Jaipur, Jan 24 - Salman Rushdie would be addressing the Jaipur Literature Festival via videolink Tuesday afternoon, festival organiser Sanjoy Roy announced as speculation swirled on whether the controversial author would get the green signal.

Rushdie had called off his visit to Jaipur citing threats to his life from "paid assassins". The Mumbai-born author of "The Satanic Verses" had accused Rajasthan Police of hatching a plot about hitmen to keep him away from the festival where he was expected to be the star attraction. (IANS)

Jaipur, Jan 23 - A thousand jokes go around in Iran every day mocking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the pretensions of the powerful, says Iranian writer Kamin Mohammadi, outraged that Salman Rushdie was forced to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival here.

In a freewheeling interview with IANS, Mohammadi said she is overwhelmed by the crowds at the grand literary show in the Pink City on her first visit to India, but is unable to make sense of all this holy brouhaha about forcing Rushdie to stay away from this carnival of the word.

Jaipur, Jan 22 - If you want to look right, you have to learn to love your body, says model-turned-Bollywood item girl Yana Gupta who is also a budding non-fiction writer.

"Love yourself unconditionally. If you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, you don't start it... It all starts with the love, energy and the relaxation that comes into your life with loving yourself," Yana told IANS at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Udaipur, Oct 1 : Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur has said that there exists a border mechanism that ensures healthy relations between India and China.

Addressing media on the sidelines of a function here on Friday, Kaur said: "The frontier line between China and India is not defined and hence the local authorities along the border resolve the matter amicably at their level as such there is nothing to worry.

Jaipur, Sep 10 : Two men from Jammu and Kashmir were detained in Rajasthan on the basis of their resemblance to the sketches of suspects released in connection with the Delhi High Court blast, police here said Saturday.

The two were detained Friday in Alwar district. They belong to Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police officer said.

The duo was searching for an accommodation in the inns of Kishangarh Bas area of Alwar, some 140 km from this state capital city.

Neemrana (Rajasthan), Aug. 29 : Neemrana in Rajasthan is considered the best place in terms of infrastructure and facilities by Japanese automobile and electronic companies to set up manufacturing units.

The town, whioch is located about 75 miles from New Delhi, has India's first exclusive Japanese investment zone.

Twenty-four Japanese companies have already set up units in Neemrana. A total area of 270 acres has been allotted for Japanese investment.

Jaipur, Aug 23 : Will a Rs. 1 lakh car prove to be a million-dollar idea? In an effort to get more people to undergo sterilisation, the authorities in two districts of Rajasthan are offering them a chance to win Tata Nano cars.

After Jhunjhunu introduced the scheme last month, it is now Pali district where one can get sterilised and drive away a Nano.

The medical and health department in Pali recently announced the scheme in which Nano cars will be offered on a lottery basis to people who get sterilised there.

In a shocking development, the death toll in the maternity ward casualties in Jodhpur's Umaid hospital reached 15 on Sunday with one more female succumbing to post-delivery bleeding at the intensive care unit of close by MG government hospital.

Another woman lost her live on Saturday and two others are still combating for life with medical doctors terming their condition too serious.

The 20-year-old Morki Devi of Osian near Jodhpur had given birth to a baby in Umaid Hospital a day after she was taken there.

The total number of fatalities owing to deadly H1N1 flu in the state of Rajasthan has gone up to 52.

As per reports, three more people died of swine flu in Ajmer and Udaipur on Friday.

Regardless of all attempts by the administration, the illness kept on spreading across Rajasthan and claim more lives.

The flu came forth as a major risk to preggies' as well as kids in the state. Out of the two casualties reported in Udaipur, one was a pregnant lady.

Free mobile handsets have been distributed to villagers at Phagi in Ajmer district in Rajasthan by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Around 1000 mobile phones with SIM cards have been given to the villagers. BSNL has incurred an expenditure of 12.85 lakh to implement this noble task.

The main reason behind this scheme is to include these villagers in to the majority of the society and bring people aware of telecom services who were so far deprived of these facilities because of poverty. All recipients belong to BPL families.

