0815 HRS  
05.10.2013
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THE HEADLINES : 

• Model Code of Conduct comes into force in the five States going for Assembly polls.
• Rail fares to go up by about two per cent from Monday.
• Additional central forces to be deployed in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema areas of Andhra Pradesh following wide spread protests against formation of Telangana state.
• The United States and European Union defer negotiations for a free trade deal following US government shut down.
• India to take on Pakistan in the under-19 Asian Rugby Championship final in Lahore today.    

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The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in five States going for Assembly polls. Also for the first time, voters in all the five states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will have the choice of 'None of the above option' to reject the candidates contesting the election in a constituency. 
    
Announcing  the poll schedule in New Delhi, the Chief Election Commissioner, V. S. Sampath said except Chhattisgarh where polls will be held in two phases, all other four states will have single phase polls. The elections will be held in Chhattisgarh on 11th and 19th November. While, in Madhya Pradesh the polls will be on 25th November and in Rajasthan on 1st December. The election in  Delhi and Mizoram will be held on 4th December. Counting of votes in all the states will take place on 8th of  December.  Mr. Sampath said,  Central Awareness Observers will be deployed for the first time, to oversee the efficient and effective management of the electoral process.
 
For the first time we will be deploying awareness observers. They are central awareness observers. Their role will be mainly to oversee the measures for voter awarness, voter facilitation with a view to motivate voters, with a view to increase in turn out. The by-election to Surat West Assembly constituency of Gujarat and Yercaud constituency of Tamil Nadu will also be held on 4th December. Counting will take place on 8th December alongwith counting for five Assembly elections.

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Rail fares will go up by about two per cent from Monday. Railways has also decided to increase the freight tariff by about 1.7 per cent effective from 10th of this month.  An official release said in New Delhi that there will however be no increase in Second Class Ordinary, sub-urban and Second Class Monthly Season Tickets Fares. It said, fare for non- suburban class will go up by a maximum of five rupees in select distance slabs while in other distance slabs there would be no change in existing fares. In all other classes, the revised fares would be about 2 per cent higher than the existing fares.  The decision on the fresh round of hike has been taken under the system of fuel adjustment component about which an announcement was made in this year's rail budget.  

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In Andhra Pradesh, tension continues to prevail in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions as people in large numbers came out yesterday on the first day of the 72-hour bandh in protest against the Union Cabinet’s approval tobifurcate the state. The Centre has been requested to provide additional forces for deployment in the two regions as public demonstrations turned violent at several places 

The 72-hour long bandh against the proposed state division has entered the second day today. Protesters attacked public and private properties including Congress party offices and Pradesh Congress President’s properties and the two regions witnessed almost a total shut down. The highways were blocked, schools colleges, business and offices were closed down. Tensions ran high in Vijayawada where thousands of students came out to protest against the bifurcation. Electricity Generation was affected with the employees of electricity department joining strike. Electricity supply to other southern states was also partially affected. -Lakshmi, airnews, Hyderabad.

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Scrutiny of the tapped conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with influential people has revealed that they were not restricted to 2G spectrum alone and throw light on different aspects like recruitment of members in Railway Board.  A bench of justices G S Singhvi and V Gopal Gowda said, it has been observed from the scrutiny of the  intercepted conversations of Radia that actually the money was paid in the recent issues concerning the Railway Board Member.  The bench however cautioned that there should not be a one-sided view and a thorough probe be conducted as the issues involved are extremely serious.

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RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan has said that a committee has been constituted to scrutinize the applications for new banking licences. Talking to media persons after a meeting of Board of Governors in Chhattisgarh, he said former RBI governor Bimal Jalan would head the committee while former deputy governor Usha Thorat, SEBI’s first chairman Chandu Bhave and RBI board member Nachiket Mor would be its members. He hoped that the committee would be able to submit its report by January next year.  RBI has so far received 26 applications for new banking licences.

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As a fall out of the partial government shut-down in the United States, negotiations for a free trade deal between the US and Europe have been postponed. US officials have confirmed that the talks, which were due to be held next week, have been put on hold. The deal was to be thrashed out in Brussels, which officials said could boost the economic partnership and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. They say, they will have to wait until the shutdown is over. 

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Belgium has assured India of its co-operation for an early conclusion of the Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement with the European Union. Stating this in an exclusive interview to AIR News in Brussles last evening, the Indian ambassador to Belgium and European Union, Dinkar Khullar said bilateral trade between India and Belgium is expected to expand and get back to the original target. 
 
We do have a srategic partnership with the European Union. We have annual summit arrangements, which is being conducted in Brussels and India in alternative years. But we have always maintained, we have very strong ties with individual members of the European Union.

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In the second leg of his official tour, President Pranab Mukherji is leaving Belgium for Turkey today. He would be paying a three day state visit to Turkey.  During the period, Mr. Mukherji would be visiting Istanbul, Capadocia and the capital city of Ankara where he will interact with his counterpart. Earlier in an interview to the Turkish CIHAN News Agency, Mr. Mukherji said during his visit new thrust areas in the Indo-Turkish relationship will be identified. 

