The forest department heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday morning after emerging successful in capturing one of the two leopards on the prowl on the outskirts of Gandhinagar.

The seven-year-old male leopard Jaas was captured from Jaspur village in Kalol taluka after an intensive overnight operation. Deputy conservator of forest DT Vasavada told DNA that the leopard they have trapped is very healthy. "But whether the leopard is to be sent to a zoo or released in the wild will be decided only after a meeting of top officials," he added.

Three tigers have been moved to Sariska Tiger Reserve from the sanctuary area of Ranthambhore National Park in an effort to re-populate Sariska with big cats. But in their enthusiasm to materialise the tiger reintroduction mission, the wildlife officials seem to have forgotten that as per wildlife by-laws, it is not advisable to disturb the animals which have marked their territory. After a tiger and a tigress who had marked territories in Ranthambhore were shifted to Sariska, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had issued directions for relocating only transient tigers, but the wildlife officials could not do it.

New Delhi - A sharp slowdown in the Indian economy was evident Friday when official data showed growth at 5.3 per cent in the October-to-December quarter, the slowest quarterly growth in almost six years.

The figure was a substantial decrease from the 8.9-per-cent expansion recorded in the same period the previous year as the global economic crisis cut demand and exports.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and environmentalists of the state have decided to force the state government to take a suo motu action to enforce environmental laws. They have also decided to adopt measures like filing petitions in courts in case the government fails to act.

It was after a report published in DNA that the NGOs and environmentalists decided to make sure that the government departments, especially the local self governance (LSG) department, follow environment protection laws. In the report, DNA had revealed how the LSG department has been flouting the environment protection laws in implementing its projects, while private builders were found complying with the laws.

Parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal on Thursday called the Opposition's bluff in accusing the ruling party of shying away from debates in the Assembly.

"We never refused to debate on any public matter except for the vote-on-account, which was never debated even during the previous government's term," Dhariwal told reporters at a press conference on the Assembly premises.

The minister asserted that the Opposition was specifically invited to debate on the Rajasthan Nagar Palika Laws (Amendment) Bill-2009, but the BJP enacted the 'silence drama' before the House as it feared being exposed for the lapses introduced in the Municipalities Bill introduced by the Vasundhara Raje government.

Leh, Feb 27: The new year celebrations of the Tibetan exiles are muted and subdued this year as they mourn for the loss of lives of those killed in Lhasa by the Chinese.

The Tibetans living in Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir have joined their compatriots across the world in boycotting Losar celebration.

A calm and quiet prevails in the region as the people go about their day to day activities in a normal manner, sans the enthusiasm which usually marks the heralding of Losar every year.