Briefly Nation

Senior Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Ram Niwas Mirdha died on Friday following multiple organ failure.

Ram Niwas Mirdha dead

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Ram Niwas Mirdha died on Friday following multiple organ failure. He was 87. Mirdha was also Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha from March 1977 to April 1980. He was admitted to hospital on January 21 after being diagnosed with a kidney infection. Condoling Mirdhas death,PM Manmohan Singh said the country has lost an able and experienced political leader who made rich contributions in different areas of public life.

Maoists hack CITU leader to death

BHUBANESWAR: Maoists in Orissa have hacked to death a CITU leader who was abducted from an iron ore mine of the Steel Authority of India Limited on Monday. The body of Thomas Munda,who worked at Kalta in Sundargarh district,was found in the Renjeda forest area on Friday. Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sudarshan Sethi said Maoists had left behind a poster claiming the 40-year-old Munda was a police informer and had been given death sentence by the Peoples Court.

Electronics City gets CISF cover

NEW DELHI: Continuing the induction of the CISF in the private sector,a contingent of 68 personnel was on Friday inducted to guard the Electronics City in Bangalore. Infosys was the first private firm to be provided with CISF cover last year. With Fridays induction,the CISF has taken over the security of Electronics City to prevent,counter and neutralise any form of terror attack on the campus.

SC seeks govt stand on Swamys plea

NEW DELHI: The SC on Friday sought the governments stand on a plea for reviving a 1996 order of the Allahabad Hight Court to facilitate pilgrimage to the controversial makeshift temple at Ayodhya,built at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid in 1992. SC issued notices to the Union and UP governments seeking their stands within six weeks on a request by former Union minister Subramanian Swamy,who also sought an early resolution of the Ayodhya dispute.

Budget Session from Feb 22

NEW DELHI: The Budget Session of Parliament will commence from February 22. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the General Budget in the Lok Sabha on February 26. The timing has been advanced from the standard February 28 because it happens to be a Sunday and the preceding day,February 27,is a holiday on account of the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad. The Railway budget,according to the sources,has been slated for February 24.

No short-term medical course

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission NHRC on Friday criticised plans for launching a three-and-half year bachelor of medicine course for students of rural areas to raise a dedicated corps of medical practitioners who would serve in villages. By doing so,the government will itself be producing quacks. We already have half-baked medical professionals in rural areas, NHRC member P C Sharma said at a meeting.