Trial begins in Swiss woman gang-rape case Mar 31 In Madhya Pradesh, the trial in the Swiss woman gangrape case began in Datia yesterday with two prosecution witnesses recording their statements before a special court. All the six accused in the case were produced before Additional District Judge Jitendra Kumar Sharma. Two prosecution witnesses out of the total six recorded their statement in the case. Jitendra Prajapati and Bhagwat Gurjar identified the belongings of the Swiss couple seized by the police from the accused. They identified their laptop, laptop-charger and mobile phone among other things seized by the police. However, the Swiss couple did not arrive in the town to take part in the court proceedings. The court is likely to issue summons to them to appear before it. The next hearing in the case will be held on April one when another prosecution witness Tapan Suryawanshi will record his statement.

AP hikes power tariff for all consumers

Mar 31 In Andhra Pradesh, power tariff has gone up for domestic and commercial consumers by an average 21 per cent. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission has permitted the distribution companies to additionally collect about 6,173 crore rupees during the year 2013-14. The new rates will come into force from tomorrow. This hike will affect about 2 crore 50 lakh consumers in the state including both low tension domestic and high tension industrial consumers. The hike will be minimum 58 paisa per unit in domestic sector, while it is 1 rupee 13 paisa per unit in commercial sector. However, the 7-hour free power supply will continue for about 30 lakh agriculture consumers and tariff remained unchanged to about 97 lakh domestic consumers who use up to 50 units a month. 8,000 villages covered under Rajiv Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana in Assam Mar 31 In Assam around 8 thousand unelectrified villages and over 12 thousand partially electrified villages have been covered under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. Assam government has also set up 22 thousand transformers during last 4 years under the Centre’s ambitious scheme of rural electrification. Official sources said that about 9 lakh BPL households have been provided with electric connections. Assam government has also initiated action to replace damaged transformers with new ones under Chief Minister’s Power Supply Assurance Scheme in the new financial year (2013-14). State Power department is also likely to set up solar power and storage project at selected remote village for agricultural purposes. One GNLA militant killed in Assam in encounter Army & Police Mar 31 In Assam, a militant of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) was killed and another injured in an encounter with a joint team of Army and police in Goalpara district today. Police said the two GNLA cadres, riding a bike, fired at the security when they were intercepted by the team on a road in Khashi Ghaghra. In the ensuing encounter, one GNLA militant was killed and his associate injured. A pistol and four bullets were recovered from the militants based in Meghalaya, police said. Ashok Choudhary succeeds Mahbooli Ali Kaiser as new Bihar PCC Mar 31 Ashok Choudhary has been appointed as the new President of Bihar Pradesh congress committee. He succeeds present incumbent Mahboob Ali Kaiser. 43-year old dalit leader Ashok Choudhary has served as state minister in Congrees-RJD coalition government during 2000-2005 . AIR Patna correspondent reports that state congress leaders have welcomed the decision of Congress high command.