Curfew was relaxed in Muzaffarnagar for two hours on Tuesday evening and the day remained largely incident-free but security has been beefed up in Bareilly district following reports of communal tension.

Expressing deep anguish over the loss of lives in the recent communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar in UP, PM Manmohan Singh on Tuesday announced `2 lakhs each for the next of kin of those killed and `50,0

Senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry said here on Tuesday that the violence in Muzaffarnagar was a replica of the “Gujarat model”. He accused the Akhilesh Yadav government of conniving with the BJP in their strategy to capture power through “the politics over deadbodies”.

The CBI told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has been facing difficulty in functioning as an autonomous investigative agency due to obstacles routinely put up by the bureaucracy.

“It is the fourth day today and my father-in-law who is highly diabetic has been forced to remain without his insulin injection. I have been pleading with the cops and officials to please ensure medical aid for him or, at least, get him shifted to a hospital but no one is listening,” said Sukriti Singh, a young homemaker who lives with her in-laws in the Civil Lines area in Muzaffarnagar.

Twenty-one doctors of the Provincial Medical Services, presently posted in Rampur district have collectively sought their transfer from the district because they are unable to withstand the pressure of senior minister Mohammed Azam Khan.

The CBI is all set to register two more cases against senior officials of the state-run Public Sector Units (PSUs) of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh governments as part of its probe into the Coalgate scam.

At a time when India is struggling to manage its Current Account Deficit (CAD) and also fall in rupee value vis-à-vis dollar, the government intends to borrow $ 4.3 billion over and above the single-borrow limit from World Bank’s lending arm International Bank for reconstruction and Development (IBRD) through special private placement bonds.

The ministry of environment has appointed former coal secretary Alok Perti as chairperson of the expert appraisal committee on river valley and hydroelectric projects.

Afghanistan has said that it is encouraged by the recent remarks of Pakistan in which it has said that it has “abandoned the policy of double play towards Afghanistan”.