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 BJP slams, Nitish welcomes Rail Budget |
| Political reactions to Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget were on the expected lines, different from the industry's whole hearted welcome to her thrust on infrastructre development and developing world class railway stations. |
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| MAMATA'S FOOTPRINT |
| Food |
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| Dedicated freight corridors to enhance earnings |
| In a bid to enhance freight earnings in the face of an economic slowdown, the Railways Ministry will concentrate on the creation of dedicated freight corridors and involve the private sector in developing rail infrastructure. |
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| Bihar falls from Mamata’s rail route, feels neglected |
| For a long time leaders from Bihar has been on the steering wheel of Indian railway while driving it across the State offering new projects, trains, stations and other gifts but this time was different as the new Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee wheezed past Bihar while dropping very little to the State. While, Lalu Prasad has termed the budget as 'nothing new', Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has welcomed the new rail budget saying it 'practical'. |
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| Several sops announced for employees |
| In keeping with her `pro-people' image, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hailed railway employees as the engines of growth and promised a slew of sops for them. |
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| Andhra Govt disappointed |
| For Andhra Pradesh there is not much to be happy about in Mamata Bannerji's first Railway Budget as no big project has been announced for the State. Having sent 33 Congress members to Lok Sabha, the State was expecting a good reward in the Railway Budget, but many leaders are of the view that the State has been given a short shrift by Didi. |
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| People welcome Jaipur’s inclusion as model station |
| Jaipur is one railway station in Rajasthan, which has been included the list of those railway stations, which would be upgraded to the international standard, as per the announcement made by Mamata Banerjee in the Railway budget. |
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| Mixed response in ‘cheered up’ Mamata’s home State |
| Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bengal-centric Budget triggered explosive celebrations all around Bengal, particularly in State Capital Kolkata. While people called it a "populist Budget aimed at the 2011 Assembly elections" they also admired amaader gharer meye (our own daughter) for doing a "commendable job." |
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| MPs concerned over rise in swine flu |
| Members of Lok Sabha on Friday expressed concern over increasing cases of swine flu in India but warned the Government against indiscriminately buying vaccines and medicines that are usually of little use in such breakouts. |
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| Satyam fallout: CVC mulls code of ethics for CAs |
| In the wake of Satyam scam, the Central Vigilance Commission has proposed a Code of Ethics for Chartered Accountants as the standards of the accountancy profession impinge on public interest. |
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| PC meets Moily, Azad; discusses Delhi HC verdict on Section 377 |
| Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday held meeting with his Cabinet colleagues Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to analyse Delhi High Court’s judgement decriminalising homosexuality by consenting partners. |
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| UP Govt’s nod to prosecute Varun |
| The Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Friday gave its approval to prosecute BJP MP Varun Gandhi for his alleged hate speech in Pilibhit in the run up to the Lok Sabha poll. |
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| Coal Ministry plans policy on acquiring land from farmers |
| Keeping in mind the growing Maoist activities in the country’s coal belt regions, the Union Coal Ministry is formulating a special policy on land acquisition from farmers that would offer attractive financial terms and rehabilitation package. |
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| Sheila, Hooda urged to speed up highway work |
| The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken up issues delaying highway works in Delhi and Haryana with the State Chief Ministers. |
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| Staff strike fails to hit AI services |
| Air India’s services remained unaffected on Friday, even after a sizeable section of the 24,000 employees defied the management’s threat of disciplinary action and resorted to a two-hour ‘walk-out’ agitation between 1 pm and 3 pm to protest against the delay in the disbursal of their salaries of June. |
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| Gag order issued against employees |
| Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav has advised the office-bearers of various employee unions to “desist from going to public with their statements that have potential of harming company’s revenue earning prospects”. |
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| Kerala Church’s war against Higuita’s academic incarnation |
| What has Rene Higuita, the maverick but marvellous former goalkeeper of the Colombian soccer team, got to do with the education sector of Kerala and its Christian community? There are no direct reasons for a connection, but in Kerala, where several great masters of the literary world like Nikos Kazanatzakis had been branded as blasphemers by the Church, even Higuita could be anathema. |
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| Bodies of 6 ultras buried under snow recovered |
| Indian army has recovered six bodies of militants buried under snow in Gurez sector more than three months after a heavily armed group of militants had made a desperate bid to sneak inside the Indian territory from across the LoC through snow laden ridge lines of North Kashmir. |
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| Police launch drive to tackle urban crime in Chhattisgarh |
| Eighty-year-old Baratu Ram of Telga Banda in Raipur heaved a shy of relief after police ensured that killers of his engineer son will now not be able to target his grandson or even threaten him. |
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| Development of horticulture in hills tops Govt agenda |
| The Union Government will formulate separate policy for development of horticulture in hilly States of the Country, keeping in view the special geographical and topographical needs of these areas. This was revealed by Himachal Horticulture Minister, Narender Bragta after his meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on Friday. |
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| HP to connect all villages by road |
| Himachal Government has prepared an ambitious plan to connect all villages with road, having a population of over 250 people, by 2010 and improve overall connectivity by building a network of National and State highways and arterial roads, Public Works Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said on Friday. |
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| Plan to implement zero tolerance against ragging in schools |
| Adopting a zero tolerance stance against scourge of ragging, the Union Government proposes to implement anti-ragging laws in schools, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. |
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| Elders upset with HC ruling on gay issue |
| The Delhi High Court judgement on gay sex on Thursday came in for sharp criticism in the Rajya Sabha on Friday and several Elders urged the Government to appeal against the judgement in the Supreme Court. |