTube channel, or through the Google India Plus Page and tagging text or a video with the hashtag asktheFM.

Meanwhile, in an interview to a news agency yesterday, Mr. Chidambaram said that India's first all-women bank will start operations from November this year through six branches spread across the the country. He said, initially the bank will start with at least one branch in each major region of the country, South, West, East, Centre, North and North-east. He said, the bank, which will be 100 per cent owned by the government of India, will start functioning  with an initial capital of 1,000 crore rupees.

The Finance Minister had proposed setting up of the country's first all-women bank while presenting the Budget on February 28.

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The News Services Division of All India Radio in its weekly "PUBLIC SPEAK" programme tonight, will bring you a discussion, on "General Budget - 2013-14". This can be heard on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies at 9.30 PM. Listeners can pose questions to the experts sitting in our studio on telephone number: 011-2331-4444. This programme is also available on Doordarshan DTH.

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Mobile phone users are likely to get free roaming facility across India by October 2013 in line with the National Telecom Policy, NTP 2012. Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal said this in Chandigarh yesterday.

The National Telecom Policy was approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2012 and under the policy, the government had said that roaming within the country would be made free with the introduction of concept of 'one nation, one rate'.

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The President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee will be honoured today in Dhaka with the Bangladesh Liberation War Honour Award in recognition of his contribution to the country’s liberation in 1971. Mr. Mukherjee will also be conferred an Honorary Doctorate at a special convocation ceremony at Dhaka University. He is also scheduled to visit the Bangabandhu Museum and meet  the members of the Indian community in Bangladesh at a special Reception programme. More from our correspondent,

 "The special award ceremony to be held in Dhaka today evening to present the Bangladesh Liberation War Award Honour to President Pranab Mukherjee is part of the Bangladesh government's initiative to honour people from different parts of the world for their contribution to the country's liberation in 1971. The process began in July 2011 with the Bangladesh government conferring the country's highest Freedom award on Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her tremendous contribution to the country's liberation. The Bangladesh government has, since then, been organising programmes in phases to honour several eminent persons, which includes a large number of Indians and people from different parts of the world. With Senthil Rajan from Dhaka, this is Poonam Chadha for AIR News."

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In Pakistan, at least 48 people, including women and children, were killed and 140 injured, when two powerful blasts ripped through a Shia-dominated area of the port city of Karachi last evening. Many victims were trapped under the rubble, as teams worked to rescue them. Police said, the first blast occurred outside a Shia prayer hall in Abbas Town at about 7 PM, when people were leaving after prayers, while the second explosion went off in the same area within 10 minutes. The blasts caused a power outage and triggered panic in Abbas Town.

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In Nepal, fifteen people were killed last night, when a bus in which they were travelling veered off the road at Dhaierni in Palpa district. Police said that the bus fell about four hundred metres off the road along the Siddhartha Highway, while returning from Ramdi to Chidipani bringing the bride to the groom ‘s place. While twelve died on the spot, three others succumbed to their injuries later. Police said that investigations are on to know the exact cause of the accident.

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In Jammu, sixteen houses were damaged and people had to be evacuated from their homes after major landslides hit the area of Chubbu Nullah, of Panchari in Udhampur district. However, there was no loss of life. The affected people have been provided emergency relief and 5,000 rupees by the government. The J&K government has also announced that immediate relief under Indira Awas Yojana will be provided to the families whose houses got damaged in the landslide, besides providing them with 2 month free ration.

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National Green Tribunal has ordered to shut down thirty four water bottling plants being run in NOIDA and Greater NOIDA without specific approval of any appropriate authority.

The Tribunal, chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar, yesterday also issued a notice to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and CPWD to clarify under what conditions they are still dumping debris on the banks of Yamuna river despite a total ban on doing so by the Tribunal. The Tribunal has also ordered the Director General of UP Police to stop people from dumping debris and trash on the Yamuna banks.

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In Sports News,

Services have won the 67th Santosh Trophy Football tournament. In the title clash played at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Kochi last evening, Services defeated hosts Kerala 4-3 in penalties to win their third Santosh Trophy title. The match went into a penalty shootout, after both teams failed to break the deadlock even at the end of extra-time.

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Hosts India will resume their first innings at the overnight score of 311 for 1 against Australia today, on Day 3 of the second cricket test at Hyderabad. When stumps were drawn yesterday, Cheteshwar Pujara on 162 and Murali Vijay on 129 were at the crease and the home side had a first innings lead of 74 runs.

Earlier, Australia had declared their first innings at 237 for 9, after opting to bat first.

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NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

The front pages of most newspapers are splashed with the stories of the BJP's National Council meet. Under the headline, 'Congress destroying India : Modi', the Pioneer says, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called Congress a termite, and tore into the ruling party's first family for compromising on the interest of the nation to protect its own supremacy. The Tribune says, Congress took exception to Modi's remarks against the party's leadership saying the language used by Modi does not behove any leader of national stature.

The Hindu reports that the prestigious Wharton India Economic Forum has cancelled the proposed address by Narendra Modi following opposition from some stakeholders.

Indian doctors working in the UK have sued the country's top regulatory body, saying the confirmation exam for independent practice was biased against international trainees, with 65.3 per cent international graduates failing in their first attempt against 9.9 per cent Britons, reports the Times of India.

The Statesman reports that a government panel has found irregularities in the approval of 38 drugs without clinical trials on Indians, with nine of them cleared by the drug controller without reference to any expert, saying the exemptions appear to be due to pressure from pharma companies.

The Times of India writes that with exorbitantly priced medicines, making treatment inaccessible for many companies, are reaching out to patients to finance the purchase of their preion medicines.

And finally, scientists claim to have developed a revolutionary spinal implant that allows crippled patients to walk again and relieves pain in spinal injury patients, reports the Times of India.

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The month long budget session of the Assam Assembly will begin from today in Guwahati. Governor J B Patnaik will address the house. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is also holding Finance portfolio, will table the state budget on 11th of this month for the year 2013-2014. Altogether, 16 bills are likely to be placed in the session.