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| India, Pak agree to increase freight trains | | | | November 02
India and Pakistan on Thursday decided in principle to introduce freight services in the Munabao-Khokhrapar rail sector and increase the frequency of freight trains between Wagah and Attari to facilitate cross-border movement of goods.
The decision comes after three-day talks between officials of the two countries in New Delhi in pursuance of the third round of Composite Dialogue held in Islamabad in March 2006.
While 20 to 22 freight trains are running every month between the two countries on Wagah-Attari border, "we also discussed introduction of such trains in Munabao-Khokhrapar sector to improve trade, commerce and people to people contacts," Ashok Gupta, advisor (Traffic) Indian Railways and Ali Arif, additional general manager (Freight), Pakistan Railways, said.
The two sides deliberated at length on increasing the number of goods trains running between the two countries in the Wagah-Attari sector to two per day, they told reporters after signing the minutes of the talks.
The officials said the two sides "had agreed, in principle," on these issues.
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FRONT PAGE STORIES |
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| Paramilitary forces being expanded, says Duggal | | | |
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary V K Duggal has said that paramilitary forces are being expanded in view of the situation along India's borders and internal security.
Duggal said this after witnessing an assistant commandants' passing-out parade at the Border Security Force (BSF) Academy in Tekanpur.
He told mediapersons, ''In the post-Kargil scenario, the Centre began implementing the principle of one border-one paramilitary force.''
Consequently, the BSF was placed in charge of the borders facing Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) maintains a vigil along the Sino-Indian border and the Assam Rifles guards the Myanmar border.
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| | | | India does not belong to any single race: PM | | | |
New Delhi, November 2
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday stressed that India would remain a pluralistic country where "socio-religious variety" was respected and said the country did not belong to any group of religious extremists.
"Undoubtedly, India must remain a nation where pluralism and socio-religious variety are respected and honoured," he said while addressing the conference of the State Minorities Commissions.
"In a pluralistic society like ours, national identity cannot be adjudged by any litmus test simply showing cent per cent homogeneity because unlike many other monoracial, monoreligious and monolingual countries, a cent per cent homogenous society had never e... | |
| | | | The Great Wall, the great gap | | China to use satellites to obtain precise information | | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 2: China's Great Wall has attracted wide public attention even outside China. Researchers in Japan, the United States and Russia are reported to be anxiously awaiting findings of the survey launched by Beijing. In fact, China plans to use satellites and other high technology to check the length of the Great Wall and find ways to better protect the country's most famous landmark.
The wall weaves for thousands of miles through a dozen provinces and regions across northern China. The wall, really many unconnected walls collectively known as the Great Wall, traverses remote areas, making its exact length and actual condition difficult to assess. "We will us... | |
| | | | Will pervasive social evil end finally? | | Kiran Bedi supports new domestic violence law | | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 2: Reputed police officer and Magsaysay Award winner, Kiran Bedi, has come out in the open to support the new domestic violence law. The new law that makes domestic violence including verbal abuse punishable has raised hopes that the pervasive social evil can now be effectively combated.
In an e-mail interview, reputed police officer and Magsaysay Award winne Kiran Bedi said that it would enable the law-enforcing agencies to provide relief to the victims. The police have been helpless in these matters because there were no legal provisions till now.
Will the new law help provide gender justice? Kiran Bedi's answer: "Yes it would be of great support t... | |
| | | | Spotlights are on Indian Muslims | | Sachar panel's survey will trigger political overtones | | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 2: With less than three weeks left for the commencement of Parliament's winter session, political parties have begun animated discussions on how the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre will act on the report of the Justice Sachar Committee that was entrusted with the task of ascertaining various economic and social facts about Muslims in India.
The media had gone hammer and tongs against the Manmohan Singh government for constitution of the committee. The BJP, finding a chance to make hay while things went haywire in the government, had joined the chorus. This is discrimination against the minority community, said some while others maintained t... | |
| | | | Air India's whimsical behaviour | | Sonia Gandhi rarely travels abroad | | | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, NOV. 2: The President and the Prime Minister, whenever they go abroad, have their own official aircraft, which is a refurbished and re-configured Boeing 747 from the Air-India fleet. Sonia Gandhi, although not holding any government post, must be reckoned as equally-- or even more-- powerful since she not only heads the party in power but also has a surname that spells magic to millions of Indians. But she rarely travels abroad, and on the few occasions she had done so, had flown scheduled flights, with a large retinue of course, or had planes chartered by her party.
After these three, the most powerful person in the Indian skies must surely be Ci... | |
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