Security plea

Calcutta, Jan. 11: Coal-mining major Bengal-EMTA today wrote to power minister Manish Gupta and director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee requesting them to urge the Jharkhand government to provide adequate security at a captive coal mine in Pakur.

The appeal came a day after Maoists attacked a company coal mine in nearby Panem and killed a security guard.

Patil date

Calcutta: Twenty girls from Bengal who had defied parental pressure to marry early and continued with their studies, have been invited by President Pratibha Patil to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. They are from Murshidabad, Malda, Bankura and Purulia.

Santhali

Calcutta: The West Bengal Board of Primary Education has decided to offer Santhali as the medium of instruction in Class V in schools where the facility is provided till Class IV.