4 women forced to dip hands in hot oil to prove innocence

PUNE: Four women labourers ended up with severe burns to their fingers and hands while trying to prove their innocence in a theft case at a slum in Vimannagar here on Sunday last. Read more......................4 women forced to dip hands in hot oil to prove innocence

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Girl bites armyman's ear

LUCKNOW: In a bizarre incident, a young girl bit the ear of an army jawan in the middle of a Meerut market on Monday. The victim, who had already lost one of his eyes during the Kargil war, is now lying on the hospital bed waiting for a plastic surgery to be performed to fix the ear back in place. Read more..........................................Girl bites armyman's ear

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33% of Indians live in less space than US prisoners

One in every three urban Indians lives in homes too cramped to exceed even the minimum requirements of a prison cell in the US. If that sounds shocking, check this out: In the past 50 years, both the number and proportion of Indians living in homes with a per capita space of less than 100 square feet have gone up substantially. In fact, a majority of Indians have per capita space equivalent to or less than a 10 feet x 10 feet room for their living, sleeping, cooking, washing and toilet needs. Read more...................33% of Indians live in less space than US prisoners

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Ghost Paan House

Patan (Gujarat): A picture of a skull nestling over crossed bones welcomes you to ‘Bhoot Tambul Gruh’ (Ghost Paan House) in this north Gujarat town. Inside sits owner Ramukaka, who refuses to sell tobacco products and instead makes ayurvedic paans that are as legendary as the man himself.Admittedly, the signboard and the aura that Ramukaka (Ramu uncle) has built around his shop is a bit unsettling, but it hasn’t discouraged his 2,000-odd regular patrons and the tourists who flock to his paan shop. Read more...............This paanwala will spook superstitions out of you

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Two-year 'yagna' to save world from economic crisis - Cost? Rs150 cr

RAMOSANA (Gujarat): Nobody is sure what it would take for the global financial crisis to end. But efforts are on in this small village in Gujarat’s Mehsana district to put in money, manpower and time to try and turn things around.

Some 3,000 priests have gathered here to hold a two-year-long yagna (religious ritual) where they will chant hymns for divine intervention to tackle the global financial crisis. The price tag: Rs 150 crore. Read more...............Yagna to end financial doom. Cost? Rs150 cr

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Monkey Business in Elections

Move over bijli, paani. If you're a candidate in Sihora in Madhya Pradesh, make sure you can tackle the monkey menace in this tribal seat. Slogans like 'nahi chaiye bijli paani, door karo bandar ki pareshani' (We don't want power and water, put an end to the monkey menace) and 'bandar bhagao vote pao' (Drive monkeys out to get votes) have filled the air in Sihora. Read more....................................................Bandar bhagao!

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Elephant dung sell like hot cake as mosquito repellent

Sonepur (Bihar): Elephant dung is selling like hot cake at the famous annual cattle fair here for use as a mosquito repellent and also as fuel.

The high demand for elephant dung as a mosquito repellent has made it much sought after at this cattle fair, about 35 km from Bihar capital Patna. 'We are selling elephant dung; it is in high demand,' Arvind Kumar Singh, as per one owner of an elephant.

He said villagers have traditionally bought elephant dung to use as mosquito repellent. When it's burnt, the smoke is considered as an instant killer of mosquitoes. Read more...................Elephant dung sell like hot cake as mosquito repellent

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Mouth-fresheners to woo voters

Mouth-fresheners in wrappers printed with party symbols and fashion accessories like bands and bangles are now being used by various political parties to woo young voters in the poll-bound national capital. Read more.....................Mouth-fresheners to woo voters in Delhi

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Political party puts faith in exorcist's powers

SIROHI: How best to beat back the spook of anti-incumbency? Call in an exorcist! Ruling BJP candidate from southern Rajasthan's Sirohi constituency, Otaram Devasi, alias ‘‘Bhopaji’’, who is believed to have the powers to invoke Goddess Chamunda, will, for a change, be catching votes for the party. His followers who are a legion believe the sawaari (chariot or the mount) of Goddess Chamunda enters his body whenever he wants. And the list of Otaram’s followers includes many top politicians. Read more.......................BJP puts faith in exorcist's powers

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Coral rocks selling like hot cakes

Rameswaram: Ram Sethu, the mythical bridge which got embroiled in a controversy over the Sethusamudram project, is back in news. This time for the trade of coral rocks, considered to be a part of the holy structure.

