New Delhi, July 30 : A proposal to constitute a National Commission for the Welfare of Ex-Servicemen is under the active consideration of the government.

This was stated by the Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) in the Ministry of Defence, Deepa Jain Singh in her inaugural address to the annual conclave of the Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR) here today.

“The measure will expedite issues of rehabilitation, welfare and help resolve grievances of retired soldiers, martyrs and their families,” she said.

Nearly 60,000 personnel retire from the three wings of the armed forces every year and most of them are in the productive middle age group. There are nearly 14 lakh Ex-servicemen and over 2.5 lakh widows.

New Delhi, July 30: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today expressed shock over the tragic death of ''Voice of India'' contest winner Ishmeet Singh, who was considered as a promising singer for the Bollywood.

The Prime Minister was saddened after hearing about the tragic death of Ishmeet Singh, a PMO official said.

Dr. Singh shares the grief of Ishmeet''s parents and other family members, the official said.

New Delhi, July 30: The seven-member Lok Sabha committee set up by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to look into the “cash-for-vote” scandal will hold its first meeting inside the parliament premises today.

The committee is expected collect evidence from the three BJP MPs - Ashok Argal, Fagan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora - as also the TV channel - CNN-IBN - that conducted the sting operation.

Headed by the Congress’ Kishore Chandra Deo, the committee is likely to view the original video footage and mike transcripts as part of its inquiry.

New Delhi, July 29 : Defence Minister AK Antony today reacted strongly to the attempt by the Pakistan Army to cross the Line of Control (LoC) and attack an observation post which resulted in intermittent firing between the two sides.

Antony said that the Government is fully prepared to deal with any such infiltrations firmly, and maintained that adequate restraint would be taken to prevent escalation of tension.

New Delhi, July 29 : The Centre today told the Supreme Court that it does not consider the Rama Sethu a national monument.

Senior advocate Fali S. Nariman, appearing for the Centre, told a Bench headed by Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, "As far as we are concerned, the stand of the Government is very clear, that Rama Sethu could not fulfill the criteria of national monument."

Earlier, the Supreme Court had stopped construction work of the Sethusamudram project after writ petitions were filed to counter the demolition of the mythological Ram Sethu believed to have been constructed by Lord Rama.

New Delhi, July 29 : Reacting to the increase in the repo rate and cash reserve ratio, CII stated that these are expected policy responses to inflation, though it may have been possible to await the lagged effects of the last round of monetary actions in June 2008 before taking these further steps.

While there could be a concern on the impact of continuing monetary tightening on investment and growth, the RBI has made it clear that at the present juncture controlling inflation is its priority, CII said in a release issued today.