0815 HRS
22.07.13

THE HEADLINES:

• Polling is underway for the fourth phase of Panchayat elections in West Bengal
• First phase of gram panchayat elections in rain affected areas of Andhra Pradesh postponed due to heavy rains.
• India to lodge protest with the Chinese government about incursions by its soldiers in Ladakh.
• SEBI to conduct an auction today to grant investment limits to foreign investors in government debt securities.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition wins majority in Upper House of Parliament .
• India win gold in the Women's Recurve Team event at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Colombia.
• England defeat Australia by 347 runs in the second cricket test in the Ashes series at Lord's.

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Polling is underway for the fourth phase of the Panchayat elections in West Bengal. Voting is taking place in the four districts of Nadia, Birbhum, Malda and Murshidabad amidst tight security. Voting began at 7 AM and will end at 5 PM. More than 49 thousand, 700 candidates are in the fray. More than 13,800 polling booths have been set up in the four districts. More from our correspondent:

Besides State armed forces, 274 companies of Central Para-military forces have been deployed in four districts to ensure free and fair voting. In view of series of pre and post poll clashes at different districts additional 45 companies of Central forces have been engaged at sensitive areas. Over 5 thousands 500 polling booths have been identified as high sensitive in four districts. Altogether 848 candidates have already been elected as unopposed in three tier Panchayat bodies. Arijit Chakraborty, AIR News, Kolkata.

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In Andhra Pradesh, the first phase of elections to Gram Panchayats which was due to be held tomorrow, has been postponed in the rain affected villages. Elections in these areas comprising 29 Revenue Divisions in six districts, will now be held on the 31st of this month alongwith the third phase. Met officials have warned of heavy rains in Telangana and coastal districts of the state, for the next two days.

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There are reports of fresh a Chinese incursions in Chumar area of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. Agency reports say that Chinese soldiers intruded on the 16th of this month and returned the next day.

Congress leader Rashid Alvi has said that India will lodge a protest with the Chinese government and ask it to stop incursions.

The government will take up this matter with the Chinese Government and lodge a protest. China should stop such activities.

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said, Chinese intrusions have been taking place in different sectors.

It has been happening even in Arunachal Pradesh. They have constructed helipads. Government is closing its eyes.

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Market regulator SEBI will conduct an auction today for the grant of investment limits to foreign investors in government debt securities worth more than 23,000 crore rupees. In a circular, the bourse said, the bidding will be held on a designated electronic exchange platform of the NSE between 3:30 and 5:30pm. The auction follows robust interest shown by Foreign Institutional Investors,FIIs, for the sale of government debt bond investment limits to the tune of 42,000 crore rupees last month. The encouraging response came at a time when FIIs have been pulling out of the Indian debt market.

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In Bihar, the BJP has suspended one MLA for anti-party activities. Amarnath Gami, the Legislator from Hayaghat constituency of Darbhanga district had questioned the functioning of state party leaders especially former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Party leader C P Thakur said that the dissidents should be given a chance to explain their position.

The party should make efforts so that disgruntled leaders do not leave the party.

JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari claimed that his party has real support base in the state.

There is a panic among the BJP leaders in the state after JDU parted ways with BJP because they lost their mass base.

Congress leader Manish Tiwary says, the statements from BJP leaders only explain the party's frustration.

The BJP is on the verge of disintegration. The kind of statements being made by its senior leaders, show their frustration.

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The US Vice President Joe Biden will arrive in New Delhi today on a four-day visit to India. During his visit, he is expected to focus on key issues of economic and trade ties, energy and climate change, defence co-operation and a wide range of regional cooperation. During his stay in New Delhi, Mr Biden will hold meetings with top leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Our correspondent reports that Mr. Biden will begin his trip with a visit to the Gandhi Smriti Museum to pay his respects to the Father of the Nation.

Mr Biden's visit, his first to India after becoming the Vice President, comes a month after that of US Secretary of State John Kerry that was seen as a move to infuse momentum in India-US ties. India and the US have still to work out the commercial details of a contract between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, NPCIL and US' Westinghouse Electric for setting up the first US reactor in India. Mr Biden's visit is expected to help the two countries to soon arrive at a common agreement for setting up nuclear reactor in India. With Pratyush Ghosh, this is V. Ravi Kumar, AIR News, Delhi

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition has won a comfortable majority in yesterday's Upper House of Parliament elections. Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party won 65 seats, while its partner, New Komeito, secured 11 seats. Combined with their 59 seats, the coalition now has 135 seats, six more than the 129 needed for a comfortable majority. This will give Mr Abe control of both houses of parliament for the first time in six years. Mr Abe said, his win will help him form a stable cabinet, ending political volatility. He said the result is an endorsement of his more conservative economic and political reforms.

