NEWS:

• BJP promises economic reforms to boost investment and increase employment.

• A Special Court rejects CBI's plea to drop Ashok Chavan's name as accused in the Adarsh scam case.

• Doctors say, Sunanda Pushkar's death as sudden and unnatural; Last rites performed in New Delhi.

• India and Pakistan to keep the Wagah- Attari border post open round the clock to boost trade.

• Spiritual leader of Dawoodi Bohra community, Dr. Syenda Burhanuddin laid to rest in Mumbai; the death toll in the morning stampede at his residence rises to 18.

• India and New Zealand to start the five day one dayer series tomorrow; first match at Napier .

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BJP has promised economic reforms to boost investment, employment and control the current account and fiscal deficits. President Rajnath Singh said good governance, development, stability and security will be BJP's focus if it comes to power. Addressing the party's National Council meeting in New Delhi today Singh said party will take an onerous responsibility of bringing country's economy back on track.

Even when the big economies of the world imposed sanctions on India, the NDA government did not let the price of essential commodities rise. But today, we are in a situation where the Indian economy has lost its credibility.

The BJP President charged the Congress with pushing the common man to helplessness and frustration under its rule. He said that there is a wave of change in the country and people are fed up with the UPA government's bad policies which led to poverty, price rise, corruption and insecurity.

According to PTI, Mr. Rajnath Singh said Jammu and Kashmir is a very serious and sensitive region of the country, and if Article 370 helps in the development of the state, the party has no objection in keeping it.

Introducing the economic resolution senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely alleged that the ten year UPA rule is a wasted decade. He said the congress led government has failed on all economic parameters and let the country down.

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Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today asked the party workers to fight with unity, focusing on the strengths of the Party and the good works UPA government has done over the last 10 years. He was interacting with the state leaders and party workers in New Delhi today.

In the meeting, Gandhi listened the concerns of the workers and asked them to re-energise for the battle ahead. The meeting which was in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, discussed the issues to strengthen organization.

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Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randip Surjewala have been nominated to the Election Coordination Committee of the party for the next Lok Sabha polls. There are already eight members in the committee, which is headed by party Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

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In a setback to Maharashtra's former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, a special court today rejected the CBI's plea to drop his name from the list of accused in the Adarsh housing society scam case. While dismissing the plea, CBI court judge S G Dighe said even though Governor K. Sankaranarayanan had rejected CBI's plea for sanction to prosecute Mr. Chavan, he could be tried under the Prevention of Corruption act as he has been accused of criminal misconduct.

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The body of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor was cremated in New Delhi today. The Lodhi road crematorium was flocked by her friends and relatives and a battery of media persons. Sunanda's 21-year-old son Shiv Menon lit the pyre. Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda's father and brother were among the family members present at the crematorium.

52-year-old Sunanda was found dead in her suite at the Leela Palace hotel last evening. A three-member panel of doctors headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta, which conducted an autopsy on her said it is a case of sudden unnatural death. Speaking to the media Dr Gupta ruled out poisoning as the cause of death. He said there were certain injuries on her body, which may or may not relate to the cause of death.

We have recorded investigation from medical angle as a case of sudden unnatural death. In view of that we have recorded all the injuries, videographed the whole procedure taken the photographs and retrieved certain biological samples. By receiving all these reports in couple of days we will finalized the postmortem report.

Sunanda and Sashi Tharoor were at the centre of a raging controversy when reports emerged that she was upset over reported text and tweet messages between her husband and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

Continuing investigation, Delhi police said call details record as well as Pushkar's tweets were being checked. Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said inquest proceedings have been initiated by the sub-divisional magistrate of the area.

Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's residence to pay her condolences.

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India today assured to take every step to ensure safety and security of foreign nationals including Africans. This came after a meeting of the External Affairs Ministry officials with the envoys from more than 20 African states on the incident involving Ugandan nationals in Delhi. The MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that Delhi Police Commissioner is setting up single point of contact to address complaints from foreign nationals.

They can contact in case of problems being faced by foreign nationals in India. So they did understand swiftness of the response, the concerns of the Government of India and we hope that we have been able to assuage their concerns on this cause.

An African woman was allegedly forced to give a urinary sample in public for a drug test during Delhi Law Minister's raid in a south Delhi locality accusing them of running a prostitution and drug racket. The women, mostly Ugandans and Nigerians, alleged that they were assaulted by the people not in uniform.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has dismissed the media reports of harassing the African women saying the reports are misleading.

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A Delhi court today fixed April 5 for recording evidence in the defamation case against Chief Minister Kejriwal. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sanjay Bansal who heard the case today allowed Kejriwal's plea for exemption from personal appearance in the case for the day today. The court had earlier framed defamation charges against Kejriwal and put him on trial after he pleaded not guilty in the case.