Droves of pilgrims here are buying coral rocks being sold by the agents and tourist guides, who claim that the rocks were a part of the bridge built by the 'Vanara Sena' for Lord Ram to crossover to Lanka to rescue Sita. Read more.............'Ram Sethu' coral rocks selling like hot cakes in Rameswaram

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Man slaps aunt to death

A woman died on being slapped by her nephew after an altercation over property. The latter, Shibapada (46), a primary school teacher, has been arrested along with his younger son Biswanath (20) for the death of 72-year-old Gouribala Ghosh at Astaraduttapur in Tarakeswar, Hooghly. Read more.........................Man slaps aunt to death over property

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Widows sold as bonded labourers

Tumkur/ Bangalore: If Bangalore has entered e-age, barely 100 km from the city stone-age practices still persist.

Unbelievable though it may sound, widows are treated like cattle, are 'bought and sold' in a custom treated as sacred by the 'Handi Koracha' community. Worse, local authorities well aware of the issue are not lifting a finger to help the victims of this de-humanising tradition. Read more.....................Widows sold as bonded labourers 100 kms from Bangalore

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Techie Dies of Eating Pastries

GURGAON: A lunch-hour 'pastry-eating competition' among colleagues at an MNC office in Gurgaon turned into a grim tragedy when one of the 'contestants' choked and died after eating too much, too fast. Read more...................Pastry-eating contest claims techie's life

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Kerosene Lamps help Bill Gates plane take off

New Delhi: Looking out of his plane window, Bill Gates might have been excused for mistaking the sight for an untimely Diwali, held in his honour.

But what the Microsoft chairman was being treated to on Saturday evening was not Indian culture but an unforgettable demonstration in Indian technology.

His private jet was taking off by the light of kerosene lamps from the Jodhpur airbase. Read more..................Gates on tarmac, Indian bright idea flickers to life

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Pig thieves caught after hot chase

PUNE: After a dangerous and dramatic three-hour chase in the wee hours of Monday, police nabbed three men of a dozen-strong gang involved in poaching pigs of foreign breed.

The bizarre drama began around 3.00 am when a van with a Gujarat registration number arrived at the farm of one Babasaheb Jadhav in Sutardara in Kothrud. The men in the van stole eight high-breed pigs from the piggery and drove away. Alerted by the commotion, the farm-owner immediately informed the police. Read more...................Pig rustlers caught after hot chase at night

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Can Buffaloes Stay in Apartments?

MUMBAI: Can buffaloes be included under a slum rehabilitation scheme and packed off in 225 square feet apartments? That’s the question raised by a petition before the Bombay HC challenging a proposed scheme by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority on a large plot of land in Malad (East). Read more..................Can buffaloes stay in apartments?

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Sprinkling holy Ganga water on roads to attract voters!

A maverick political candidate here has adopted a quite unusual method to draw voters' attention. He sprinkles Gangajal or the holy water of River Ganges all around during his campaigning.

Rajendra Patel is contesting elections for the Rajasthan legislature from Sanganer near Jaipur on the ticket of former BJP leader Uma Bharati's newly floated Bharatiya Janashakti Party. Read more......................Sprinkling holy Ganga water on roads to attract voters!

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Dutch couple in India pays $200 for "special" samosas

SONEPUR-BIHAR: Two foreigners were saved from being duped of Rs 10,000 for consuming just four 'samosas' at the world famous Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar thanks to community policing. Read more...............Foreigner charged Rs 2,500 for a samosa at Sonepur fair

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Changing name for good luck

NEW DELHI: Fussing over naming a child is old hat, as is the jugglery with names of K tele-serials. What is grabbing attention, and raising some eyebrows, is the growing number of adults wanting to dig into the alphabet soup and cook up new names in the belief that it may change a person's fortunes. Read more................Changing name for a fresh start in life

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Woman abandons husband, kids to marry father-in-law

A woman has left her husband and four children from him to marry her father-in-law in a Bihar village, raising the hackles of a tradition-bound community. Read more...............Bihar Woman abandons husband, kids to marry father-in-law

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Who let the dogs out?

Dispersing protesters by baton charge, water cannons and tear gas may be a thing of the past. The Jharkhand police will now be using dogs to chase protesters.

