A day after West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee replied to home minister P. Chidambaram’s letter objecting to the latter’s reference to “Harmad Vahini” as “armed cadres” allegedly propped up by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the home ministry clarified that the contentious letter was sent through speed post on December 22.

The Delhi Metro’s new helpline number would be 155370. The number would be operational from January 1. The Delhi Metro had earlier announced that the new number would be 155363.

Even when there are four months to go for the draw of lots for the DDA housing scheme, the BJP on Tuesday charged that several middlemen and real estate agents are trying to take people for a ride. The BJP has alleged that the middlemen are making illegal money by promising to get the people flats in the DDA Housing scheme 2010.

The Patiala House Court has issued summons against a former senior official of public sector undertaking National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCCL) for defaming an employee on the ground of religion.

A 23-year-old man was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Narela area of outer Delhi while a mutilated body of a 22-year-old youth was found lying in a park near Bindapur police station on Tuesday morning.

The fog eased in the capital but the chill intensified with a light drizzle on Tuesday morning. The weatheman has said that more rain is expected in the coming few days.
Meanwhile, flight operations in the Indira Gandhi International Airport were normal. “There is a western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir, as a result of which Delhi witnessed light rainfall on Tuesday morning. More rains are expected in the yearend,” an Indian Meteorological Department official said.

The government has decided to give private telecom operators six months to put in place a system to provide interception of third generation (3G) mobile services. Home secretary Gopal K. Pillai and secretary (DoT) R. Chandrashekhar discussed the issue and are likely to accept the proposal of the operators asking for six months time to commit themselves on lawful interception of their 3G services, official sources said here on Tuesday.

Bowing to pressure both from fasting Congress MPs and party leaders, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy agreed in principle to withdraw all cases filed against protesters who indulged in violence during the pro- and anti-statehood agitations earlier this year.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday negated party colleague and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman M.M. Joshi’s contention that the PAC is an independent body that can go beyond what the CAG has reported on the 2G spectrum issue, bringing into the open the contradiction within the BJP over its demand for a JPC probe into the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Can anyone with two hands play nine percussion instruments at one go and still create melody with it?
Meet Siyaram, a farmer from Chandauli district in UP, who can play nakkara, tabla, jhanjha, dumdum, thali, botal, taiya, drum and naal — all together with a assemblage he has created with steel plates and bottles.