In
a departure from the usual practice of taking the BSF aircraft, Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram flew in a commercial flight on Friday to Mumbai to see
the situation arising out of the terror strikes there.
The
Centre directed all coastal states and union territories on Friday to carry out
vulnerability mapping of the coastal zone and consider giving digitized
identity cards to sea-faring personnel and fishermen in the wake terrorists
taking the sea route to attack Mumbai.
After
reducing fuel prices on Friday, the government will unveil more measures
tomorrow to stimulate growth through cuts in excise duty on commercial vehicles
and increased investment in infrastructure, while the RBI will give a signal to
banks to slash interest rates.
Pre-eminent Indian historian Romila Thapar who created
a more "pluralistic view of Indian Civilisation" has been selected as
co-recipient of the USD 1 million Kluge Prize, a prestigious award instituted
by the US Library of Congress.
Leading Muslim organisations today asked Imams of
mosques across the country to condemn the Mumbai terror attacks in their Friday
and Eid sermons and appealed to the Muslims to wear black strips on Eid day.
Leading NRI entrepreneur Rami Ranger has won the
Asian Achievers Award for Community Service while the Woman of the Year Award
was bagged by Kamel Hothi, Head of Asian Markets and Event of the Lloyds TSB
bank.
