* We are building a new India in which every citizen would have a stake.

* The rate of our economic growth has been better than most other countries in the world. This shows the strength of our economy.

* To ensure equal partnership of women in our progress, we have taken the initiative for reservation for women in parliament and in state legislatures.

* The growth rate of our agriculture has increased substantially in the last few years.

* Our government wants a food safety net in which no citizen of ours would go hungry.

* I would certainly like to say that we are making every possible effort to tackle inflation. I am also confident that we will succeed in these efforts.

* The subsidy on petroleum products has been increasing every year. It had become necessary, therefore, to increase the prices of petroleum products.

* We want the fruits of development to reach the common man.

* Our government is committed to maintain communal peace and harmony.

* We will soon bring a bill in parliament for constitution of two separate councils in higher education and health respectively so that reforms in these two areas can be accelerated.

* Naxalism is a serious challenge to our internal security. We will deal firmly with those who resort to violence.

* It is also our endeavour that our adivasi brothers and sisters join the mainstream of development.

* We have a special responsibility towards the states of the

northeast. I would like to convey to all political parties and groups of the northeast that disputes in the name of state or tribe can only harm all of us.

* In Jammu and Kashmir, we are ready to talk to every person or group which abjures violence. Kashmir is an integral part of India.

* As far as Pakistan is concerned, we expect from them that they would not let their territory be used for acts of terrorism against India.

* The Commonwealth Games will start in Delhi after about one and a half months. I am convinced that all our countrymen will treat the Games as a national festival and will leave no stone unturned to make them a success.

While the last rally was addressed by Rahul Gandhi in Ambedkar Nagar town in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the new destination would be somewhere in the western part of the state.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told IANS: “We have yet to finalise the place where he would undertake a padyatra or address a rally, we have been told it would be a prominent place in the western part of the state.”

“The reason for selecting western Uttar Pradesh was that in this area Congress had done well in the past but failed to even retain some of its own seats in the last Lok Sabha election,” she said.

“This is part of the party’s campaign undertaken as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations of the party,” remarked a senior Congressman.

The first round of padyatras and rallies commenced April 14, the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and concluded May 12.

The second round would begin Oct 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and conclude Nov 12 at Allahabad.

While Rahul Gandhi would kickstart the padyatra, his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi would join the last leg in Allahabad.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) M.M. Baig said: “We have registered a case and are trying to nab the criminals who are absconding.”

The victim’s brother, in his complaint, named four local goons for the murder. He named Amit, Sandeep, Deepak (brothers) and their friend Manoj, all residents of Devnagar locality, police said.

The complainant said Bharat was earlier engaged in business and the four had a rivalry with him.

Police said Bharat was killed after a booze party with friends.

The accused took him to the kiln on the pretext of dropping him at his home, police said.

He is among the 114 personnel from the armed forces, central paramilitary forces and state police services who have been honoured with the President’s Independence Day gallantry awards, a government statement said Saturday.

Captain Davinder Singh Jass of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), who died fighting Lashkar-e-Taiba extremists in Sopore on Feb 23 this year, and Vinod Kumar Choubey, superintendent of police in Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh who died in a gunbattle with Maoists on July 12, 2009, have been awarded Kirti Chakra, the second highest awards for peace time gallantry.

Major Thongam Joten Singh of 21st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) and Major Ajay Singh of the 11th Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry have been selected for the Bar to Shaurya Chakra awards.

The awardees include one Ashoka Chakra, two Kirti Chakras, two Bar to Shaurya Chakras, 19 Shaurya Chakras, two Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry), 80 Sena Medals (Gallantry), three Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and five Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).

“Though Satish has said he eliminated her because she was not treating his parents well, we are probing the dowry angle also,” the officer said.

He has been sent to police custody by a magistrate.

The couple, hailing from Lucknow and married for four years, had shifted to a rented house in Hulimavu in south Bangalore from his parent’s house in the same locality about six months back, police said. They had no children.