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The flood situation continues to be grim in Uttar Pradesh. The situation in the Terai region has worsened where Ghaghra has eroded a large part of its bank in Revli Adampur. The death toll in rain and flood related incidents in the state this season has risen to 152. More from our correspondent:

As of now, more than 450 villages of the state are reeling under the floods. Saryu is flowing 39 centimeters above the danger mark. It has immersed 24 villages and hundreds of acres of crops in Faizabad in the last 24 hours. The administration is tirelessly engaged in repairing the Revli Adampur bank of Ghaghra with iron net and boulders on a war footing. Around 600 families affected by Ghaghra's erosion in Bahraich, have been shifted to safer places by the rescue teams. With the reports of Rajendra Soni and Akhilesh Srivastav, this is Merajuddin from Lucknow.
In Andhra Pradesh, the flood situation is alarming with hundreds of villages abutting the Godavari River still marooned. Relief measures are being taken on a war footing in the affected areas. A report

The incessant rains in North Telangana and surrounding areas for past few days caused heavy inflows into Godavari River. Though the water levels at Bhadrachalam and Dhawaleswaram receded a bit, Godavari is still flowing at alarming level posing threat of inundation. About 20 thousand people from low lying areas have been evacuated to about 100 relief camps. Indian Air Force and teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been kept ready for rescue and relief operations. Lakshmi, airnews, Hyderabad.

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President Pranab Mukherjee has said that all states face similar challenges of poverty and lack of infrastructure inthe path to development. He favoured introducing a more effective mechanism for resource transfer from the Centre to the states. The President was speaking in New Delhi yesterday after receiving a copy of a book 'The New Bihar - rekindling governance and development'. The book was released by Noble laureate Amartya Sen.

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In Andhra Pradesh, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation launched the Urban Self-Employment Programme in 2009 under the Centre's Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana. The aim of this scheme is to help individuals set up small businesses. Self-help groups of women are playing a major role in identifying the needy beneficiaries under the scheme. More from our correspondent:

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana seeks to provide gainful employment to the urban poor who are unemployed or under-employed, through setting up of self-employment ventures or provision of wage employment. This year, the target of 800 fixed by Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas 660 applications have been forwarded to banks and 71 units sanctioned with an outlay of more than rupees one crore. Henry, AIR News, Visakhapatnam.

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the News Services Division of All India Radio, in its weekly PUBLICE SPEAK programme, will bring you a discussion on "Supreme Court's Ban on Common Medical Entrance Test." This can be heard on FM Gold channel and additional frequencies at 9.30 PM. Listeners can pose questions to experts in our studio on telephone number : 011-2331- 4444. This programme is also available on Doordarshan DTH.

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And now news from the world of sports

"India has bagged a Gold medal in the Women's Recurve Team event at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Medellin, Colombia. The second seeded Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Rimil Biruly defeated the top seeded Chinese team of Cheng Ming, Xu Jing and Cui Yuanyuan, 201 to 186, to bag India's second medal in this World Cup. India had earlier clinched a bronze medal in the Compound Men's Team event.

In Table Tennis, Indian paddlers claimed all the four team Gold medals, Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Cadet Boys and Cadet Girls on the second day of the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi yesterday.

And in the Ashes, England defeated Australia by a massive 347 runs in the second cricket test at Lord's last night, to take a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series. The third test will be played at Manchester from the 1st of August. SAVVY HASAN KHAN, FOR AIR NEWS."

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NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

Newspapers today lead with different stories on their front pages. "In election year, govt backs EC move to ban opinion polls" concerned that opinion polls have the potential to influence voters, says the Hindustan Times. The Tribune leads with "Uncertainty over sale of power to Pakistan" and reports that the government is yet to make up its mind given the heavy economic and political cost of the proposal. "Money laundering in new PPP avatar", under that headline the Pioneer reports that "a group of investors in connivance with banks" has laundered 1350 crore rupees. The Hindu on its front page reports "Political meddling proves toxic for state pollution control boards". The boards which are understaffed, have little time for meetings, inspections, quoting a study by an assistant professor at Tata Institute of Social Science, says the paper.

RBI seeks tougher forex trade curbs reports the Times of India. The central bank is of the view that currency future and options was resulting in speculative trading and was offsetting its steps to check volatility in the forex markets, says the paper.

"Rajnath bats for Modi" report The Statesman and other newspapers. "BJP chief virtually anoints Modi as PM candidate" reports the Times of India. In a parallel front page story, The The same paper reports "Gujarat slides in both rural and Urban spending" and quotes data between 2011-12 and 1999-2000 provided by the National Sample Survey Organisation.

In a first of its kind move, to deal with communicable diseases, India has quietly started training public health professionals to become part of an elite Epidemic Intelligence service reports the Indian Express.

"Street lamps that glow only when someone's there", slashing energy cost by 80% has been developed by an Indian origin designer Chintan Shah reports the Times of India.

And finally, are you prone to stress and anxiety? Scientists have found the brain's most 'miserable' molecule a protein involved in all our feeling of stress, anxiety and depression, paving way for the development of new drugs to control stress and anxiety, reports the Times of India.

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IN SOME MORE NEWS:

Kuwait is gearing up for the sixth parliamentary elections in seven years to be held on Saturday. 321 candidates, including eight women have been left in the fray after the expiry of the last date for date of withdrawal of nominations yesterday.