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IAF tries hard to curb discontent in its ranks
The IAF faces unprecedented turbulence after new pay-scales for its fighter pilots and technical staff were announced recently. Wide disparity in the remuneration of fighter pilots and their colleagues in the engineering wing forced the wives of many IAF engineers to demonstrate on the streets in Bangalore this week.

No English please, only Kannada spoken here
The anti-English campaign began on a cloudy November afternoon on Commercial Street, home to 250-odd shops and an avenue frequented by tourists and honeymooners. Headed by a Leeds University-educated professor of English, Chandrashekar Patil, who is also the KDA chairman, a bunch of government officials and policemen began demolishing signboards and sundry signs on the street.

'100 % job reservations for Kannadigas is the KDA's main objective'
Kannada Development Authority chairman Professor Chandrashekhar Patil speaks out!

'Veerappan has not killed a single person in the last twenty months. That was one promise I extracted from him'
R Gopal on his latest encounter with India's most wanted man.

Kesri furious with Mamata's demand
Alleging that the Congress chief treated her 'shabbily', the fiery West Bengal Congress MP demanded an apology from Kesri.

Gujral convinces Naveen Patnaik to drop pro-BJP campaign
Biju Patnaik's son has been spearheading a campaign in the Janata Dal's Orissa unit for a limited seat adjustment with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Only this, he contended, would ensure a one-to-one fight with the ruling Congress in the state.

Konkan Railway clears last hurdle
The last stumbling block coming in the way of the ambitious Konkan Railway project -- the 1.56 km Pernem tunnel in Goa -- was broken to smithereens on Saturday morning.

Pallone urges Clinton not to cancel India trip
The Democratic congressman expressed concern at reports in a section of the Indian media, hinting at the possibility of cancelling the trip due to the Lok Sabha elections.


Bihar: Jagannath Mishra floats new party, ties up with UF
Kerala:Noted actor Soman dead
December 13

DMK-TMC alliance will continue
''We have sorted out the minor irritants at the lower levels, and the alliance will continue,'' DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said.

'The fate of the Congress appears to be sealed' What issues will dominate the next election? Who will win? Who will lose? Will there be a wave? Will the party system become extinct? Dr N Bhaskara Rao, one of India's leading psephologists, predicts what route the coming campaign is likely to take. Exclusive to Rediff On The NeT.

OIC has no locus standi on Kashmir: India
India today rejected the Organisation of Islamic Countries's resolution on Kashmir -- that the issue be settled in accordance with the relevant United Nation resolutions and as agreed upon in the Shimla agreement.

Dr Abdullah blasts anti-Muslim OIC members
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that some OIC members ''were not well-wishers of the Muslims because they had jeopardised the interests of nearly 200 million Indian Muslims''.

EC bans use of govt aircraft by ministers
The Election Commission also announced a new policy for the recognition of political parties.

Sena may give Seshan a ticket from Bombay
The former chief election commissioner, who raised the hackles of many political parties during his controversial-but-mercurial tenure, has finally decided to jump in the electoral fray.

Thackeray asked to appear before EC
The Commission has asked the Shiv Sena chief to appear before it on December 24 on the issue of holding party elections periodically. ''Failure to appear before the Commission would mean that the party does not have anything to say on the matter and the Commission will be free to take an ex-parte decision.''

'These verses are born of anguish. Anguish at what is happening in my motherland. India'
Ali Sardar Jafri speaks to Pritish Nandy about his controversial poem on Ayodhya, and the status of Urdu in India.

Hyderabad car bomb blast case solved, say police
The Andhra Pradesh police claim they have solved the November 19 car bomb blast which killed 26 people in Hyderabad, with the arrest of Maddulacheruvu Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy.


Bihar: Laloo says he will align with Congress, JMM
Delhi: High court allows 40 per cent school fee hike
Maharashtra: Kesri sidelines Pawar, Chavan
Orissa: Samaj daily editor turns 102

December 13

DMK-TMC alliance will continue
''We have sorted out the minor irritants at the lower levels, and the alliance will continue,'' DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said.

'The fate of the Congress appears to be sealed' What issues will dominate the next election? Who will win? Who will lose? Will there be a wave? Will the party system become extinct? Dr N Bhaskara Rao, one of India's leading psephologists, predicts what route the coming campaign is likely to take. Exclusive to Rediff On The NeT.

OIC has no locus standi on Kashmir: India
India today rejected the Organisation of Islamic Countries's resolution on Kashmir -- that the issue be settled in accordance with the relevant United Nation resolutions and as agreed upon in the Shimla agreement.

