New Delhi  - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was discharged from a New Delhi hospital Sunday, a week after undergoing heart bypass surgery, officials said.

Singh, 76,, left the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the country's top state-run hospital, on Sunday morning and reached his official residence in central Delhi.

"The prime minister was cheerful and in fact he was walking. He is on his way to recovery," India's Federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters.

New Delhi, Jan 31 : A two-day long Annual Conference of Project Directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) discussed deliberations of all programmes concerning the weak areas, difficulties in their implementation and also identified other constraints.

Addressing the media, Union Rural Development Minister Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that the modalities to address these constraints have been worked out. The success stories of programmes, which have made major impact, were also presented to learn lessons.

New Delhi, Jan. 31 : Reiterating a pledge to root out terrorism from the India, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said the Government has charted out two most important goals to achieve.

Releasing a report of his ministry here, he said first there was a need to raise the level of preparedness to meet increasingly sophisticated terrorist threats, and Second, there was a need to enhance the speed and decisiveness of the response to a terrorist threat or a terrorist attack.

He announced that some important organizational changes have been made to cater to the needs of a very demanding situation.

New Delhi, Jan 31 : S S N Moorthy, a 1973 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Officer has taken over as the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) following the retirement of N B Singh.

Moorthy has also served as the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) for over two years. He has worked for the Income Tax Department in Kerala, Tamil nadu and Maharashtra.

He has also worked with the Kerala Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal.

Sudhir Chandra, also a 1973 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, has taken over as a CBDT member.

New Delhi, Jan. 31 : The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has expressed sadness at the death of five infants in an accident at a hospital in Patiala.

A PMO release said he has directed that assistance be provided from the Prime Minister''s National Relief Fund.

A sum of Rs. 1 lakh from the fund has been sanctioned for each of the families of the victims.

The five new born babies were burnt alive and two others were seriously injuried when the incubators they were kept in caught fire at a private hospital in Patiala.

New Delhi, Jan. 31 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded the removal of the Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, citing his close political attachment to the Congress Party.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP's General Secretary Arun Jaitley said due to the fact that Naveen Chawla enjoys a close relationship with the Congress party, it would not be conducive to hold free and fair elections this year.