National News

Guwahati, May 15 (IANS) Assam is hoping that Unesco will this time accord World Heritage Site status to South Asia's largest river island of Majuli, which is located in the state and is an important seat of Vaishnavism.

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - A little-known militant group called the Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for setting off bombs in Jaipur that killed 61 people and injured 216 people this week, police said.

As many as 31 people were killed and over 50 injured in fierce duststorms, heavy rains and bolts of lightning in different parts of North India on Wednesday.

A day after the Jaipur blasts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there was 'no lack of firmness in the Government's resolve against terror', but each attack could not be anticipated since terrorists had the 'advantage of surprise'.

Jaipur, May 15(IANS) Twentytwo-year-old British national Esther Shaylor had come to India to be part of a voluntary organization engaged in disaster response. She had never imagined her skills would make a big difference to others, especially those injured in Tuesday's serial bombings here that at least killed 63 people.

On the eve of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to Jaipur to meet victims of the serial bomb blasts, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje questioned the purpose of the visit, saying if Gandhi wanted to make a "political point", this was not the time.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani, who was in Jaipur on Wednesday to visit the victims of Tuesday's serial blasts, accused the UPA Government of being "soft, weak and apathetic" in tackling terrorism and reiterated the demand for reintroducing POTA.

Alarmed over the trend among state governments of "unreasonably" raising the minimum wages since the UPA Government's flagship rural job guarantee scheme (NREG) was launched, the Centre has cautioned states against unilaterally increasing minimum wages without consulting it.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has nominated his most articulate anti-quota MP, Devendra Prasad Yadav (Jhanjharpur), to the parliamentary standing committee set to examine the Women's Reservation Bill.

Acting on a petition which claimed the Human Resource Development Ministry had gone against the Supreme Court direction that graduates should not be considered for OBC reservation, the Calcutta High Court today stayed implementation of OBC quota in post-graduate courses at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and stopped interviews of OBC candidates scheduled for tomorrow.

Besides providing jobs to the rural poor, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is also serving the added objective of financial inclusion. Even as 36 lakh families got full 100 days of employment under the scheme, 1.6 crore bank accounts were also opened for them, says the Ministry of Rural Development.

Cabs are not merely a means of getting around in town; they are an integral part of a city's culture, its social history, and identity and, to an extent, they define its ethos too. New York City's yellow cabs, London's black cabs or Mumbai's black and yellow top-metered taxis are a striking metaphor for these cities' 24/7 rush and vibrancy.

Sukhendu Bhattacharya Sella (Arunachal Pradesh), May 13 (PTI) At first sight the snow-covered place could be mistaken to somewhere in the Kashmir Valley.

Happy and motivated workers are the key to a world-class workplace. Prof. Nie of Switzerland's IMD Business School sums up motivation as, 'Going that extra mile to provide excellent service way above and beyond normal duty.' It means being able to create a culture and a platform where employees excel.

Till a few weeks ago, the Wagah border in Punjab was nothing more than a picnic spot for 20-year-old Neha and her friends. It meant packing food and travelling the 85-odd kilometres to watch the fanfare of the retreat ceremony, a daily affair on the India-Pakistan border near Amritsar.

It was a proud moment for their villages when Bharat Bhushan Sharma and Deepak Yadav were recently recruited as constables in the police force. But on Wednesday the same villagers attended the last rites of the boys, who were killed on Tuesday by one of the bombs that ripped through Jaipur.

A Sessions court on Wednesday awarded the death sentence to a serial killer accused of abducting and murdering 24 cab drivers in two years time between 2002 and 2004. He and his accomplices would allegedly pose as passengers, hire cabs from Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and other NCR towns and kill the drivers on the way before selling off the cabs in illegal auto markets in Uttar Pradesh.

A 76-year-old woman who had slipped into coma after being drugged by her domestic help in March this year died on Tuesday night. The police said the victim was on medication for two months.

Lucknow, May 14 (PTI) Security was beefed up across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand following serial blasts which rocked Jaipur yesterday.

Jaipur/New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) As fresh leads into the terror attack in the Pink city increasingly pointed to involvement of Bangladesh- based HuJI, the Centre today did not rule out the hand of