DA INCREASED

The Union Cabinet on Friday gave its approval to hike the rate of dearness allowance (DA) by six per cent. The cabinet gave nod to release of additional instalment of dearness allowance to the Central Government employees and dearness relief to pensioners due from January 1 this year at the rate of 6 per cent over the existing rate of 41 per cent, thus, the rate of DA from January 1 this year will be 47 per cent.

The Central Government employees and pensioners will become entitled to higher amount of dearness allowance and relief respectively January 1 this year. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both dearness allowance and dearness relief would be of the order of Rs. 3297.12 crore in a full year and Rs. 3846.66 crore in the financial year 2008-2009 ( for a period of 14 months from January 2008 to February, 2009).

Indian students Targetted in US

What do Abhijit Mahato, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma, Allam Kiran Kumar and now Kaparapu Srinivas have in common? They are all Indian students murdered in the US.
The latest victim, Srinivas (28), a student at Scranton Temple University, Pennsylvania studying for the MD course, was shot dead on Monday. The motive and culprits are yet to be determined.

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PMK ON CONFRONTATION PATH

Refusing to back down from its demand for one seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) on Thursday set a March 15 deadline for the alliance leader DMK to part with one of their own seats.

DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has already announced that his party and the Congress would contest two each and another ally, the CPM, would contest one.

“We are not against the DMK giving two seats to other allies. We are only asking the DMK to give one of its two seats to us,” PMK founder S Ramadoss said after an emergency PMK meeting.

Left calls for Urgent meeting

Left parties, which offer crucial outside support to UPA Government, have stepped up pressure by seeking an immediate meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the US-India civil nuclear cooperation issue by March 15.

CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat has written to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Government's key interlocutor with the Left on the deal, asking for the meeting. Karat and D Raja, CPI leader and a member of the Committee, reportedly discussed strategy to counter the Government's reported move to go ahead with the deal despite the Left's opposition to it.

Mahasivarathri..Night out with Lord Shiva

Sivasankar Baba's Ramarajya,Kelambakkam near Chennai, is gearing up for Mahasivarathri function which starts later in the day.The function will start by 6 PM on 6th and end up around 7AM on 7th.

There would special Abishekam to all deities by Baba,discourses on Varied Spritual topics will be given by Babaji.Thirupugaz,Thevaram,Thiruvasagam will also be rendered during each Pooja.
Elaborate arrangements has been made by the Trust for the Function.
All are Invited to spent the Night with Lord.

Hillary Pips Obama

With sensational victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, Senator Hillary Clinton has staged a dramatic comeback and rejuvenated a presidential campaign that was all but written off by pundits.

Defying pollsters, she succeeded in stopping the Barack Obama juggernaut after the frontrunner’s string of unbroken victories in 12 States.

India Celebrates One of its Great Wins

Historic win at Lords 1983 then the 20/20 win in South Africa and now the latest historic win in Brisbane CB tri series can be rated as one of most famous win India has achieved in recent times.
""This is a greater victory than the World Twenty20," was captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's reaction after India won their first tri-series in Australia, succeeding at the formidable task of beating the top-ranked side in their own den twice.

Obama or Hillary

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton reached for the finish line of the contentious Ohio and Texas primary campaigns on Monday as senior Democrats expressed concern the party could suffer this fall if their struggle goes much longer.

"I'm just getting warmed up," said Clinton, looking beyond this week's contests and shrugging off 11 straight primary and caucus defeats as well as a three-digit deficit in delegates.

The former First Lady campaigned from Ohio, where she accused Obama of double talk on NAFTA, to Texas, where her new television commercial questioned his readiness to serve as commander in chief.

Obama spent his day in Texas, a state rich in military bases, where he pledged to begin the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq next year and envisioned a "seamless transition from active duty to civilian life" for men and women who leave the armed forces.

LTTE BASE POUNDED

At least 25 militants and three soldiers were killed in intense clashes in the restive northern Sri Lanka as fighter jets bombed a LTTE base on Monday, officials said.

Sri Lanka Air force supersonic fighter jets pounded on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) communication base located in general area Kulamurippu, six km North East of Oddusudan, in northern Mulaitivu this afternoon, the Defence ministry said.

