0815 HRS

05th April, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Cabinet approves de control of sugar; Subsidy to go up from 27 hundred crore to 5,300 crore rupees.
• Prime Minister to review Direct Benefit Transfer Programme; Scheme likely to be extended to 78 more districts from July.
• NIA chargesheets Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Abu Jundal,accusing him of making recruitment for Pakistan- based terror outfitLeT.
• Death toll rises to 26 in the building collapse in Maharashtra's Thane district.
• UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says crisis in Korean peninsula will have very serious implications; Asks North Korea to change its course.
• Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat Mumbai Indians by two runs in a thrilling IPL match at Bangalore.

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA has decided to de-control sugar. Food Minister, KV Thomas said in New Delhi that that levy on sugar mills and regulated release mechanism has been done away with. Mr. Thomas said, sugar will continue to be available in Public Distribution System. The Minister said, the subsidy burden will go up from the present twenty seven hundred crore rupees to five thousand three hundred crore rupees after the decontrol.

The present PDS system will continue at the same rate and at the same quantity. States are free to purchase sugar through a transparent system.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said, price of the PDS sugar will not increase by the move and it will also not affect the common man.

Whatever decision has been taken, one thing is evident that there will be no increase in price of sugar, which is supplied through Public Distribution system.

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The government's ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer, DBT subsidy programme is likely to be extended to 78 more districts from July. With this, DBT will cover 120 districts, which is about one-fifth of the country. Three pension schemes for old age persons, widows and the disabled will now be covered under the scheme.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will today review the progress of the programme launched on January 1st this year. DBT provides for transfer of subsidy in cash directly to the beneficiaries through banks. The programme covered 43 districts and 26 schemes, when it was rolled out and the entire country is to be brought under it in phased manner. A release from the Prime Minister's office said that the meeting today will review progress on the digitisation of databases, the opening of bank accounts, the enrollment in Aadhaar and the seeding of databases with Aadhaar numbers.

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National Investigation Agency, NIA has chargesheeted a suspected terrorist of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, LeT and one of the masterminds of Mumbai terror attack,Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. He has been accused of making recruitment for the Pakistan- based terror outfit. The investigation agency,submitted its chargesheet before a designated court in Patiala house in New Delhiyesterday. The NIA has alleged that Jundal, during 2011 and 2012, had made deliberate attempts for recruiting different persons through internet for joining LeTand carrying out terror activities in India.

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CBI has arrested another officer of Gujarat police in connection with the 2004 alleged fake encounter of 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan and three others. N K Amin, suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police, who got bail from Bombay High Court last month in Sohrabuddin encounter case on medical grounds, was arrested by CBI from the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. He will be produced before court today. Amin was in jail for past six years in Sohrabuddin case.

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CBI has served a notice to former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya asking him to appear before it within a week for interrogation in connection of triple murders. The murders include that of Deputy Superintendent of Police Ziaul Haq in Kunda last month. Many police personnel including SHOs of four police stations of Kunda circle have been removed who, according to the CBI, were trying to influence the probe.

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The death toll in the building collapse incident in Thane district of Maharashtra has risen to 26 and 65 people have been injured. A newly constructed building in Thane’s Mahape Road, near Shilphata, collapsed around five in the evening yesterday. Our correspondent has filed this report:

The seven storeyed building's construction within merely four month is the main cause of the incident. Out of the 65 injured, 20 are in a critical state. Rescue operations and work of clearing debris is still on and a crane is being used for rescue and relief operations. The builder of the illegal construction is absconding and police are trying to trace him. ABHISHEK KUMAR, AIR NEWS, MUMBAI.

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The Bombay High Court has asked the Maharashtra government if it is going toprosecute the police officers responsible for the illegal arrest of two girls from Palghar district. The girls were arrested for posting comments on Facebook against the bandh observed after Bal Thackeray's death in November 2012.

A division bench of Justices P V Hardas and A R Joshi directed the government to file an affidavit within three weeks stating if it proposes to initiate action against the police officers in accordance with law.