Dr Abdullah blasts anti-Muslim OIC members
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that some OIC members ''were not well-wishers of the Muslims because they had jeopardised the interests of nearly 200 million Indian Muslims''.

EC bans use of govt aircraft by ministers
The Election Commission also announced a new policy for the recognition of political parties.

Sena may give Seshan a ticket from Bombay
The former chief election commissioner, who raised the hackles of many political parties during his controversial-but-mercurial tenure, has finally decided to jump in the electoral fray.

Thackeray asked to appear before EC
The Commission has asked the Shiv Sena chief to appear before it on December 24 on the issue of holding party elections periodically. ''Failure to appear before the Commission would mean that the party does not have anything to say on the matter and the Commission will be free to take an ex-parte decision.''

'These verses are born of anguish. Anguish at what is happening in my motherland. India'
Ali Sardar Jafri speaks to Pritish Nandy about his controversial poem on Ayodhya, and the status of Urdu in India.

Hyderabad car bomb blast case solved, say police
The Andhra Pradesh police claim they have solved the November 19 car bomb blast which killed 26 people in Hyderabad, with the arrest of Maddulacheruvu Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy.


Bihar: Laloo says he will align with Congress, JMM
Delhi: High court allows 40 per cent school fee hike
Maharashtra: Kesri sidelines Pawar, Chavan
Orissa: Samaj daily editor turns 102

December 12

Look, who's talking!
In an effort to shed its anti-minority image, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to field a number of prominent personalities from the minority communities at the general election. BJP sources said the party will reserve at least five per cent of seats for Christians, Muslims and Sikhs.

President asks EC to ensure fair, peaceful poll
Expressing concern over criminalisation of politics, Narayanan said the whole world was keenly watching the electoral process in India. Therefore, it was incumbent on all political parties to see that only ''good'' candidates were fielded in the election.

Advani may not contest LS poll
The BJP president said ''the realignment of the political forces was contributing to the certainty of the party's victory''.

SP rules out alliance with Congress
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today made it clear that the party was a committed UF constituent.

Ball in DMK court: Moopanar
''It was Karunanidhi who had said that his party's executive would review the alliance. We have not broken the alliance," the TMC chief said, adding that his party could not decide on the issue as it was the minor partner.

Officers and Gentlemen
There isn't anything to touch it, they say, it's straight out of this world. You can go year after year to watch cadets passing out of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, and still find it as impressive, as exciting, as touching as ever.

Reins for Corruption
The Left Democratic Front government of Kerala proposes to set up a Lok Ayukta to crack down on erring politicians, bureaucrats and petty officials.

Telescope to detect gamma rays commissioned in Mount Abu
The recently commissioned Gamma Rays Astrophysics Coordinated Experiment telescope at Mount Abu will prove a major landmark in India's space research.

Indian stumbles upon 'smart bombs' to cure cancer
Dr Raj Puri discovered the potential cancer therapy in a tiny, little-known laboratory at the Food and Drug Administration at Bethesda. The US government has now given his invention to an Illinois biotechnology company that hopes to begin testing it in people with killer brain tumours and kidney cancer late next year.


Bihar: Laloo gets bail
Delhi: High court order against felling trees
Delhi: Ban kerosene generators, suggests Centre
Jammu and Kashmir: Hurriyat leaders seek UN intervention
Karnataka: Bangarappa launches CVP
Maharashtra: Dalit faction may back Shiv Sena
Tamil Nadu: Vijayabhaskar Reddy meets Jaya
Tripura: Curfew on Indo-Bangla border

December 11

EC to announce poll dates in advance
Worried about the large-scale violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the Election Commission is thinking of announcing election dates early.

BJP sheds 'ego hassles' in its bid to defeat Left The party today asserted that it was its patriotic responsibility to free the country from the Communists and it will extend full support to any party which also had a similar goal.

Congress constitutes 3 poll panels
The 10-member coordination committee, headed by Kesri, will virtually replace the Congress Working Committee during the election period.

'The question of SP leaving the UF does not arise'
So says Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.

Hegde rules out rejoining the JD
He said the Janata Dal would not exist after the parliamentary election and there could not be any understanding with a "diseased and dying party".

Moopanar may disclose TMC strategy tomorrow
The Tamil Maanila Congress president is still discussing his party's strategy in Madras.

