Nirmal Om newsline

Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry inaugurated the Baselworld Fair in Switzerland along with Swiss Home Minister Federal Councillor Mr. Didier Burkhalter at Basel Switzerland on 24th March, 2011. Shri Sharma on this occasion stated that, “Out of 12 diamonds processed in the world, 11 are processed in India’. India is the global leader in the diamonds and coloured gemstone sector, and is looking forward to greater investment by the world’s top watch and jewellery brands into the country.” India has been honoured as the guest country in this year’s Baselworld fair, which is the premiere Fair in the watches and Gem and Jewellery sector in the world, he added. India, with its 1.2 billion aspiring population, offers limitless opportunities for manufacturing as well as a market, assured the Minister. Later during the day, Shri Sharma met with CEOs of top watch brands like Rolex, Tag Hueuer, Tissot, Chopard, Swatch, Raymond Weil, etc. On 25th March 2011, Union Minister ...

Cricket diplomacy to give a fresh impetus to bilateral ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Pakistan President and Prime Minister to watch the Indo-Pak cricket encounter in Mohali on 30th March when he will also be present. In an identical letters to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, he said he proposed to watch the Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final and "it gives me a great pleasure" to invite them to watch the match."There is huge excitement over the match and we are all looking forward to a great game of cricket that will be a victory for sport."It gives me great pleasure to invite you to visit Mohali and join me and the millions of fans from our two countries to watch the match," he said in the letters to both the leaders. Dr. Singh's cricket diplomacy will be the first major bilateral event at the summit level between the two sides either in India or Pakistan since 26/11 attacks when relations between the two cou...

The Shunglu Committee probing the Commonwealth Games irregularities has reportedly blamed Delhi’s Lt Governor and senior officials of Delhi Development Authority(DDA) for excess payment to the games village developers. Khanna is ex-officio chairman of DDA. The Committee in its report on games village said DDA chairman, vice-chairman and two members of the authority were responsible for undue gains to the private developers.The committee in its 81-page second report submitted to the government recommended action against those responsible for favouring the developers.The committee estimated a loss to DDA of more than 134 crore rupees on purchase of flats at higher rates and another about 100 crores on account of unauthorised payments and carrying cost of unsold apartments. VK Shunglu, former CAG was appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office to probe Commonwealth Games irregularities.He recommended detailed investigation into deliberate acts of omission and commission by the Lt. Governe...

Washington, D.C. - Food prices have soared to record highs and are projected to increase further in the coming decade, pushing millions of people into hunger and fueling political unrest around the world. The Worldwatch Institute's recently released report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, shows that diversifying food production to include local and indigenous vegetables can help communities boost their self-sufficiency and protect vulnerable populations from price shocks. "The solutions to the price crisis won't necessarily come from producing more food, but from listening to farmers, investing in indigenous vegetables, and changing how foods are processed and marketed," said Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet project (www.NourishingthePlanet.org). Over a 15-month period, researchers with Nourishing the Planet traveled to 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa highlighting stories of hope and success...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday said that his security forces will soon take charge of security in seven areas around the nation, the first step toward his goal of having Afghan police and soldiers protecting the entire nation by the end of 2014. In a speech today in Kabul, Karzai said the provincial capitals of Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan, Herat in the west, Mazer-e-Sharif in the north and Mehterlam in the east are slated for transition from NATO-led forces to Afghan soldiers and police beginning in July.In addition, all of Bamiyan and Panshir provinces, which have seen little to no fighting, are on the transition list. Also slated for transition is Kabul province except for the restive Surobi district, which is along a main route to the Pakistan border and in proximity to dangerous areas of neighbouring provinces, he said."The Afghan nation doesn't want the defence of this country to be in the hands of others anymore," Karzai told hundreds of dignit...

New Delhi, March 21: Gita and the Koran are complementary to each other and several principles laid down in both the sacred books are surprisingly similar, noted Sanskrit scholar Dr Mohd Hanif Khan Shastri has said.Dr Khan, a devout Muslim who teaches at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, a deemed university under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, was delivering a talk on ‘Gita, Koran and Civilizational Harmony’ organized by the Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony (GFCH-INDIA), in collaboration with Vivekananda International Foundation on the eve of Holi on Saturday, March 19, 2011 in New Delhi. Maintaining that Gita held the key to entire Indian Philosophy and ancient religious discourse, Dr Khan said the sacred book can be hailed as a source for all the existing religions in the world.Dr Khan also recited extensively from his poetry collection in Hindi ‘Mohan Gita’ which has 700 poems based on 700 shlokas from the ancient Indian scripture. The book is under publ...

PTI reports _India today regretted the air strikes by US-led coalition and called upon all parties to abjure use of force and resolve their differences through peaceful means. "India views with grave concern the continuing violence, strife and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya. It regrets the air strikes that are taking place. The measures adopted should mitigate and not exacerbate an already difficult situation for the people of the country," Ministry of External Affairs said. "Spoke to Ambassador (M) Manimekalai in Tripoli a short while ago. She is cool and calm. Harrowing Saturday night tho' with jets screaming above, she says (Ambassador)," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao tweeted.India hoped that the air strikes would not harm innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions and their personnel, who are still in Libya