India Off to a Promising Start

After winning the toss India were 129-2 after 26 over in the 2nd ODI Finals against Aussie in Brisbane.Sachin Unbeaten on 66 yuvraj at 6 were at the crease.In a easy Paced wicket Indian Openers sachin and Robin Uttappa put on 94 runs before Uttappa was out for 30.Gambir was out after scoring 15 of 16 balls.

Vijayakanth in trouble

The Government of Tamil Nadu has served notices to the President of DMDK Mr.Vijayakanth on alleged violation in acquiring 400 acres farm land near Madhuranthagam, 80 Km from Chennai. He has been served 3 notices on Friday by the officials of land ceiling regulation department.


According to the Kanchipuram district collectorate authorities, the farm, known by the name Captain Pannai Limited, has Vijayakanth, his wife Premalatha and brother in law LK Sutheesh as directors.

Following complaints of encroachment by the farm of 28 acres of government land voiced by local people, the DMDK chief has been served a notice by the tasildar on Madurantakam to return the encroached land to the Government.

2 Biggest fall in Indian stock market

It was extremely a painful day for the markets wherein the Sensex and Nifty opened with huge gap down on the back of weak cues from the global markets. All the key indices traded in deep red through the day barring pharma and auto index which were holding up in green till mid trading session but slipped in late trade.Sensex close 900 points down whereas Nifty was down 270.

BHEL bags huge orders

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has bagged two orders worth Rs 2,968 crore.

According to a BHEL release, the company had bagged an order worth Rs 1,893 crore from GSPC Pipavav Power Company (GPPC), a subsidiary of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, for setting up a 700 MW (2x350 MW) gas turbine plant at Pipavav in Amreli district. The other order, valued at Rs 1,075 crore, was from Gujarat State Energy Generation Limited for setting up a 350 MW combined cycle power plant at Hazira in Gujarat, the release added.

Jodhaa Akbar Banned

After the protests laid down by the Rajput Community against the film, The UP government on Saturday banned Ashutosh Gowarikar's controversial movie Jodhaa Akbar, based on the life of the Mughal Emperor.

Kshetriya Mahasabha,A Rajput Organisation had protested the screening of the film on the day it was released in local cinema halls alleging the filmmaker had distorted history, which has hurt their sentiments.

A Home Department spokesman said in Lucknow that the decision to ban the movie, starring Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, had been taken to maintain law and order.

India win U-19 WORLD CUP

India regained the Under-19 cricket World Cup crown after eight years after a thrilling 12-run victory over South Africa in a rain-affected final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
This is India's second triumph in the tournament's history, having captured the crown in 2000 in Sri Lanka.

It was Great Day for Indian Cricket with the seniors winning the First ODI
against the Aussies.Hailing the world cup title win the BCCI has announced a cash award of 15 lakhs a player.

Tendulkar Guides India to a Magnificent Win

Sachin Tendulkar scored his first one-day century on Australian soil as an inspired India spanked the World champions by six wickets in the first match of the best-of-three finals in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Sydney on Sunday.

After the Indian bowlers put up a disciplined performance to restrict Australia to 239 for eight, Tendulkar (117 not out) batted like a true champion. He not only notched his 42nd ODI century but also shouldered the responsibility of steering India home with 25 balls to spare.

Tendulkar, who defied a groin injury in the latter part of his innings, found an able ally in young Rohit Sharma (66) and the duo added 123 runs for the fourth wicket to pull India out of a spot of bother at 87 for three and put the team on course for a remarkable victory in a thrilling floodlit contest at the SGC.
Dhoni scored the winning Runs.

India restrics Aussies

Aussies has set India a achievable target of 240 in the Finals of the CB Series.Mathew Heyden top scored with 82 runs.For India Praveen Kumar,Ishant Sharma chipped in with few wickets.

US BLACKMAILING INDIA..CPI CHARGE

CPI general secretary A B Bardhan on Saturday alleged that the US has started "blackmailing" India for getting the civil nuclear deal signed before July, which would be stiffly opposed by the Left parties.

Earlier the US was applying pressure tactics and now it has started "blackmailing" India by threatening to block the possibilities of nuclear co-operation with Russia and other countries, he said while inaugurating the 20th state conference of the CPI in Thrissur.

"Senior American officials and diplomats like Nicholas Burns and Robert Gates had earlier visited India to exert pressure on the government for materialisation of the 123 Agreement. They are now threatening that if the nuclear deal was not signed, our deals with Russia and France would also be blocked," Bardhan said.