Mayawati has assests value over Rs.88 crores

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati's total assets are valued at around Rs. 88 crore. This has been revealed in the sworn affidavit filed by her at the time of filing her nomination for the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) elections in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Ms. Mayawati's worth was around Rs. 52.27 crore in 2007 when she contested the Council byelection after becoming the Chief Minister.

In three years, her assets have grown by about Rs. 35 crore.

Ms. Mayawati filed her nomination before the Returning Officer and the Principal Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, Pradeep Kumar Dubey in the Purshottam Das Tandon Hall of the State Legislature.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who is also the president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, has Rs. 12.95 lakh in cash and bank deposits of Rs. 11.39 crore, and is also the owner of five sprawling commercial properties and bungalows in prime locations in New Delhi, Okhla and Lucknow.

17 employees dismissed from Air India; strike withdrawn on HC intervention

 The services of 17 employees, including union leaders who led the 33-hour strike in Air India, have been terminated and 15 engineers suspended, airline CMD Arvind Jadhav said Wednesday night.

“This strike was illegal. We have to bring in accountability and need to fix responsibility. Whatever action has to be taken, we have to go the whole hog. We do not want to compromise at any cost. We have to come (down) with a heavy hand,” Mr. Jadhav told reporters soon after the strike was called off after Delhi High Court restrained the agitators from continuing their stir.

“We explored all avenues. And after that we knocked the door of the High Court which felt there is need to restore the services”, he said.

M & M to acquire Reva; GM's deal may be withdrawn

The diversified Mahindra group appears to be buying out Bangalore-headquartered Reva Electric Car Company (RECC), a deal that would give it a lead in electric drivetrain technology but could put a question mark over GM's plans to electrify its mini car Spark.

Reva, promoted by the Maini family and a clutch of venture funds, is believed to be headed for a change in ownership at a time when the company is moving swiftly on new expansion plans, including a new plant and new electric models. While both sides remained tight-lipped with many senior executives keeping their phones switched off, Mahindra's entry into Reva appears more or less a formality now.

Passport Seva Kendras to make passport application process easy

Obtaining a passport will soon be easy with the government opening ‘Passport Seva Kendras’ (PSK) in 77 centres across the country in a year.

The first such PSK will be inaugurated in Bangalore on Friday followed by six others by June. One will be a pilot project for three months after which such kiosks will be opened all over the country.

Seven PSKs will run for next three months and the government plans to open all the 77 proposed PSKs by March 2011, A Manickam, Joint Secretary (Counsellor Passports and Visas of MEA), told reporters here.

PM asks DRDO to speed up research processes

 India has not matched pace with competitors in defence technology, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday asking scientists to speed up their research and deliver critical technologies on time for the nation to achieve self-reliance.

“In many areas, we have moved fast, but our competitors have often moved faster. It is a fact our current level of self-reliance in defence R and D (research and development) is less than our capabilities and it needs to be stepped up significantly,” Dr. Singh said, addressing defence scientists here on the occasion of National Technology Day.

Atlantis last flight successful

 The space shuttle Atlantis touched down Wednesday at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, bringing an end to its last scheduled mission.

The landing marks the likely end of Atlantis’ 25 years of space flight as NASA retires the ageing space shuttle fleet.

Only two further missions, by the Endeavour and Discovery shuttles, are planned by the US space agency NASA before those vessels are also taken out of service. The last shuttle flight is set for November.

CBI arrests 4 NHAI officials

The CBI on Wednesday arrested four persons, including chief general manager of the National Highway Authority of India, for allegedly favouring a private construction firm in allocation of contracts after which a court sent them to the probe agency's custody for five days.

Besides CGM S K Nirmal, NHAI general manager Nitin Jain was arrested in the case after the CBI claimed to have made huge recoveries from their premises in Delhi and Jaipur, including a whopping Rs 1.86 crore from the residence and bank locker of Jain and another Rs 46 lakh from Nirmal's house.

Others arrested in the case are managing director of Oriental Structure Pvt Ltd K S Bakshi and one of his employees S K Dikshit, a CBI spokesman said adding that all the four were produced before a designated court which remanded them to CBI custody till May 31.

AirIndia changes Delhi-Patna-Delhi flight timings

Effective from Friday, Air India's two flights on Delhi-Patna-Delhi route would operate as per changed schedule till Sunday.

AI's morning flight (IC 409/10) would reach Patna at 10.55 am instead of earlier 8.20 am. It would fly back for Delhi at 11.35 am instead of 9.05 am.

The second flight (IC 407/08), which earlier used to arrive at 12.55 pm, would now land at Patna at 3.15 pm. Its departure time would be 3.55 pm. Earlier, the said flight used to take off from Patna at 1.35 pm.

"These changes, for now introduced for three days due to the winter, may be extended," an AI official told and added passengers booked in these flights have already been informed about the changes.

India to rest senior players in Tri series in Zimbabwe

A second-string Indian team left for Zimbabwe to play a tri-series, hoping to convince the selectors they were ready for the big league.

The 15-man-squad, led by Suresh Raina, will play Sri Lanka and the hosts in a double-leg tri-series that opens in Bulawayo on Friday and ends with the final in Harare on June 9.

The selectors have rested eight top stars -- captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra -- from the tournament.

Super 30 shines in IIT-JEE tests

All 30 students of Super 30, a free coaching centre in Bihar, have cracked the highly competitive Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) for the third consecutive year, the institute announced on Wednesday.

"We are really upbeat and celebrating the 100 percent success for the third consecutive year as all 30 students have cracked the IIT-JEE this year," Anand Kumar, the institute's director-cum-founder.

Super 30 that helps the economically backward students crack the IIT-JEE has been selected by The Time Magazine in the list of The Best of Asia 2010.

The magazine, in its latest issue, said that every year, about 230,000 students take the exam for a seat in the IITs but only 5,000 grab it.

"Last year, 30 of them came from one coaching centre in Patna, capital of the impoverished north Indian state of Bihar. That may not seem like many, but for the Super 30 centre it's a pass rate of 100 percent," it said.

Mohammad Sadab Azam, a student of Super 30, said: "Thanks to Super 30, I cracked the IIT-JEE. Everyone is in a celebratory mood. We are happy."

Azam, whose father works as a labourer in a village in Gaya district, said that he had never dreamt of cracking the prestigious exam.

"It was all because of Super 30," he said.