IT major Infosys Technologies Limited is all set to host its Annual Analyst Meet on July 19 at its campus in Jaipur.

The Infosys board would talk about the state of the business at the Analyst Meet.

Mr. S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director, would deliver the opening address and it would be followed by COO, S D Shibulal's update on Non Linear Initiatives.

Heads of different business section at Infosys would make presentations over different break-out sessions during the day.

The recent climatic changes claims of pre-monsoon showers in regions of Mewat region and the annual rains are expected to reach Rajasthan n no time as stated by Met official.

According to the reports laid by Met Director Mr. Singh it has been stated that pre-monsoon activities have started to show in regions of Dholpur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Karauli, Pratapgarh, and Jaipur district and also it is expected that the South West monsoon would mark its entry in Rajasthan latest by next Monday, claims Mr.Singh.

Few other regions such as Jaipur, Dausa and Sawaimadhopur can expect a mild downpour to night said the Met official.

Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) has announced that it has bagged a Rs 300 crore contract from the Rajasthan government in order to establish solar power packs in the state.

Out of total Rs 300 crore, central financial aid of Rs 92 crore has been approved by the ministry of new and renewable energy, REIL said.

A solar pack comprises solar-powered rechargeable batteries that can be operated as a stand-alone unit.

The packs will be installed in more than 9,169 panchayats with a total capacity of 11 MW.

SPML Infra Ltd, a leading infrastructure company, has pocketed a major order worth Rs 457.2 crore in Rajasthan for construction of civil, hydro-mechanical and electrical works of the Kalisindh Gravity Dam in Jhalawar region.

SPML Infra Ltd has bagged the new order in cooperation with MoU associate Om Metals Infra Projects Ltd, the company said.

The project work is set to begin within 10 days and accomplished within a period of 24 months.

US-based IT service provider Mindlance has decided to establish a development centre in the pink city Jaipur as part of its India strategy centering on smaller cities.

Mr. Kamal Sharma, business unit head at Mindlance, said, "Jaipur is fast emerging as a key IT services destination due to its best-in-class infrastructure, an extremely supportive government and availability of talent. It complements our plan to expand our operations in tier-2 cities in India and will deliver competitive advantage to Mindlance."

The Phalodi air field in Rajasthan will be dedicated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik to the service of the nation today.

The new airfield is considered as a step towards bridging gap in air defense in the western sector. The Phalodi airfield is replete with modern infrastructure.

The distance between the two airbases at Jaisalmer and Jodhpur will be straddle by the airbase which is strategically located between them.

By the end of this month, Sunny Vaghela, a cyber expert will unveil a website, dubbed cybersuraksha. org - under an NGO, CyberSuraksha, on the model of police public networking in Rajasthan. This site will help the victims of cyber crime, whose email account has been hacked to abuse other users or whose company's data has been hacked.

As per Vaghela, "This website is dedicated to solving cyber crimes and create awareness about it."

Vaghela is an expert in the art of cracking codes and gathering information from servers based in other cities.

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday ruled that the state government’s decision to provide 50 per cent reservation for women and 20 per cent for youth in elections to local bodies was illegal.

A division bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice M N Bhandari observed that the quotas violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which lays down that all citizens are equal before the law.

The bench quashed the relevant provision in the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009 providing the quotas.

After Honda Motor cycle and Scooters India (HMSI) threatened the Haryana Government last year to move out of the state if the labour problems stretch over a point, it seems that the company is looking for a future outside Haryana. The company has started to build its second plant in Bhiwadi, Rajastan earmarking a whopping investment of Rs. 1100 crore.

Rajasthan Congress on Thursday accused the state BJP government of "deliberately" stopping scholarships for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students.

About 350 scholarships were given by the state government every year but after the Congress regime, no attention was paid to it and was stopped without any thought, leader of opposition BD Kalla said in a statement here.

About 3200 students who got these scholarships were studying for higher degrees and many have got jobs of IAS, IPS and allied services in the country, he claimed.