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Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh will jointly inaugurate the Bharat- Bangladesh Vidhyut Sanchalan Kendra at Bheramara, Bangladesh today through video conferencing. With the switching on of the India-Bangladesh Electricity Grid Inter connection, 175 MW of power will start flowing to Bangladesh from India from today which will go up to 250 MW by 15th of this month. 
  
The intergrid connecitivity will facilitate tranmission of 500 MW of power by November this year which will contribute substantially to address the power deficiecny in Bangladesh. Consequent to an MOU signed between the two countries in 2010, a 104 km transmission line between India's Eastern Grid in Baharampur in West bengal and Bangladesh's Western Grid in Bheramara has been established. A 25 year power purchase agreement has been signed between India's NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board in 2012.  Melinda Dias for AIR News, Dhaka.

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Shardeya Navratri festival, the most pious period for worshiping Goddess Durga begins today. Large numbers of devotees are reaching at various Devi temples to offer their worship. Our correspondent reports heavy security arrangements have been made for the famous Navratri Mela at the Vindhayavasini shrine at Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. 

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In Uttarakhand, the much awaited pilgrimage for the holy shrine Kedarnath resumed today after the disaster in June. The number of pilgrims have been restricted this time. Our correspondent reports that the pilgrimage for Badrinath shrine has also started from today.
     
The pilgrims visiting Kedarnath by helicopter will not be allowed for night halt. The district administration at Mandir samiti are making arrngements for food and shelter at the prominent stations on yatra route. Pilgrims will be allowed to move ahead after undergoing medical check up which will be provided free of cost at Guptkashi. In order to avert any eventuality the doctors have been deployed at Sonprayag, Bhimbali, Lincholi and Kedarnath. Meanwhile, Border Road Organisation has repaired the damage Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway at Lambagad facilitating the resumption of yatra to Badrinath. Sanjiv Sundriyal, AIR News, Dehradun.

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Rescuers have so far found 111 bodies and 155 people have been pulled alive from the sea, after their boat sank off southern Italy on Thursday, one kilometre from the island of Lampedusa. Rough seas have however forced the divers to postpone their search for over 200 migrants who still remain unaccounted for. 

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In the International Year of Mathematics, All India Radio is going to start a new radio science serial on mathematics named Magic of Numbers , Anko ke Khiladi in Hindi from tomorrow. The serial will have 26 episodes on the life and works of 23 Mathematicians. It has been jointly produced by Vigyan Prasar, National Council for Science and Technology Communication and All India Radio. It will be broadcast in Hindi and English on Indraprastha and Rajdhani channels. It will also be available from 117 stations of All India Radio in 19 languages.

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Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will lock horns in the under-19 Asian Rugby Championship final at Lahore in Pakistan today.  Talking to reporters in Lahore, the Indian Captain Suraj Veer Sharma said, Pakistan will have the advantage of home ground but India will depend on its backs and the team will give its best to win the championship.

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At Belek, Turkey, India's disappointing performance in the World Archery Championships continued yesterday, with both the men's and women's compound teams losing in the pre-quarterfinals. India's medal hope remains only in the compound mixed team event today with the duo of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma taking on their United States counterparts in the bronze-medal play-off. 

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Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 14 runs in the first semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.  The second semi-final will be played between Mumbai Indians and Trinidad and Tobago in New Delhi today.    

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LOOK AT TODAY'S NEWSPAPERS,
•    The Election Commission declaring poll dates for five states is the lead in almost all dailies. "Poll season opens, dates out for 5 states, Delhi votes on December 4th is the Hindustan Times headline.
•    Most papers have given details about seat sharing projections and the contestants. While the Statesman writes 'Sheila confident of fourth victory' ,Mail Today, quoting  Kejriwal says' we are confident of winning 47 seats in Delhi'. 
•    The other big story of the day is the aftermath of the center's decision to form  a separate state of Telangana. 'Six union ministers, five congress MPs resign, bandh cripples life in state' is the headline in the Pioneer. The Hindu says "violence, tension, as anti Congress sentiment sweeps the region, government seeks 25 more companies of central forces.
•    The Asian Age has a picture of devotees performing a ritual to pay obeisance to one's ancestors on  the last day of Shraadh yesterday. 'Light rain brings festive nip in city on the eve of Navratras writes the Times of India. " Winter takes a rain check in capital' says the Pioneer, adding that the temperature settled at 26.1 C in Delhi yesterday, the lowest in 5 years.
•    Did you think that happy hours are restricted to restaurants and bars? Well, not anymore. 'Hospitals give a dose of happy hours to lure patients' writes the Business Standard on its front page, referring to a Bangalore hospital and saying that Apollo and Fortis might also do the same.
•    Good news for diabetics who need to check their sugar levels at home. The Asian Age reports that by the end of the year, blood sugar test strips will be available for as little as 5 rupees, as against Rs 30 to 35 now.
•    And now news for frequent flyers. The Economic Time and Times of India write that scientists have found a body clock reset button, which could be a cure for jet lag.
With that it's back to you, Poonam.

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IN SOME MORE NEWS:
In Assam, the CBI has begun investigations into the killing of tea tribal CPI-ML leader Ganga Ram Kol, General Secretary of the Asom Sangrami Chah Shramik Sangh. He was found dead on the 25th of March near Panitola in Tinsukia district.