In a bid to tackle corruption and fast track cases of public servants accused of graft, the Group of Ministers on Corruption, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, announced some measures that will be implemented for the purpose.

Retirement will now not be grounds for dropping proceedings against corrupt government servants who will now face a 10 percent cut in pension in the case of a minor penalty. In the case of a major penalty, a change will be enforced in the form of a cut of 20 percent in pension.

There will be no cut in pension however, in the cases of compulsory retirement of officers being weeded out for non-performance.

A decision has also been taken to make departments and ministries primarily use serving officers as Inquiry and Presenting Officers in a step towards speeding up the inquiry proceedings.

The government also decided that a Committee may be set up to study cases that have been pending trial for a long time and make recommendations for speedy disposal or withdrawal of such cases, of which there are over 2400 pending for over 10 years.

Instead of amending the Constitution the remedy against blatant corruption will lie in a strict and effective implementation of existing laws.

These are some of the government's decisions made in the wake of Anna Hazare's anti-coruption campaign for a Lokpal Bill that will also cover bureaucratic graft.

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Of some 100 thalassemic children from Junagadh that have been going to the civil hospital for regular blood transfusions, 20 have tested HIV positive over the last year.

Doctors at the hospital say the relatives of thalassemic patients bring in the blood from blood banks and the hospital merely performs the transfusions. The blood banks do screen for HIV but if the donor is in the so-called 'window period' it is difficult to detect the HIV virus.

The state does not have Nucleic Acid Testing to screen for HIV, Hepatitis B and C in donated blood, according to the Indian Red Cross Society in Ahmedabad. There are over 4500 thalassemic children in the state.

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Relatives of the Delhi High Court bomb blast victims are angry and frustrated with the throngs of VIPs who showed up at the hospital, hindering hospital staff's work with emergency patients who are battling for life or being treated for injuries.

Relatives insist there should be no VIP visits in hospitals in the first 12 hours of such emergencies, as they put unnecessary pressure on hospital staff who are expected to 'attend' to the politicians who are more concerned about the photo opportunity and TV footage they receive.

The terror strike killed 13 and left 96 people injured.

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Rekha 20, of Sahankhedi village in Saharanpur eloped with her lover Yogesh, from a neighbouring village.

Two days later the families of the couple caught them and took them back to their respective homes.

Rekha's relatives allegedly shot her dead and cremated her body.

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A court in Delhi has sentenced five members of a family to death for an honour killing.

The Shia girl in the family married a man from the Sunni sect against the wishes of her family. As a consequence the bride's brother-in-law was murdered by her own brothers and close relatives.

The Judge called it a rare case and pronounced the death penalty on Mohammed Saleem, Shaheen Abbas, Sajid Wasim, Shaheen Zargam Ali and Shabbir Kasim, for the murder of Tariq, the brother of the bridegroom Sadiq.

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