When Mumbai’s ‘spiderman’ looks down, there’s only fear
Far removed from his dreams of being a hawaldar and policing his village, Sudhir Salunke hitches a two-litre water bucket onto his hips, winds the rope around his legs, catches the safety clutch and lowers himself onto the magnificent glass facade of a trendy building in Mumbai.

With some help from friends, India to turn the heat on Taliban
SINCE India is likely to engage with Pakistan on the sidelines of SAARC this summer, it has decided to turn the heat on Afghanistan, hoping that Islamabad too would feel it.

Manmohan finds no place on Cong campaign wagon
STRANGE as it may seem, senior Congress leader and the party’s most non-controversial face, Manmohan Singh, doesn’t find a mention in the list of leaders selected by the party for campaigning in the coming Assembly elections in five states.

BJP short of heroes as Shatru flies off to USA
INSTEAD of campaigning in the five states going to polls, BJP’s star campaigner Shatrughan Sinha has decided to quietly fly off to the USA, sending the party leadership into a tizzy.

Mahanta out to ‘finish’ Bora in battle royale
DISPUR in Assam is set to witness one of the most fiercely-contested fights in these elections as Chief Minister P.K. Mahanta gets ready to settle scores with friend-turned-foe Atul Bora of the Trinamul Gana Parishad.

Wall-fighting spices up electioneering in West Bengal
GRANTED, the Election Commission has banned writing poll slogans on public buildings in West Bengal. But that hasn’t stopped the inspirational party cadres to try their brushes on rival leaders. It’s always ‘‘permissible’’ to add a speech bubble or two, and the end-result is often as hilarious as politically incisive.

Sonia will decide on Kerala CM after polls: Azad
AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Monday that the chief ministerial candidate of the UDF will be decided by Congress president Sonia Gandhi after the May 10 Assembly elections in the state.

Left or Right, these writers to fight
LANGUAGE may be an index of the mind. But it usually takes crass rhetoric to wins polls. The three wordsmiths at Konni, Kodungalloor and Beypore are trying hard to be themselves, inside their political garb.

Gill defends RO, says Kerala leader was sitting MLA
CHIEF Election Commissioner MS Gill on Monday defended the decision of the Returning Officer who accepted the nomination of former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai despite his being convicted for five years under charges of corruption.

BSF study calls for younger field commanders
THE age profile of field commanders needs to be changed for better leadership, points out an internal study of the Border Security Force.

PM’s Malaysia tour to make up for lost time, lost chances
IT WAS a visit that should have taken place on February 7, but the Gujarat earthquake intervened and now it will happen on May 13. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee will travel to Malaysia on a three-day visit to Kuala Lumpur.

Shabir Shah seeks clarifications from Centre on talks offer
FOLLOWING the Hurriyat’s line that New Delhi has invited a crowd for talks, separatist Shabir Ahmed Shah today sought clarifications in this regard.

Purohit retires, his guns stay trained on CVC Vittal
‘‘THE Central Vigilance Commission made a major mistake by not cross-checking my complaint and letting corrupt people continue in office,’’ Rear Admiral Suhas Purohit has said.

‘Anti-retroviral drugs not only solution’
THE South African Health Minister today clarified that not giving anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS was not the same as not treating the patient.

Panel to renegotiate rates with Dabhol
THE on-going legal wranglings between between the Enron-sponsored Dabhol Power Company and Maharashtra State Electricity Board over payment of dues notwithstanding, the Democratic Front government on Monday set up a high-level committee to renegotiate power tariff with the DPC.

Larkins brothers’ conviction upheld
FIFTEEN years after a district court found them guilty in an espionage case, the Delhi High Court upheld the conviction of former Major General F D Larkins and his brother Air Vice-Marshal K H Larkins, but acquitted the other two accused in the case.

Rajnath’s voters kept cool during heat wave
WHILE most of Uttar Pradesh is reeling under a heat wave made worse by long power cuts following plummeting generation in power plants, the residents of Haidergarh and Hardoi towns have it a little easy.

Digvijay props up Dalit IAS officer to counter BSP
And when Dahima speaks, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh listens. Recently, Singh and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Radhakrishan Malaviya not only shared the dais with Dahima, but they joined hands with him in an expression of solidarity.

Kolhapur school to bring disabled into mainstream
AN NGO in Kolhapur has crossed all bureaucratic hurdles and taken the lead in integrating physically-challenged children into the mainstream.

Mumbai NGO helps city’s sex workers unite, and dream
SWIRLING skirts and smiling faces — it was a fitting memorial to two life-loving, spirited women who had succumbed to AIDS last week. The dizzy tune of Bhumro Bhumro buzzed as almost 100 sex workers and their daughters came together to pay tribute to Gauri and Sushila.

Broke Himachal slashes jobs to avoid financial emergency
THERE is good news and bad news for Himachal Pradesh. While the bankrupt state may yet escape having to declare a financial emergency, it will have to introduce some severe austerity measures.

Rising mercury turns Pune zoos into silence zones
No chattering monkeys greet you at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Katraj. You don’t hear panthers growling. Even the birds don’t chirp. You walk amidst absolute stillness inside the silent zoo as the listless inmates either pant or snooze.

ASI discovers Buddha relics during Akhnoor excavations
THE Archaeological Survey of India has discovered Buddha relics during excavation of a 1st century BC stupa on the right bank of Chenab river at Amabarran.