Lucknow, May 27 (IANS) Two men have been arrested from an Uttar Pradesh town with two ‘ashtdhatu‘ (eight-medal) antique idols worth Rs.20 crore in the international market, police said Thursday.

Shahabuddin and Ashok Prasad opened fire as they were nabbed Wednesday evening in Taryasujan, 350 km from here.

‘Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted the two. They opened fire at us. After a one-hour gunfight, we managed to arrest them,’ police inspector Nitish Srivastava told reporters.

‘We are yet to ascertain the place from where the two men brought the idols as they gave contradictory statements. They are being interrogated.’

The two have confessed that they have been operating for the last five years in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

While Shahabuddin is from Uttar Pradesh, Prasad hails from Bihar. Both are in their early 40s.

New Delhi, Mar 22 (ANI): The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared that his party and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) would contest all Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“We have taken a decision that in the constituency of Aurangabad, Sasaram and Madhubani, which were left for the Congress earlier, we will be fielding our candidates,” Prasad told reporters in a press conference here.

Meanwhile, Ram Vilas Paswan said that his party was very much a part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and his recent alliance with the RJD would play an important role to strengthen the alliance.

“The LJP in Bihar will strengthen the UPA and our alliance with the RJD will come out as a strong force,” Paswan added.

At the same time, Janata Dal- United (JDU) chief Sharad Yadav has justified his decision of denying ticket to the veteran leader and former Union Minister George Fernandes.

“We would never want to deny ticket to a leader like George Fernandes, but in general elections there are 15 lakh voters. We are not lacking in giving respect to him but in such ill health, he is not fit to fight elections,’ Sharad Yadav added.

India will hold the general elections between April 16 and May 13, in which 714 million people will cast their votes. (ANI)

Dumariya (Bihar), Mar 23 (ANI): Maoists conducted a public court here to punish four thieves caught in connection with automobile thefts in the state.

The thieves were accused of stealing one car and two two-wheelers.

The court, which was held in the forest area of Dumariya region in Bihar, saw the thieves being subjected to judgement by villagers.

The villagers beat the thieves up with sticks publicly as a punishment for their crime.

“The Maoists caught us and then handed over to the public,” said Dhruv Sagar, a thief.he Maoists said they did not believe in the police procedure and hence preferred this way to punish the culprits.

“The police send the culprits to prison but here we directly hand over the culprits to the public and they decide their punishment,” said Kishore, Maoist Commander. (ANI)

New Delhi, Mar 23 (ANI): UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi or her son and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi must be projected as Prime Minister to ensure a victory for the Indian National Congress (INC) in the 2009 general elections, a website has said.

According to the Politicsparty. com, the Congress Party is losing ground just ahead of the general elections, and the recent spate of differences emerging between the Congress and its allies in the UPA has made matters worse.

With two important allies-RJD and LJP-parting ways with the Congress over a seat sharing formula in Bihar and Jharkhand, the Congress must ensure that it does not the lose electoral due to a lack of able leadership.

The above predictions have been made as the UPA has fallen apart on the eve of the polls, the website concludes. (ANI)

New Delhi, Mar 23 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil on Monday issued the notification for the first phase of the five phased Lok Sabha elections.

Notifications were also issued by respective Governors for 154 of the 294 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 70 of the 147 Assembly seats in Orissa, going to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the first phase.

As many as 124 out of the total 543 constituencies will go to polls in the first phase, which is scheduled to be held on April 16 covering 15 states and two Union Territories.

The election process will be completed in one go in the first phase in Kerala (20 seats), Chhattisgarh (11) and Arunachal Pradesh (2).

Mizoram, Nagaland and the two Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakhadweep with one seat each are also covered in this phase.

Constituencies in other states to be covered in this phase include Andhra Pradesh – 22, Uttar Pradesh -16, followed by 13 seats each in Bihar and Maharashtra. Ten seats in Orissa and six in Jharkhand will also go to polls in the first phase.

Candidates may file their nomination papers till March 30. The national parties at present are the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPM, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Notification for the second phase of elections for 141 seats will be issued on March 28, for third phase for 107 seats on April two, for fourth phase for 85 seats on April 11 and for the fifth phase for 86 seats on April 17. (ANI)

Rohtas, Feb. 10 (ANI): UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP of trying to divide the nation on communal lines by raising the issue of Ram Temple at Ayodhya the time and again.