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The Odisha Legislative Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the Centre to award special category status to the state. It has also urged the Centre to provide additional grants and fiscal incentives for Odisha's development. A motion in this regard, moved by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday, was supported by all political parties, including the main opposition Congress.

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The Election Commission, EC has banned the publication or broadcast of any exit poll during the period of assembly elections in Karnataka. In an order issued in New Delhi yesterday, the EC also prohibited the display of any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, during the period of 48 hours before end of polling on May 5.

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The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to North Korea to change course, saying it has gone too far in its rhetoric. Mr. Ban said, he was concerned as any unwanted crisis on the Korean peninsula would have very serious implications. He told a news conference in Madrid that nuclear threat is very serious. He called on all parties in the crisis to calm down the situation and engage in a dialogue. The warning came hours after South Korea's foreign minister said that the North Koreahad shifted a missile with considerable range to its east coast.

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The second round of talks between Iran and six major world powers US, UK, France, Russia, China plus Germany will begin in the Kazakh city of Almaty today. Our correspondent reports that the two sides held four rounds of talks last year and met in Almaty in February this year but have not been able to reach a breakthroughover Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

At the first round of talks in Almaty this year in February, Six major powers offered Iran measures like easing of a ban on trade in gold and other precious metals, and a relaxation of embargo on import of Iranian petrochemical products. In turn, they asked Teheran to suspend uranium enrichment to 20 percent at its Fordow underground facility and constrain the ability to quickly resume operations there. Iran says it won’t forego its sovereign right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and it is meant for producing medical isotopes. Atul K Tiwary.AIR News.

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In Nepal , the third ministerial level meeting of SAARC on Poverty Alleviation will be inaugurated by the Nepal's Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi today. Our correspondent reports that representatives from the member states are taking part in the meeting which is being held after five years.

India has sent a four member delegation led by the Chief Adviser of the Planning Commission Vandana Kumari Jena. The secretaries level meeting which was held yesterday in which the member states reviewed the progress made in alleviating poverty, achieving the SAARC development goals and the regional poverty profile and holding a symposium on the best practices on alleviating poverty and setting up the agenda for today's decisions to be made in the ministerial meeting. Jane Namchu, AIR News, Kathmandu.

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The Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE has launched a helpline to provide psychological counseling for Class X and XII students to deal with examination-related stress. In a release, the Ministry of Human Resource Development also said, the counseling facility is offered through toll free numbers accessible from any part of the country. The toll free number is 1800118004.

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Samta Diwas, the birth anniversary of nationalist politician Babu Jagjivan Ram is being observed today across the country. Several functions are being organized to mark the occasion. The day emphasizes on bringing about equality among all aspects of the society.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians by just two runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League match at Bangalore last night. Put into bat, Chris Gayle, with an unbeaten 92 off just 58 balls, single handedly powered Bangalore to a competitive 156 for five in the allotted 20 overs.

In today's fixture, Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Pune Warriors in Hyderabad at 8 PM.

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NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

Almost all newspapers on their front page have covered along with photographs, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's address to the industry captains at the CII national conference in Delhi. The Tribune covers it under the headline "Rahul opens up to India , talks of change. Spells out his vision before India inc. Focus on inclusive growth.

"Khemka shifted again as he exposes seedy deal" writes the Hindu. The paper elaborates that IAS officer Ashok Khemka has again been shifted amid a raging controversy over irregularities in the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation, HSDC. This is his 44th transfer in 22 years of service and second in 6 months.

"Sunita keeps date with her Gujarat village" writes the Mail Today inside page headline. The paper adds that her father Dr Dipak Pandya, a well-known neurologist in the US, belonged to the village at Jhulasan in Mehsana.

The Pioneer reports kaziranga has now reasons to cheer. The Kaziranga national park has registered a 37 per cent increase in the population of one horned rhinos, taking their strengths in the reserve to 2,329.

Delhi maybe far from being the global city that the government tells us it is, but in a new survey on the state of city systems, the capital has done well on at least two parameters - first in urban capacities and resources and second in urban planning and design. However, asked for their opinion, Delhites listed safety, cleanliness and drinking water as prime concerns. Eleven cities were in the reckoning in the survey conducted by the Bangalore-based NGO Janaagraha