President Pratibha Patil, vice-president Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Union ministers and chief ministers of different states on Monday condoled the demise of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and said his loss has created a huge void in the world of music.

The Chhattisgarh high court will continue hearing of the petition by jailed rights activist Binayak Sen seeking suspension of his life sentence awarded to him by the trial court in Raipur on December 24 on sedition charge, and bail for him, on Tuesday.

Thousands of upper-caste jat protesters continued their blockade of Haryana’s Jind city even as leaders of the agitation rejected fervent appeals by state director-general police Ranjeev Dalal on finding a peaceful resolution.

The intractable environment minister Jairam Ramesh has softened his stand towards industry and admits to be working overtime to arrive at a workable compromise on the Lavasa hill city.

The Jammu and Kashmir police has in its tough campaign against alleged “hawala” racketeers arrested half-a-dozen persons, including a woman, from different parts of the Valley. The accused, the police claimed, are associated with Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference faction and or were helping Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terror group.

Chief Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas finally broke his silence on inclusion of his name in the decades-old palmolein import scam of Kerala, claiming that he had been a “victim” of political rivalry between the UDF and LDF alliances in the state.

After nearly nine years, verdict on the controversial Godhra train carnage case, in which 58 Karsevaks were charred to death near Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, is expected to be delivered on February 19 by a special trial court.

Lal Chowk, which is once again in the political spotlight after being chosen by the BJP’s youth wing for hoisting the tricolour on January 26, witnessed worst traffic jams during the day on Monday as several neighbourhood streets and roads have been blocked for their close proximity with city’s Bakshi Stadium, the venue of official Republic Day celebrations.

Responding to apprehensions of a possible terror strike on the BJP’s controversial Rashtriya Ekta Yatra which is headed to hoisting the national flag at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk despite vehement opposition from both J&K’s Omar Abdullah government and Kashmiri separatists, the Punjab police has deployed huge security arrangements to protect the saffron marchers before they cross the Punjab-Jammu Border at Lakhanpur on Tuesday.

Lashing out at main Opposition BJP for undertaking Rashtriya Ekta Yatra to Srinagar to hoist national flag at Lal Chowk, the ruling Congress claimed the move to be the “most naked manifestation of political opportunism”. It also asked the main Opposition as to why the party did not undertake any such march when NDA was in power for six years.