Priyanka was found dead in her flat early Tuesday, with her throat slit and hands and legs tied.

In a statement on the day of the murder Satish had told the police that when he went for a morning walk at around 5.40 a.m., his wife called him on his mobile to check if he had asked anyone to supply newspapers, as two unidentified people were standing at the door telling he had sent them to the house and to open the door.

“I told her that I did not send anyone and that she should not open the door but carry on with her yoga session. When I returned at around 6.40 a.m. I found the door locked and there was no response to the door bell or her mobile. I thought she would have gone back to sleep. Then I went to office to bring the duplicate keys and was shocked to find her dead on entering the house,” Satish, 32, said in a statement to police.

City Joint Police Commissioner (crime) Alok Kumar had said after visiting the second floor rented house of the couple: “We are not clear why Gupta didn’t inform the police immediately or enquired from neighbours about the crime.”

“How could the main door have remained locked and her throat slit? How and from where did the assailants enter the house?” Kumar said.

Satish had told the police that gold, jewellery and some other valuables worth Rs.2.5 lakh were missing from the house though a gold chain around Priyanka’s neck and a gold ring on her finger were intact on her body.

For 15-year-old Rimi, who sells flowers at red lights, it means much the same thing. “‘Azaadi’ (freedom) is if I can sell all my flowers at the red lights and earn as much money as possible so that I can arrange food for my mother and myself,” he said.

Wearing a big smile, Shilpi, who lives in Kathputli colony near Shadipur, urges passersby to part with a little money, persistently hanging on to their shirt sleeves to sell stationery.

She has heard of ‘pandrah agast’ (Aug 15), but not surprisingly has her own interpretation of the meaning of the day. “Perhaps on that day I will sell a pencil to a ‘firang’ (foreigner) in return for dollars!” she said with a mischievous smile.

Pounding away at a nail on the sole of an upturned shoe, Ashfaq has time to ponder on the state of the country as he waits for customers at his small cobbler’s shack in a government colony. “It means the right to live. That’s it. Live and let others live as they like,” he said.

Guddu, a 24-year-old tailor in R.K. Puram, said: “Freedom for me is love. Just to spread brotherhood among the people of different castes and community. I really love all the freedom fighters and I am inspired by them as well,” he said.

Vinita, a 21-year-old student of bachelor of commerce in Delhi University, wants freedom from the stares of men while traversing the roads of the capital.

“Freedom is if men stop ogling at women in Western clothes in buses and the Metro. Eve-teasing should be stopped – that would be the greatest freedom for me,” she said.

For others, freedom is often associated with a sense of pride, whether for the country or for their own self.

Kavita Nagpal, a 48-year-old homemaker and mother of five girls, has her life revolving around the ambitions of her school-bound children.

“I don’t know what freedom is, but what will get me the biggest pride is when my girls will grow up and do well. I want them to have a good job and make a name for themselves…and me,” she said shyly.

Leaning against his motorcycle, P.S. Mishra, a traffic policeman, smoked a cigarette while staring at the cars and buses drove past in one of the city’s busiest roads in Connaught Place.

“If the October Commonwealth Games go off smoothly, I will be free then… and proud that my country can pull it off,” said a smiling Mishra.

Devirupa Mitra and Amit Kumar

“At present, a total of 335,232 patients are receiving free ART (antiretroviral therapy) at 281 centres as on June 2010,” he said.

While 312,451 adults are getting this therapy, about 20,302 children are on ART, he added.

About 78,592 people – 73,394 adults and 5,198 children – are receiving the free drug in Maharashtra – the highest number in the country.

It is followed by Andhra Pradesh where 71, 769 people – 67,976 adults and 3,793 children – are getting the treatment.

The others are Karnataka (44,017), Tamil Nadu (44,493), Uttar Pradesh (12,163), Delhi (7,875), Rajasthan (7,464), Manipur (5,754) and Orissa (2,503).

A bench of Justice Nair June 23 had directed police, civic bodies, local self-governments and revenue departments to refuse permission for roadside meetings, saying it issued the order to ensure free flow of traffic on public roads and also for the safety of the public.