Polls may affect Clinton's India trip
The political upheaval in India has put into limbo US President Bill Clinton's plans to visit the world's largest democracy, says the Washington Post.

'Akash' field trials next year
A P J Abdul Kalam, scientific advisor to the defence minister, said the 25-km range missiles could intercept three different targets and were capable of integration of acquired targets such as remotely piloted vehicles.

Salman Haider India's envoy to the UK
The former foreign secretary succeeds Dr L M Singhvi.


Gujarat: Minister resigns, Atmaram gets showcause notice

•Bird trouble for Pataudis
Former cricketer Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and wife Sharmila Tagore are in trouble -- for shooting some 100 migratory birds in Kashmir's Hokersar wetland.
December 10

V P Singh to cool DMK-TMC tensions
Aided by senior UF leaders like Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the ailing leader has met DMK chief M Karunanidhi and TMC chief G K Moopanar separately in the last few days.

UF to contest 350 LS seats
Front spokesman S Jaipal Reddy says the combine will have a common manifesto and a joint election campaign which will commence at the month-end.

JD to focus on Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa
The Janata Dal's political affairs committee today decided to concentrate on Bihar, Karnataka and Orissa in the coming general election while ruling out any truck with the Congress in tune with the United Front's political plank.

Stable govt and able PM: BJP's plank
BJP vice-president K L Sharma says the party is in touch with former Karnataka chief ministers Ramakrishna Hegde and Bangarappa and West Bengal Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for possible tie-ups.

Petition against Kesri dismissed
A Central Bureau of Investigation court today dismissed a fourth petition, seeking summoning of Congress president Sitaram Kesri as a co-accused in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case against former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and 19 others.


'India first created the LTTE monster, then maintained it, and now seeks to destroy it... As far as Tamil Nadu was concerned, each training camp was a mini-Union territory completely controlled by central agencies to which the state police had no access...' Former TN police chief K Mohandas, the only man to have ever arrested the LTTE leader, in an exclusive interview.

EC's directive to 3 state govts
The Election Commission today directed the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka not to hold conferences of development officers. This is likely to be perceived as an opportunity to the ruling parties to influence the electorate for the December 29 legislative council elections.

Colombo draws flak for making Indian high commissioner wait
Former Sri Lankan state minister for foreign affairs John Amaratunga said Shivshankar Menon, who arrived in the island two weeks ago to take up his new assignment, had still not presented his credentials.


Bihar: 64 held for Jehanabad massacre
Bihar: Congress may split in state
Karnataka: Shivaram Karanth dead
Punjab:Didar Bains detained at Delhi airport
December 9

BJP woos regional parties
The party's soft targets in the United Front are the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.

Kesri furious with Arjun's designs
Though they have ostensibly been seeking her help to guide the Congress, the party president's followers are against Sonia's leadership.

'UF is a 13-piece orchestra conducted from outside by Surjeet'
Holding the UF responsible for forcing elections on the country, Congress spokesman V N Gadgil said the ''orchestra has neither harmony nor melody but jarred tunes and discordant notes''. Now people have to face the music, he said.

Gujral's NE package creates storm
The Election Commission today refused to comment on whether or not Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's reported announcement about a Rs 75 billion north-east economic package amounted to a violation of the model code of conduct.

5 Kashmir militants to join BJP
The militants, who had once picked up the gun in the valley against Indian authorities, are now considering joining the BJP, saying the party alone could safeguard the Muslims's interests.

Tamil Nadu police under heavy fire for Coimbatore violence
Intelligence reports say while many policemen joined hands with the rioters, certain others looked the other way when Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator C T Dhanapani and his followers were forced to run for their lives.

Hindus in Britain up in arms over shoes named Vishnu and Krishna
Within days of the footwear being named after the Hindu gods, the 900,000 strong British Hindu community inundated the Clarks shoe company with calls, accusing it of "blasphemy" and threatening a boycott.

Final set of Bofors papers coming by month-end
The CBI has already sought government sanction to prosecute retired officials, questioned in the light of the first set of Swiss bank documents brought to New Delhi late last year.

Rare distinction for Indian symphony orchestra
The country's only symphony orchestra, which is maintained by the Delhi Symphony Society, has been admitted as a member of the International Alliance of Orchestra Associations.


Andhra Pradesh: Youth stabbed to death in Hyderabad
Bihar: Rabri briefs PM about Laxmanpur-Baitha massacre
Jammu and Kashmir: 'Militants's rehabilitation is not army's responsibility'
Tamil Nadu: Cops search for blast suspect
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