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A minister said on Saturday that Himachal Pradesh's Central Research Institute (CRI), whose manufacturing licence was cancelled in January 2008, has resumed production of vaccines with the central government giving it clearance.

Health Minister Rajeev Bindal told IANS, "CRI has resumed production of vaccines after the central government in its orders dated Feb 12 and 26 cleared its drug production license."

He further added that the state government had pursued the license case with the union health and family welfare ministry.

To assess water losses suffered by the state due to the Indus Water Treaty provisions that restrict the use of its three rivers, The Jammu and Kashmir government will hire a private agency.

The state cannot harness the waters of the Jhelum, Indus and Chenab as much as it would have liked to because of the restrictions, Official sources said on Friday.

India has got complete control over the waters of three rivers - Ravi, Sutlej and Beas - that flow into Pakistan through Punjab, under the 1960 World Bank-brokered treaty.

An official of the Obama administration, asserting that the US was aware of Indian concerns about the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, on Saturday said that it was "very important" for Islamabad to rein in the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group that has "global ambitions" and has been targeting Americans as well.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake told reporters, "It is very important for Pakistan to take on Lashkar-e-Taiba threats, not only for the US but for India and other countries."

Indian market opened positive but traded slightly below the dotted line in the later half session, finally closed with marginal gains. SENSEX closed at 17578, up 58 points and Nifty at 5262, up16 points from the previous close. CNX MIDCAP index was down 0.04% and BSE SMALLCAP index was up 0.2%. The market breadth was positive with advances at 616 against declines of 646 on the NSE. Top gainers included BHARTIARTL, RCOMM, HEROHONDA, RIL, HUL, PNB, IDEA and POWERGRID. Top losers are listed as HDFC, DLF, M&M, HINDALCO, TCS, GAIL and JINDALSTEEL.

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New Delhi, March 20 - Filmmaker Karan Johar will start shooting the sequel to "Dostana", a light-hearted tale about three friends, this summer with actors Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham once again in the lead.

"'Dostana 2' starts filming this summer. The final cast will be announced (by the) end of the month... of course flagbearers AB (Abhishek) and John lead the way," Karan, who produced the first movie in 2008, posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.

A minister has said Jammu and Kashmir has seen a steady decline in the dropout rate in schools and the government is making the maximum efforts to expand quality education in the state.

The number of school children dropping out has gone down from 367,000 to 39,000 over a period of five years "due to the government's efforts", claimed Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, in his reply in the state assembly on the grants of the departments under him, on Friday.