The case filed by former Political Secretary of previous Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, accuses the AAP chief for using defamatory remarks during the agitation on power tariff hike in October, 2012.

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Government has notified vacancies for the chairperson and eight members of newly created Lokpal. The applications can be submitted by 7th of next month to Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), North Block. The details of vacancies are available on the DOPT site: www.persmin.nic.in

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India and Pakistan have agreed to keep the Wagah - Attari border open round the clock on all days for trade. Both sides also agreed to provide Non-Discriminatory Market Access on a reciprocal basis to establish normal trading relations. In a joint press conference, the Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and his Pakistani counterpart Khurram Dastgir Khan said in New Delhi today that they have decided to implement the agreed measures before the end of next month.

We have agreed that we will open Wagah-Atari Border 24x7 for trade. We also allow the movement of containers for the container terminals through Wagah-Atari to Amritsar and Lahore.

The Pakistani Commerce Minister said to intensify and accelerate the process of trade normalization, liberalization and facilitation, it has been decided to cooperate on business visa and Banking sector.

It is important that both countries businessmen, Industrialists and investors have a level playing field of both sides to engage in the economic, trade and investment relationship.

Khurram Dastgir Khan was in Delhi on a three day visit to attend the 5th SAARC Business Leaders Conclave.

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In Jammu and Kashmir, security forces foiled an infiltration bid from across the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati Sector of district Poonch today, a day after India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over ceasefire violations. According to Defence PRO, a group of three to four militants, trying to sneak into Indian Territory, was challenged by alert army troops guarding the border. The terrorists continued their attempt and the troops had to open fire. Rushing back, the terrorists dispersed.

The firing lasted for 10 minutes while the search operation has been launched in the area. This is the second infiltration attempt in this sector in past six days. During the Brigade Commanders’ level flag meeting conducted at Poonch yesterday, the Indian Army's concerns about this unchecked infiltration were conveyed in strong terms to the Pakistani delegation. Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh today met J&K Governor, N.N Vohra at Jammu and apprised him about the present security scenario in the State. Yogesh Sharma, FOR AIR NEWS, Jammu.

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The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin was laid to rest today. Scores of people attended the funeral ceremony and paid their last respects to the spiritual leader, who died yesterday at the age of 102. After learning of Syedna's death, his followers had started thronging his house, which led to a stampede killing 18 people. Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil ordered a probe into the incident.

Eighteen people were killed, most of them due to suffocation, and more than 40 injured in a stampede when thousands of people gathered to pay last respects to the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin. Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said most of the deaths occurred due to suffocation as the lanes in the area were very narrow and a huge crowd had gathered. Earlier this morning, thousands of people from all walks of life joined hands to form a human chain across the road and bid a tearful adieu to the departed leader. He was laid to rest at Raudat Tahera mausoleum at Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai later in the day. .LUBNA YUSUF MOOSA, AIR NEWS,MUMBAI.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced the nomination Bollywood Actor Mithun Chakraborty as her party Trinamool Congress's candidate for up-coming Rajya Sabha election in the state. Miss Bangerjee said in facebook post that Mithun Chakraborty is a well known film personality and has devoted himself to the cause of culture and social activity with great success.

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More than 17 crore children will be vaccinated under the Pulse Polio Immunization programme this year. The programme was launched by President Pranab Mukherjee today. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was also present at the occasion.

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The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission UPPSC has postponed its Lower Subordinate Examinations scheduled from tomorrow. This follows a stay order on the conduct of examination on writ petitions filed by the aspirants who have been declared over age by the Commission. Secretary of Commission Anil Kumar Yadav has said that fresh dates for examinations will be announced in due course of time.

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In Kabul, a senior IMF official and four UN employees were among 21 people killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack on a restaurant. Officials say Wabel Abdallah, the Head of the IMF's Afghanistan office, and the UN civilian staff died in what UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack in the strongest terms, saying such horrific attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law. Canadians, Lebanese and two Britains were among the 13 foreign victims

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India will take on New Zealand in the first ODI cricket match tomorrow in Napier, New Zealand. The five match one dayer series will conclude on January 31st in Wellington.

India will be looking to defend their number one ranking and for that they need to beat New Zealand, who are ranked eighth currently.

The Test series would be held after the five match cricket ODI series. The first test match will start from 6th February to 10th February in Auckland. While the second test will be played from 14th to 18th February.

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India secured the sixth place even after losing a match to Belgium by 1-2 in the Hockey World League finals tournament in New Delhi today.

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13th January,2014 India made history by completing three year without a single case of wild polio. Experts believed that India was the most difficult place in the world to stop polio, but we accepted the challenge and did not relent.

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