Home minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday appealed to the agitating Nagas, who are blocking two National Highways passing through Manipur, to withdraw their strike and come forward for dialogue.
Addressing a meeting, Mr Chidambaram requested the Naga community to forget the past and come to the negotiating table to discuss their problems in an atmosphere of mutual trust for better future as blockade of highways would not help anyone. He inaugurated a mini-secretariat at the Senapati district headquarters town and appealed to the people to settle all issues through dialogue. He also visited Naga-dominated Ukhrul district bordering Burma.

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‘Prisoners on bail can get clemency benefits’
S.S. Negi
New Delhi, Nov. 2

Amidst the nation-wide debate on the clemency powers of the President and governors, the Supreme Court in a an important judgement has held that a convicted prisoner granted pardon should not necessarily be in jail at the time of issuing of the order for remission of the sentence.
A convict, who was on bail could be equally entitled to the benefit of general clemency announced by the government, a bench of Justices A.K. Ganguly and Gyan Sudha Misra ruled while resolving a dispute whether a convict on bail or parole would be entitled to the remission of sentence.
“We are unable to approve the reasoning that the remission cannot be considered when a convict was on bail… this is a wrong approach,” the bench said.

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15 bihar hostages traceless on 2nd day
ANAND S.T. DAS
PATNA, NOV. 2

Combing operations by Bihar police on Wednesday failed to trace the 15 labourers and construction company employees abducted by suspected Maoists in the southern Jamui district on Monday, though officials claimed they would succeed “very soon”.
“We have intensified search operations at several likely sites since this morning. We will trace them very soon,” said A.K. Ambedkar, IGP (Bhagalpur range), who has been in Jamui along with several senior police officials to coordinate the search and rescue operations.
The hostages, all engaged in the construction of a bridge over the Bharnar river by a private construction company, are believed to have been taken away by the rebels into the forests.

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SC guidelines for accident claims
age correspondent
New Delhi, Nov. 2

Expressing serious concern over India emerging as one of the highest accident rate countries, the Supreme Court has laid down six-point guidelines for Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals to decide compensation to victims and asked them to put all such cases on fast track by adopting a “proactive approach” in their disposal with adequate award. The six important parameters to be considered by MACTs across the country for determining the compensation, include loss of earning and other gains in case of death, loss of future earning on account of permanent disability, future medical expenses, compensation for pain; suffering and trauma caused due to disability or amputation of any limb, loss of amenities including loss of prospects of marriage if the victim was unmarried.

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HIV prevention drive in AP yields good results
TEENA THACKER
NEW DELHI, NOV. 2

Introduced in 2004, the HIV prevention programme in Andhra Pradesh have churned out good results. According to recent analysis by India HIVAIDS alliance, a NGO supported by Bill and Medinda Gates foundation, the HIV prevalence in AP has gone done significantly over the years and so is the percentage of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs). The data show that STI rates among Men having sex with Men (MSM) deceased considerably from 28 per cent to 2 per cent over 2006-2011 in Andhra Pradesh. The number of MSM visiting STI clinics on the other hand increased consistently 6000 to 16000) during the same period. Adding a word of caution, experts said that MSM and Transgender (TGs) are at higher risk of acquiring HIV.