People below poverty line (BPL) would be the Congress’ political constituency in the coming Lok Sabha elections as the party is gearing up for “Garibi Hatao” — the historic slogan which had demolished the opponents within the Congress and outside in 1971 general election.

With the festival season round the corner, the government is considering announcing a 10 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) to make it 90 per cent from existing 80 per cent, benefiting about 50 lakh central employees and 30 lakh pensioners.

Its official now. The gigantic C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, which the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at its Daulat Beg Oldie airstrip in north-eastern Ladakh in August, is going to have its own hub in West Bengal to combat the Chinese aggression along the border. Its destination is the Panagargh Air Force station in Burdwan.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will formally induct the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift transport aircraft in the “Skylords” squadron at a ceremony at the Hindon airbase in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh near Delhi on Monday.

The growing hegemony of Indian Forest Service officers in general administration is causing heartburn for the members of the Indian Administrative Service, who are considering to approach department of personnel seeking their intervention.

Sources said that Yasin Bhatkal, co-founder of the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, who was recently arrested by the Central agencies, has reportedly told his interrogators that “he had received instructions from his Pakistani-based handler to target Cyberabad so that foreign companies refrain from expanding their business in India”.

Lucknow’s famous 13-year-old child prodigy, Sushma Verma, who has been selected in the M.Sc Microbiology course at the Lucknow university, becoming the youngest ever student for the course, is getting financial help fro unexpected quarters.

The resurgence of polio in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Israel has had the Indian government worried, which is now considering to make it mandatory for the travellers from these countries visiting India to carry a polio vaccine certificate. The Union health ministry is likely to take up this matter with the ministry of external affairs (MEA) soon. The ministry is also considering to put up polio vaccination booths at the International airports to ensure that visitors are duly vaccinated for polio before they enter the country.

On the eve of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the hills at the invitation of Lepchas, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung blamed the state government of playing “dirty politics” and said that its ‘fight’ for a separate statehood was against the central government.

In the first incident of its kind, pointing to a shocking lapse of security, a serial rapist and psychopath wanted in 26 cases of rape, dacoity and murder across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu escaped from the Parappana Agrahara central prison by jumping over a 30-foot wall fitted with an electric fence around midnight on Sunday.