The Opposition mounted a blistering attack on the Akhilesh Yadav government on the opening day of the UP Assembly on Monday and did not allow the House proceedings to be held.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has termed the Muzaffarnagar riots as “very tragic incident” and said that the guilty must be punished. The Prime Minister said that the top priority of the Central government would be to ensure that people displaced from their homes due to the riots are sent back safely.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav faced black flags and a hostile crowd when he visited the riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar on Sunday.

Sulabh Foundation founder Bindeshwar Pathak on Sunday handed over a cheque of `8 lakhs to Sushma Verma, the child prodigy who has completed her graduation at the age of 13.

The four-day Uttar Pradesh Assembly session, beginning on Monday will give a gruelling time to the Samajwadi government in general and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, in particular.

Nearly 14 blackbucks have died in the Lucknow zoo in the past one week, mainly due to bronchopneumonia.
According to Dr Parag Nigam, an expert from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), bronchopneumonia is severe infection of the lungs. “The blackbucks, most of them sub-adult females with a weaker immune system, died of respiratory distress and had severely affected lungs,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has withdrawn permission for a BJP rally that was to be addressed by senior party leader L.K. Advani and Varun Gandhi in Akola in Agra on September 15.

After facing severe criticism, the Akhilesh Yadav government has quietly revoked the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was removed as Greater Noida SDM after taking on the powerful sand mafia.

In keeping with its two-decade old tradition, the Samajwadi Party, on Thursday, continued to blow hot and cold on the Mohd Azam Khan issue.

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has rejected the allegation that the Muzaffarnagar riots were running parallel to the Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002.