There is a strong feeling among India's metropolitan youth that things are getting worse and change is urgently required across a whole spectrum of areas from corruption to education,

 CHENNAI: There were two surprise visitors at the 22nd death anniversary function of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur, about 40 km from Chennai, on Tuesday

LUCKNOW: In a setback for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, UP lokayukta NK Mehrotra has indicted 199 people including Bahujan Samaj Party chief's close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui in the dalit memorial scam. In his report submitted to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the lokayukta has said that public money worth Rs 1,400 crore was siphoned off by ministers and bureaucrats during her regime.

NEW DELHI: Even as Union home ministry officials maintain that Friday night's encounter in Chhattisgarh, in which eight villagers were killed, was genuine and intelligence-based, they have announced a Rs 2-lakh compensation each for the victims' kin, in addition to the Rs 3-lakh component to be borne by the Centre in the Rs 5-lakh relief offered by the state government. Whatever the outcome of the judicial enquiry, the compensation — in all Rs 7 lakh each — would reach the kin beforehand.

NEW DELHI: States perennially cry for fund to modernize their police forces, but most of them fail to utilize it when they get Central assistance. Government figures show that 14 of the 28 states did not spend a single penny of what they got from the home ministry during 2011-12.

PATNA: The ruling allies in Bihar — JD(U) and BJP — continue to remain locked in a battle for political oneupmanship. The BJP on Monday predicted more parties would join the NDA and that the JD(U) would not think of parting ways even as chief minister Nitish Kumar called himself the "NDA boss in Bihar" while taking pot shots at Narendra Modi.

PATNA: Former railway minister Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its leaders have hired 13 special trains to ferry party workers and supporters to Patna for the Parivartan Rally on May 15. The party leaders will pay around Rs 1.5 crore to Railways for the purpose.

WASHINGTON: A US court in Wisconsin has reserved its decision in the alleged human rights violation case against Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal after completing hearing in the matter.

AHMEDABAD: Under attack from right wing forces, Gujarat government on Tuesday kept on hold its decision to seek death penalty for former minister Maya Kodnani, BabuBajrangi and eight others in the 2002 NarodaPatia riots case.

JAIPUR: Soaring petrol prices have forced the Army to look for other options in the SUV variant and it started summer trials of Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Safari in Thar desert in Rajasthan.