New Delhi: Acting on the directive of the Supreme Court, Government on Thursday decided to release an extra 2.5 million tonnes of foodgrains to states for distribution among the poor but it will not not be free.

"As an interim ad-hoc measure, pending a final decision on the issue, the government is releasing an additional quantity of 2.5 million tonnes of wheat and rice to the states at a BPL price for next six months," Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters after a meeting of an Empowered Group of Ministers.

The meeting of the EGoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee came two days after the Supreme Court slammed Pawar for calling the court's August 12 on the issue as a suggestion.

Sources said the meeting deferred a decision on increasing the price of sugar and foodgrains sold through ration shops, an issue that has been hanging fire for a long time. On August 12, the apex court had orally observed that the government should ensure free distribution of foodgrains to poor instead. In the written order the court said, "The government shall supply foodgrains to poor at low cost or no cost." (PTI)

PATNA: Under pressure from Maoists who on Thursday claimed to have killed one of the four policemen kidnapped from Lakhisarai district, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his government was ready for talks with the ultras and assured them safe passage for the negotiations.

"Who says that we are not ready for talks? We are ready for talks for securing the release of the policemen beind held hostages by the Maoists," Kumar said on the sidelines of a function here.

"We are ready to give full protection to anyone from their side (Maoists) coming for talks ... we will bear the expenses that they incur to and from here," he said while stating that it should be kept in minds that talks could be held on the subject which was within the domain of the state.

Avinash, a self-proclaimed Maoist spokesman, telephoned media offices here, claiming that one of the hostages, sub-inspector, Abhay Yadav, had been killed after the expiry of the deadline for freeing eight ultras in jail in exchange for the release of the hostages.

Director General of Bihar Police Neelmani, however, said there was no evidence of the ultras taking the extreme step.

"Search operations have been intensified for the hostages," he said.

In New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry said it was fully with state government in dealing with the problem and fully supported what it was doing.

Avinash also threatened to kill the three other policemen held captive by 10:00 am tomorrow if the state government failed to comply with the Maoists' demand.

The Maoists had kidnapped sub-inspectors Rupesh Kumar and Abhay Prasad Yadav, BMP havildar Ehtesham Khan and BMP ASI Lucas Tete after the encounter in Kajra police station area on Sunday, which had left eight policemen dead.

JHARGRAM: The bodies of two CPI(M) activists were found at Ektal village under Jhargram police station on Thursday even as the Maoists called a 24-hour bandh on Thursday in Junglemahal areas protesting against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on the Naxal issue in New Delhi on Wednesday.

SP, West Midnapore, M K Varma said the bullet-ridden bodies of two CPI(M) workers were found at Ektal village. Maoist posters were found lying near the bodies stating that CPI(M) workers Prasanta Das and Manoj Mahato were killed as they were police informers.

The combined forces are yet to reach the village and recover the bodies.

Meanwhile, life in the Junglemahal areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts was paralysed due to the bandh call.

All shops and business establishments, schools and educational institutions remained closed and very few vehicles were seen on the roads.The Maoists had called the bandh to protest Mr Chidambaram's statement denying that killing of Maoist leader Azad had adversely impacted the dialogue process. (UNI)

HYDERABAD: Exactly a year after his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death, Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is facing a political dilemma as ministers and MLAs in Andhra Pradesh have now virtually deserted him.

He has no real supporters, except two, in the Andhra Pradesh council of ministers while not more than 20 MLAs are publicly backing him. The Cabinet ministers who vowed to forego their posts if Jagan was not made the chief minister, immediately after YSR's death in a helicopter crash on September 2 last year, have now virtually deserted him.

"I will not only quit my Cabinet post but also split the Congress party in the state if Jagan is not made the chief minister," Forest Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy thundered as he entered the Samatha block in the Secretariat for an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on September 3 last year.

Home Minister P Sabita Reddy, Information Technology Minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Health Minister Danam Nagender, Secondary Education Minister Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, Rural Water Supply Minister P Viswaroop and many other ministers spoke in a similar tone. In fact, Vara Prasada Rao announced that he made it to the state Legislative Assembly only due to Jagan and, as such, would not continue in the Cabinet without the latter heading it.

Only Konda Surekha, who held the Women Development and Child Welfare portfolio in the YSR Cabinet, stuck to her word and quit her post as the Congress high command firmly backed K Rosaiah for the chief minister's job.

One year down line, the ministers fell silent and have distanced themselves from Jagan who has been constantly defying the party high command. Now, the ministers are not even raising the demand for Jagan's appointment as the chief minister. Only Social Welfare Minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Mines Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy have affirmed their loyalty. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Terming the condition of the country as ''explosive and worrisome'', BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said after forcing Pandits out of Kashmir, separatist forces now want the nearly one lakh Sikhs of the state to either convert to Islam or leave the valley.

Addressing a workers' conference here, Mr Gadkari said the UPA government was not capable of handling either the internal nor the external situation of the country which was passing through a bad phase.

Calling for addressing the issue of threat to Sikhs in Kashmir on an urgent basis, Mr Gadkari said, ''At present only the BJP can protect India.''

Chiding the UPA for comparing the symbol of Indian culture -- saffron colour -- with terrorism, the BJP chief said his party will not allow this conspiracy of the government to succeed.

''Terrorists like Afzal Guru are not being hanged by the UPA government deliberately, and loot of hundreds of crores is taking place in name of Common Wealth Games. (UNI)

MANGALORE: India is inching closer towards building the world's largest solar telescope in Ladakh on the foothills of the Himalayas that aims to study the sun's microscopic structure.

The National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) project has gathered momentum with a global tender floated for technical and financial bidding by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

The tender that was floated last week calls for expression of interest (EoI) to design, manufacture and install the two-metre class solar telescope at a cost of Rs.150 crore (around $31 million).

"The solar telescope will help study the microscopic structure of the sun and derive specific observations that are speculative in nature," IIA director Siraj Hasan told IANS here.

Solar telescopes are special-purpose scientific instruments used to study the sun. They are among the biggest fixed telescopes and are equipped with an optical flat mirror system to track the sun rays and direct them on to the telescope.

The sun is the star at the centre of the solar system. Three quarters of the sun's mass consists of hydrogen and the rest is helium. Less than two percent consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron.

The unique project involves other scientific organisations such as the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational-Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Inter-University Centre. The IIA will be the nodal agency.

"The pre-technical discussion meeting will be held in October," Hasan said.

Though the 10-metre optical telescope at Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the largest, the Indian instrument will be the largest among solar telescopes.

Currently, the world's largest solar telescope is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, with a diameter of 1.6 metres in Kitt Peak National Observatory at Arizona in the US.

"The larger the diameter and larger the surface available to absorb sunlight, the more rays can be collected per second, enabling researchers to collect data with greater clarity and obtain accurate results," Hasan noted.

The solar telescope can study particles, which are spread across 50 km on the sun.

"A suitable site has been identified at Merak village near Pangong Lake," Hasan pointed out. The village is situated in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. (IANS)

The victims were Surendra Singh, 22, Kishan Singh, 17, and Savitri Singh, 40.Snake-bitten woman, Chinta Singh, who suffered burns in the mishap, has been hospitalised, police added.The tragedy occurred when Surendra and Kishan were taking Chinta to a hospital for treatment of snake bite she suffered in the morning.On their way, the two youth got burnt, while Chinta suffered burns when they accidentally hit a live electricity cable. Savitri, police said, died while trying to save the youth. (UNI)

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