Addressing a meeting at Dalmiya Nagar in Rohtas district in Bihar, Sonia said that the BJP is trying to capture power in the name of the God and it clearly shows that communal forces has no other issue to raise in the coming general elections.

While urging the people of India to defeat the nefarious designs of the BJP, Sonia said that the UPA would leave no stone unturned in maintaining its tradition of social harmony.

Speaking on the occasion, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said that the construction of Freight Corridors would go a long way in ushering-in all around development of the country. (ANI)

Gorakhpur, Jan.12: (ANI): Trade routes between India and Nepal, which pass through the north Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are misused by smugglers who employ physically disabled persons.

Many people from both the sides of the border are involved in smuggling of rice, wheat and other cereals along the 400-km-long border between Uttar Pradesh and Nepal.

Mafia of smugglers have roped in several such physically challenged persons as carriers of illegal merchandise across the border since such persons escape from being frisked at the checkpoints in Uttar Pradesh and also West Bengal.

Smuggling mafia that had traditionally traded in narcotics and arms and ammunition in the past, is now using these disabled persons to carry large quantities of sugar, cement, fertilisers and gas cylinders from India into Nepal following soaring prices of these items in the Himalayan nation.

Smuggled articles are stocked in border areas in India before being smuggled to the other side on tricycles rode, by physically challenged smugglers.

“I met with an accident few years ago. Since then I have become physically challenged. I took up this profession because I have to take care of my family. There are almost 20-25 physically challenged persons engaged in this profession. We usually carry sugar and cement with us, we never carry any forbidden products with us,” said Mohammed Ali, a physically challenged carrier.

The problem is that usually these people are looked upon with sympathy and thus jawans of SSB (Sahastra Seema Bal), the para military force meant to guard the Indo-Nepal border, are not stern against with such people.

“These physically challenged people are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There is a box under their tricycle and usually they carry sugar, fertilizers and gas cylinders with them to Nepal,” said S. K.Singh, Assistant Commandant, Sahastra Seema Bal.

Singh further said that these physically challenged smugglers are about 100 in number, and the number is on the increase.

These physically challenged persons are forced to take to smuggling, as they don’t have any alternate source of income. y Pawan Kumar Shah (ANI)

Amritsar, Jan 12 (ANI): Vice President Hamid Ansari will inaugurate the fourteenth National Youth Festival here today.

It is the first time that National Youth Festival would be held in Punjab till January 16.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will preside over the function. Dr. M.S. Gill, Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports and Gulzar Singh Ranike, Sports Minister, Punjab , will be the ‘Guests of Honour’ at the function.

About 4000 young persons from all States and UTs are expected to participate in the festival.

The festival is organised every year from January 12 to 16. January 12 being the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda is observed as National Youth Day.

On the occasion, the Vice President will give away National Youth Awards and Awards to the National Youth Outstanding Clubs.

Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports presents National Youth awards every year to motivate young persons to achieve excellence in the field of national service and to encourage them to develop a sense of responsibility to their community and to improve their own potential as good citizens and young leaders.

The Award consists of a silver medal, a certificate and a cash prize.

The Government has also doubled award money for individual awardees from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 40,000 and for voluntary organizations from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakhs.

During the five-day festival, there will be competitive events in 16 individual items and two group items.

In addition to this a young Artists Camp, Yuva Kriti and an Adventure Festival will be organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan that functions under the aegis of the Department of Youth Affairs.

The National Service Scheme will also organise a National Youth Convention and a lecture series ‘Suvichar’.

In the year 1995, the First National Youth Festival was successfully held at Bhopal.

The venues where these festivals were subsequently successfully held are Kolkata (West Bengal) in 1996, Ahmedabad(Gujrat) in 1997 ,Chennai(Tamil Nadu) in 1998 ,Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) in 1999, Gandhinagar (Gujarat) in 2000, Hissar (Haryana) in 2002 ,Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) in 2003 ,Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) in 2004 ,Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) in 2005 ,Patna(Bihar) in 2006 , Pune (Maharashtra) in 2007 and Chennai (Tamil Nadu)in 2008. (ANI)