2 MAY 2014

Ø  The Tamil Nadu government rejected the Centre’s offer to order a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the twin blasts in the Bangalore-Guwahati Express at the Chennai Central station, making the Centre “stand-down” a team of detectives preparing to leave for Chennai. Director-General of Police, Tamil Nadu, Anoop Jaiswal said there was no Centre-State confrontation on the issue, wondering how two agencies could investigate one case.

Ø  A “beautifully made” granary, with walls of mud-bricks, which are still in a remarkably good condition, has been discovered in the just-concluded excavation at Rakhigarhi village, a Harappan civilisation site, in Haryana. Traces of lime ( chunam) and decomposed grass have been found in the granary and the argument is that the Harappans could have used them to ward off insects and moisture from attacking the grains.

Ø  New research undertaken by the U.S. Department of Energy has found that hybrid cars are significantly more fuel-efficient in India and China than they are in the U.S., a result that has prompted the Government of India to “take note” of the study as the country is “on the brink of experiencing an explosion in the sales of personal vehicles.” Additional Secretary of India’s Department of Heavy Industry said, “This research performed by Berkeley Lab has helped us understand in much better detail the real-world value of electric vehicles to India… and has given a greater impetus and importance to the National Mission on Electric Mobility.”