The Union government has decided to declare the Ganga as 'national river' of India. The Govt. will set up a high power Ganga River Basin Authority, which will be entrusted with the responsibility of planning, implementing and monitoring projects regarding the river.

PM Dr. Manmohan Singh will head the committee. Chief Ministers of states through which the Ganga flows will be taken as its members.

The Authority will promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning.

This was decided in a meeting presided by the Prime Minister.

Kolkata police has arrested one of its sub-inspector Shankar Chakraborti for smuggling out ammunition from police armoury.

 Chakraborti was remanded to police custody for four days by a court on Tuesday.

 He had been selling ammunition to criminals for nearly two decades said a top police official.

 "He built up a racket to collect ammunition issued for practice firing at the camp. Probably, he used to collect the bullets from the trainees, who did not complete their quota of practice firing," he added. Chakraborti was selling a bullet for Rs. 100. The arrested SI who was working in the CID had a rapport with local criminals looking for ammunition.

A former divisional commander of Hizbul-Mujahedin, Rayees Kachroo escaped from a court premises in Pulwama in south Kashmir on Tuesday.

He was arrested seven months ago.

V.K. Suri, Vice-Chancellor of Chandrashekhar Azad Agriculture University, who last month shut the campus doors on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, tendered his resignation on Tuesday.

In a surprising move, the West Bengal police has arrested three school kids in connection with the Maoist ambush on the chief minister's convoy on Sunday.

Out of these three school going kids, two are studying in Class IX at Katapahari High School and the third is a Class VII student of a Lalgarh school.

Indian equities extended its losses on poor economic fears in the global front.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex belled the day below 10,000 at 9,755.03 after falling 364.98 points. Realty, metal, oil & gas and baking stocks led the declining charts.

Asian stocks tumbled after News Corp, Isuzu Motors and Cathay Pacific Airways slashed their profit viewpoint, adding to evidence the worldwide economy is headed toward depression.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index fell 3.16% and 1.95% respectively.