NEW
DELHI, Feb 3:In steps to woo the salaried
class and the rural masses ahead of the Lok Sabha
elections, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in his
interim budget today announced a slew of populist
measures, including merging 50 per cent of the
Dearness Allowance of Central Government
employees from April 1, 2004, and extending the
Antyodaya Anna Yojna scheme to two crore BPL
families while stressing the need for reviewing
the standard deduction......................more
NEW
DELHI, Feb 3:The
presentation of the Interim Budget in Lok Sabha was
delayed by about 75 minutes after the opposition raised
procedural objections charging the Government with
violating the Constitution and Parliamentary rules,
bypassing the traditional address by the President even
as Speaker Manohar Joshi rejected all their
contentions..................more
NEW DELHI, Feb 3:India today
asked SAARC countries to emulate
Bhutan’s example of clamping down on
terrorists within its borders and warned
them that providing support and sanctuary
to such elements could prove
counter-productive................more
SRINAGAR,
Feb 3: Even as
security today killed two local
militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in
a fierce gunbattle at
Matti-Gawran village in Kokernag
area, militants struck in a big
way in Beerwah area and gunned
down three
civilians—including a
couple— at Chewdara village
late this evening............more
NEW DELHI, Feb 3:Four years
after his expulsion, former UP Chief
Minister Kalyan Singh today rejoined BJP
merging his Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP)
and seeking "unconditional pardon
for his mistakes.".............more
WASHINGTON, Feb 3:In an
embarrassment to the Bush administration
which views President Pervez Musharraf as
its best bet in the region against
terrorism and proliferation of WMDs, top
Pakistani scientist A Q Khan has revealed
that the military ruler himself was
involved neck-deep in nuclear
proliferation, the Washington Post
reported quoting a senior Pakistani
investigator...............more
NEW DELHI, Feb 3:The
decision to merge 50 per cent of Dearness
Allowance with basic pay for Central
Government employees would cost the
exchequer Rs 3,500-4,000 crore and
benefit about 50 lakh
employees............more
NEW DELHI, Feb 3:Pakistan
Government has initiated a back-channel
dialogue with the militant groups in an
attempt to get them fall in line and not
mount attacks in Jammu and Kashmir,
reports a Pakistani
weekly..................more
CHANDIGARH, Feb 3:Lt Gen J J
Singh, who took over as the General
Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western
Command on February 1 was presented a
ceremonial Guard of Honour at the command
headquarters in Chandimandir cantonment
near here in Haryana today. He was
received by Lt Gen P K Grover, Chief of
Staff and Maj Gen K S Rao, Major
General-in-Charge, Administration, HQ
Western Command..................more
JAMMU, Feb 3:The State
Government has issued instructions to
Resident Commissioner, Delhi not to
relieve the 19 migrant employees who are
presently drawing their leave salary from
Kashmir House till further
orders.....................more