Addressing reporters here shortly after the judgment came, Balakrishnan said the division bench’s dismissal of the review petition was expected.

“See, the same bench as the one which banned the holding of meetings on roadsides looked into the review petition. So it is quite natural that this would be the outcome. We will now go to courts above that with an appeal,” he said.

Justice Nair last month slammed the Kerala government for filing a petition seeking his replacement from the bench hearing the review petition.

“Two conspirators have been arrested, and incriminating materials have been recovered,” he said.

The arrested have been identified as Vinay Kumar, 30, of Ramanathapura in Hassan district, about 200 km from here, and Devaiah, 33, of Nallur in Kodagu district, around 250 km from Bangalore.

An unlicensed pistol, seven bullets, visa and passport documents and Rs.10 lakh (Rs.one million) in cash were seized from Devaiah’s house Rabindranath Tagore Nagar in north Bangalore, Bidari said.

“Bangalore Police received credible inputs to the effect that the ISI had engaged Dawood Ibrahim and through his accomplice Chhota Shakeel to engage Maoists – that is Naxalite leaders in India – and instigate them to commit terrorist acts,” the police commissioner said.

He said Vinay Kumar had received Rs. 25 lakh (Rs. 2.5 million) from a person identified as Altaf alias Rakesh of Dakshina Kannada, about 350 km from here, to organize terror acts.

Bidari said Altaf was residing in Dubai and was trying to establish contacts with Maoists in Karnataka to egg them on carry out terror acts.

Maoists are active mainly in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka.

Vinay Kumar was planning to take a few Maoists in Karnataka to Dubai while Devaiah had established contacts with Maoists in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Bidari said.

Before moving to Dubai, Altaf ran a bar and restaurant on upscale Residence Road in Bangalore’s central business district. Vinay Kumar worked there as a bouncer, Bidari said.

Devaiah was a private detective who came in contact with Altaf through Vinay Kumar, he said.

An Interpol alert will be issued for arrest of Altaf, Bidari said.

The Hermes Prize for Innovation 2010 contains a certificate and a statue of Hermes, the messenger of gods in Greek mythology.

The citation describes the e-network as the most ambitious programme of distance education and tele-medicine in Africa even undertaken and hails it as “the first example of a large Project South-South development support”.

A brainchild of India’s then president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the e-network seeks to bridge the digital divide across the 53-nation African continent and seeks to provide tele-medicine and tele-education through a fibre-optic network.

The project is being shepherded and implemented by the state-run Telecommunications of India Limited (TCIL).

It also includes setting up a “VVIP” network between offices of the heads of state or government across Africa. Thirty VVIP nodes have been set up in African countries for video-conferencing among the heads of states.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will inaugurate the second phase of the Pan-African e-Network Project Monday which will bring another 12 African countries into the ambit of the project. The first phase of the Project, covering 11 countries, was inaugurated by Krishna Feb 26 last year.

The countries that will formally join the network Aug 16 are Botswana, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia and Uganda. “For the first time, we will have to countries from North Africa who will be part of the program,” said an official.

The eleven countries in the first batch were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Seychelles.

So far, India has signed agreement with 47 countries in Africa, but the infrastructure has been completed in thirty-four of them.

The seven Indian educational institutions associated with the project are Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, Amity University, University of Madras, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, University of Delhi and IIT Kanpur.

Under the Project, telemedicine patient end locations have already been set up in 11 Indian Super Specialty Hospitals. These have been connected to 33 Patient-End Hospitals in African countries. Regular tele-medicine consultations have already started in some of the African countries.

Tele-education teaching centres have also been set-up five Indian universities and 34 Learning Centers (LCs) have been set up in African countries.

Tele-education learning centres have also been set-up in three Regional Leading University Centres in Africa: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; Makerere University, Uganda; and Yaounde University, Cameroon).

More than 1,700 African students have already registered with Indian universities.