Post Mumbai, fast track military purchases justified: government

July 16th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Renowned danseuse and social activist Mallika Sarabhai took out a march on Thursday along with several locals to voice their ire and protest against the hooch tragedy that claimed around 130 lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Sarabhai and family members of victims, who died after consumption of spurious liquor, led a march to the Gujarat state's Assembly to demand strict action against those guilty.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has lost Rs.65.58 lakh in equipment purchases for various international airports, the country's official auditor said Thursday. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report tabled in parliament that AAI purchased X-Ray baggage inspection systems (X-BIS) that screen the luggage of passengers at airports for Delhi and Mumbai airports despite the government's efforts to privatise these airports.

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India will convey its concerns over Pakistan's "inaction" against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage when US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns comes here Wednesday on a four-day visit that will prepare the ground for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit here in July. Burns will be the first senior US official to visit New Delhi for formal talks during the second tenure of the Manmohan Singh government.

June 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The US has offered to provide helicopters on lease to India to improve patrolling along its 7,516 km-long coast, a defence ministry official here said Friday. Following the audacious attack on Mumbai last year by terrorists who used the sea route to get into the city, India is considering the option of taking the helicopters on lease for patrolling its vast coastline.

May 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India needs to attract more foreign tourists, whose number has dipped after the Mumbai terror attack and due to economic depression, Tourism Minister Kumari Selja said Saturday. "The tourism sector has a lot of challenges apart from attracting foreign tourists to India.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Satyam fraud case is top priority of the government, and the investigating agency, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), has been asked to put the prosecution on fast track, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs (independent charge) Salman Khurshid said here Friday. "The case is required to be put on the fast track so that the guilty can be punished quickly," Khurshid said after taking charge.

May 5th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat will have its 'witness protection plan' in place within two days, SIT chief R.K. Raghavan said here Tuesday.

May 4th, 2009 GURGAON - A fast track court here Monday sentenced six maxi cab drivers to life imprisonment for having committed two murders in 2006 in Haryana's Gurgaon district. Fast Track Court Magistrate A.K.

April 29th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Maharashtra Government on Wednesday categorically said that no evidence was found during the investigations into Anil Ambani's helicopter sabotage case to suggest a "corporate rivalry" behind the incident. Talking to reporters, state Home Minister Jayant Patil said, "We have not found any evidence that there is a corporate rivalry between two groups and that is why this had happened." "So it is nothing of that sort and the police is heading towards the correct conclusion," he added.

April 29th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Maharashtra Police and family of a dead Anil Ambani Group technician traded charges with each other on Wednesday over the way the latter had died. Bharat Borge was found dead on the railway track last evening between Vile Parle and Andheri suburban stations.

March 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India expects Pakistan to do justice and punish the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday. Addressing journalists after the release of the Congress manifesto here, Manmohan Singh also said diplomacy should be allowed to succeed vis-a-vis Pakistan.

March 2nd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Two first track courts inaugurated Sunday in Orissa have begun work to clear cases related to communal violence in Kandhamal district, officials said. The courts were inaugurated in a renovated building in the district headquarters of Phulbani, some 200 km from here by Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court B.S.

February 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - Industrialist Vijay Mallya, chairman of Force India Formula Team, has roped in actress Deepika Padukone to be the face of his team. Deepika said, if she could manage time from her busy Bollywood schedule, she would love to be one of the team's 'speed divas' and travel around the world for the Formula One Grand Prix event 2009.

January 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI -In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian Navy, for the first time, is buying five radars mounted on tethered balloons as part of its efforts to make the country's 7,516-km long coastline impregnable, an official said. The Israeli Aerostat radars have a three-directional detection range of over 500 km and can track low flying aircraft.

January 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In the wake of the 60-hour hostage drama that unfolded in Mumbai last year, highlighting the lacunae in the Indian Special Forces, the army has asked for more counter terrorism equipment and decided to fast track the procurement process. Interacting with the media ahead of the 61st Army Day, Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said the army has sought 'better guns and goggles to remove night blindness' in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack in which more than 170 people were killed.