The police has trained a special dog squad to disperse mobs, a police official said. Read more......................Jharkhand police to let the dogs out to disperse mobs

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Kids dump garbage in mayor's chamber

PANAJI: In a move that is sure to raise a stink, schoolstudents, egged on by a ruling party corporator, dumped garbage in the Panaji mayor's cabin.

Angered by the foul smell streaming into their classrooms from the garbage dumped at the anaerobic digestor system plant at Patto, around 1,200 students from five schools at Fontainhas-Mala, undertook a protest march to the Corporation of the City of Panaji. Read more.................Kids dump garbage in mayor's chamber

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Man with 12 toes and 13 fingers

SHILLONG: India could eye a hattrick in the Guinness Book of World Records with a man from Meghalaya vying for a place in the record books with the maximum number of fingers and toes.

If Tammiki Passah of Jowai in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills district, blessed with 12 toes and 13 fingers, does make it to the book, he will be in the company of two other Indians who now share the honour. Read more.................Third Indian with maximum fingers, toes sets sight on Guinness

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No Toilets, No Loans

Pune: In an unusual posture to achieve targets under the government's 'Nirmal Gram' project, the Pune district administration has warned that those villagers who did not have toilets in their houses, would be deprived of loans and benefits under various welfare schemes. Read more......................No loans if villagers do not build toilets: Pune Collector

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A Branded Witch

In the Kulli village of Bero block in Ranchi, Jharkhand, the easiest way to be shown the path to Birsi Oraon's house, is to simply ask where the village witch, or 'bisahi', lives. Read full story.............India: Surviving the Witch Hunt

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Dead men get to 'buy' property

PANAJI: Here are cases of Dead men buying property in Goa.

“We have found cases wherein a dead person is named as an Indian partner to the business deal. This clearly indicates that the deals are not genuine,” says Anupam Kishore, joint secretary in the state finance ministry, who headed an investigation into land deals with foreigners in Goa. Read full story................Realty scandal in Goa: Dead men get to 'buy' property

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Undertrial throws slipper at judge

NAVI MUMBAI: A 20-yr-old youth accused in case of house break-in by the Turbhe police threw a slipper at the judge who was hearing his case at the metropolitan magistrate court in CBD Belapur. Read more...............Undertrial throws slipper at judge

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175 years later, Case goes on and on

Kolkata: The wheels of Indian justice grind slowly, but there are times when they don't move at all — as has happened with the record-breaking case of an erstwhile Bengali royal family's property. The matter, which is now in the Calcutta High Court, has been pending for 175 years, making it perhaps the country's longest-running case. Read full story....................175 years later, West Bengal case goes on and on

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Where Tigers eat grass

Do Tigers eat grass??????? Yes, they do at least at Ahmedabad zoo..............Read full story here...........When big cats nibble on bamboo leaves

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Wife has pimples so man gets divorce!!!

MUMBAI: Pimples can not only wreck your confidence but even your marriage. This is the bitter lesson a Mumbai housewife learnt after her husband sought divorce, saying he was "traumatized" during his honeymoon by the spurt of acne vulgaris on his new wife's face. Read more.................................Man complains wife has pimples, gets divorce

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Donkeys are this Princess's best friends

DEVGADH BARIA (DAHOD): In 2003 she successfully campaigned against a car rally planned in Little Rann of Kutch, because it would pass through the country's only wild ass sanctuary and disturb the shy beasts.

Urvashi Devi Baria, the maverick princess of former princely state of Devgadh Baria, has finally found her calling in the donkey — a beast she promises to give a royal life, after the army of dogs she owns. Read more...........................Donkeys are this princess's best friends

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Woman forced to drink ‘phenyl’

In yet another incident of dowry harassment by in-laws, a 22-year-old woman was beaten up and allegedly forced to consume phenyl in Chander Nagar near Krishna Nagar in east Delhi on Friday evening, reports Times News Network.

The victim, Deepa Verma, is now recovering at the Hedgewar Hospital and is reportedly out of danger. The doctors at the hospital, however, refused to confirm the nature of the toxic substance used to poison her.

The incident comes to light a day after a 25-year-old man and his parents were arrested in Nangloi for allegedly killing his wife for dowry. The police, meanwhile, have registered a case of dowry harassment at the Krishna Nagar police station and an inquiry has been set up. Read more...........................Woman forced to drink ‘phenyl’

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