Current Affair Trends India

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has called off his indefinite hunger strike over Sri Lankan issue following an assurance from Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the UPA Government will seek to convince the Sri Lankan Government to halt hostilities against the LTTE. 

"I have the government's assurance over the Sri Lankan issue," Karunanidhi said on ending his fast. He was on an indefinite fast under the memorial of late C N Annadurai early on Monday morning. His son M K Azhagiri was also observing a fast.

The anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested Sumathi Ravichandran, Chennai regional passport officer (RPO), for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 9,000 from a passport applicant through a tout — a travel agent in T Nagar. 

Her husband, R Ravichandran, a health officer in Chennai Corporation, was arrested on Saturday for engaging the touts. Two touts — Fathima Muzaffar, director of Ahmed World Travels and daughter of former IUML MP Abdul Samad, and Raju, owner of Raja Travels in Triplicane — were also arrested. A case was registered under Sec 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Sec 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 

The real estate market in Bangalore, dubbed as India's Silicon Valley, mirrors the India outsourcing story. The last decade or so saw trees give way to residential towers and steel- 'n' -glass office campuses targeting largely the young and upwardly mobile IT professional, a community that may be close to 5 lakh in the city. 

With the economic slowdown coupled with fears of job losses and pay cuts, the target market has developed a cold feet on house buying, sending the Bangalore realty market on a downward spiral. 

Filmmaker and LJPcandidate from West Champaran seat Prakash Jha was arrestedafter police raided his guest house and allegedly seized Rs10.25 lakh following reports that he was distributing moneyamong voters. 

West Champaran Superintendent of Police K S Anupam led ateam of local police and central paramilitary forces in theraid at Jha's guest house around midnight, seized the moneyand arrested 29 persons, including the filmmaker. 

Getting to railway stations may just get easier with the railways deciding to offer taxis at the door steps of passengers on dialling 139.

The service would be offered at competitive tariff rates, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The 'book a taxi' service would be rolled out soon in about 25 cities across the country including the national capital.

In a bid to woo the Tamil voters ahead of Lok Sabha elections in the state, DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has called for a bandh in his own state. The Tamil Nadu bandh will be observed tomorrow to protest against the violence in Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi also issued a notice to Centre to give an ultimatum to Sri Lanka to declare an "immediate and permanent ceasefire".

Just a couple of days ago, Karrunanidhi had backtracked from his support to LTTE and termed the outfit as a terrorist organization. He had said that it would not be possible to forget Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, which was carried out by the LTTE in 1991.

The Commission has recommended huge financial benefits to about 3 lakh employees and 2.60 lakh pensioners imposing an additional expenditure of Rs. 2050 crores per annum for serving employees and Rs. 650 crores for pensioners. Recommendations of the Commission are estimated to cost Rs. 3450 crores for serving employees and Rs. 1350 crores for pensioners for payment of arrears. 

The fiifth Pay Commission has recommended uniform annual increment to be three percent of pay for all employees and rhe present system of Dearness Allowance on Central pattern will continue. 

The ban on parking continued on Kamaraj Road opposite the Army school. According to BBMP additional commissioner (east) S Puttaswamy, no complaints were received on Wednesday from any one in the area affected by the ban. “The parking was not authorized by the BBMP and the land belongs to the military,” he told here.

Meanwhile, members of the Bangalore Commercial Association have decided to meet on Thursday to discuss this issue. There was chaos near Commercial Street all through Tuesday as shoppers were not allowed to park at their regular spot opposite the Army School.

Comparing the 'Third Front' with a 'drama', senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday that it was 'a conglomeration of some state parties in search of a Prime Minister'. 

"The Third Front is like the drama, 'Six Characters in Search Of An Author' by Luigi Pirandello. In the drama the characters were searching for the author. The Third Front is conglomeration of some state parties in search of a Prime Minister", he said. 

Naxal violence rocked certain parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa today in the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections leaving 10 dead, including five BSF personnel, as moderate to brisk voting was reported across 17 states and union territories.

Shortly after voting began at 0700 hrs, naxals triggered a landmine striking a bus ferrying Border Security Force personnel in Latehar district in Jharkhand which five personnel and two civilians were killed.